Conditions

"Why are you so set on becoming a Mobile Suit pilot?"

Instructor Natarle looked at Ino and simply couldn't understand how his mind worked.

So many people begged to get into the command program and were turned away, but Ino had gotten in and now wanted to leave.

"Instructor Natarle, it's not that I'm determined to become a Mobile Suit pilot. I just believe that, in the future, powerful Mobile Suits paired with ace pilots will become the stars who decide the course of battle," Ino said with absolute conviction.

"What the hell? Which cultist did you hear that from?"

Instructor Natarle was instantly furious. Some damn bastard was trying to poach one of his students.

Were Mobile Suits powerful?

Yes. Otherwise, PLANT wouldn't have been able to hold its own in space combat.

But saying that Mobile Suits could directly decide the course of battle was ridiculous.

An excellent Mobile Suit pilot could take on five opponents, or even ten.

But could one take on a hundred? A thousand?

What was a battlefield? It wasn't a one-man show. No matter how powerful one person was, he couldn't change the course of an entire war.

If Mobile Suits were really that powerful, ZAFT wouldn't be bringing so many young people into military academies.

"Instructor Natarle, I'm telling you the truth. Future wars will inevitably be fought with Mobile Suits as the main combat units, and under the pressure of war, their performance will advance by leaps and bounds."

Ino couldn't explain outright that he knew what the future held, so he could only describe it as a prediction. "With the Earth Alliance being suppressed by Mobile Suits now, they'll definitely find a way to build their own. You know how creative humanity can be when it comes to weapons."

"With the Earth Alliance's resources, who knows what kind of Mobile Suits they'll come up with?"

"So I have every reason to believe that Mobile Suits will eventually evolve into the stars of the battlefield, capable of deciding its course. And unlike the human body, a Mobile Suit doesn't get tired. As long as it hasn't been shot down..."

"It can keep fighting at a high level. I have every reason to believe that some elite pilots and powerful machines will eventually be strong enough to take on a thousand enemies. If there are enough of them, they could turn the tide of an entire war by themselves!"

"Do you even hear yourself?"

Instructor Natarle was stunned by Ino's answer.

Mobile Suits taking on a thousand enemies?

Did he think this was some game with cheats enabled?

As a battlefield commander, he knew exactly where the limits of Mobile Suit performance lay.

Even the most optimistic members of the staff wouldn't dare claim that a Mobile Suit could take on a thousand enemies.

"Instructor Natarle, you can't use your current way of thinking to judge what might happen in the future. In the age of cold weapons, who could have imagined weapons that could easily destroy an entire city?"

Ino knew how absurd his words sounded to people of this era.

Honestly, if he didn't know what the future held, he wouldn't believe something so outrageous either.

But there was no "if." Athrun Zala, Lacus Clyne... Their very existence meant another cheat was out there: Kira Yamato, known as the strongest Coordinator.

That guy could turn an entire battlefield into a fireworks show. No one could stand up to him.

But none of that had anything to do with him.

For now, all he needed to do was become a Mobile Suit pilot and get out of this place, where he could lose his life at any moment.

Natarle silently watched Ino, then picked up his glass and took a sip to calm himself.

He really did feel like Ino was talking nonsense.

But Ino's last point was right. They couldn't use their current assumptions to judge or predict how the future would unfold.

After all, this was the age of firearms. A single nuclear bomb could cause hundreds of thousands, even millions, of casualties. If Mobile Suits could reach that level of power, they really could change the course of battle.

But was that even possible?

And even if it was, how long would it take to come about—

"Wait. I nearly let you talk me in circles. Even if the kind of Mobile Suit you're talking about really does appear in the future, what does that have to do with you?"

Instructor Natarle suddenly came to his senses.

He wasn't denying the possibility Ino described.

But what the hell did any of it have to do with him?

"Well, what if I turn out to be one of those excellent pilots?"

Ino shamelessly shot back.

"..."

Instructor Natarle opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say that Ino was shameless.

Having a talent for command didn't mean he'd also have a talent for piloting Mobile Suits.

Coordinators weren't all-powerful.

"I'm your prized student. You really have that little confidence in me?"

Ino noticed Instructor Natarle's twitching mouth.

"You think you have what it takes?"

Instructor Natarle retorted. "I recognize your talent for battlefield command and your strategic vision, but that doesn't mean you have the same talent for piloting Mobile Suits."

"What if I do? What if I have that kind of talent? You know how quickly I learn."

Ino countered.

And he wasn't making it up. Because he'd been trained for specific tasks in the Eurasian Federation since childhood, his ability to learn and imitate was astonishing.

As long as something wasn't beyond his abilities, he could imitate it to a considerable degree.

That was also why his previous self had stood out at that research institute.

"There aren't that many 'what ifs' in the world. What do you think this is, a movie?"

Instructor Natarle was speechless. How had he never realized that Ino was so shameless?

Maybe he just hadn't spent enough time around him.

"Where there's a will, there's a way—uh, I mean, as long as you work hard! You have to believe in me! What if I really am the kind of Mobile Suit pilot who can turn the tide of battle? If you don't let me train, won't ZAFT be throwing away a genius?"

Ino didn't care about saving face anymore. There was no shame in bragging if it meant staying alive.

Instructor Natarle's lips twitched. What kind of mind had produced that line of reasoning?

"For the sake of ZAFT's future, please approve my transfer request, Instructor Natarle. Thank you."

Ino had thrown caution to the wind. He'd already made such a ridiculous claim, so he might as well keep going.

"Fine... I'll sign!"

Instructor Natarle had to admit defeat in the face of Ino's shamelessness.

Besides, Ino was the kind of person who wouldn't turn back until he hit a wall.

Now that he was dead set on becoming a Mobile Suit pilot, Natarle couldn't control him for the rest of his life.

"Thank you, Instructor!"

Ino's face lit up. He eagerly pointed to the signature line on the document. "Just sign here."

"Don't get too excited. There are conditions."

Instructor Natarle replied.

"Tell me what they are. As long as I can transfer, we can work anything out."

Ino grinned, not the least bit concerned.

As long as he could learn to pilot Mobile Suits and then get to Earth to escape, he didn't care what the conditions were.

"It's simple. You say you're a genius at piloting Mobile Suits. At the Mobile Suit graduation exam two months from now, if you don't place in the top three, you can crawl back here and take first place in the command program!"

Instructor Natarle cheerfully laid out his demand. "You say you're a genius? Then prove it!"

"What? The top three?!"

Ino was stunned. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. What did it mean to place in the top three?

If he remembered correctly, the top three were Athrun, Nicol, and Yzak.

He had to catch up with seven months of their hard work in two months. Even with cheats, there was no way he could manage that.

And did Natarle think they were the only ones at the school?

PLANT had a total population of sixty million.

There were around three to four million people in the eligible age range of fifteen to seventeen.

Because of Junius's fall, most young people of eligible age in PLANT had chosen to enlist.

The December Colony Cluster alone had around three hundred thousand military academy students, while the main academy in December City, where Ino studied, had around sixty thousand.

Leaving aside students in other programs, there were nearly thirty thousand classmates in his year assigned to Mobile Suit piloting.

Place in the top three among more than thirty thousand elite Coordinators in two months... Even cheats couldn't make that happen.