Xia Ya Sorties

Inside the Strike Gundam's cockpit, Xia Ya's voice came through the communicator again, interrupting her thoughts. "...I don't know the exact situation, but don't push yourself too hard, Yamato. Once the battle begins, just stay close to the warship as much as possible and keep yourself safe."

His tone still sounded calm, but Jiliang caught a trace of concern in it that was hard to notice. Perhaps even worry?

His suggestion sounded reasonable, as though he was doing everything he could to avoid touching that sensitive nerve deep within her called fear.

A warmth passed through Jiliang's heart.

On the screen, Xia Ya's image was merely an expressionless avatar, yet the concern hidden within his words was like a ray of winter sunlight, easing her taut nerves a little. However...

She slightly raised her chin, and her gaze became firm once more. "If I did that... there'd be no point in coming out here with you."

She shook her head and resolutely refused Xia Ya's kindness. "Even though... I really am afraid. But it's okay. I'll fight too."

Perhaps the emotions surging through her heart were too difficult to suppress completely, because that resolve showed on her face without her realizing it.

In the viewport, Xia Ya's gaze seemed to linger on her face for a moment. The faint confusion in his expression seemed to deepen into a... nearly worried stare.

Jiliang knew her expression must look strange right now, mixed with fear, determination, and some emotion she herself could neither explain nor understand.

Yet under Xia Ya's gaze, aside from a little embarrassment, what she felt even more was... happiness?

She shook her head again, casting away that ill-timed emotion.

If she truly followed Xia Ya's advice and merely hid behind the warship for protection, then what value was there in bringing the Strike Gundam out here?

Wouldn't that mean admitting she was nothing but dead weight who needed protecting? She didn't want that.

Just as she had honestly told Xia Ya earlier, she really was afraid of going into battle.

That bone-deep fear was like clinging darkness, tightly wrapping around her.

Even now, sitting in the cockpit of this high-performance mobile suit and feeling the cold technological glow emitted by the precise instruments around her, her body was still trembling uncontrollably.

Her palms were drenched in cold sweat, and her heart pounded wildly inside her chest, as though it would break free of her ribs the next second.

Her mind was filled with dread for the battle to come.

But... her eyes did not waver in the slightest.

Because deep in her heart, she had made a vow—to herself, to Xia Ya, and to this peril-filled universe. She would fight.

For the boy before her, whom she had only just met yet found herself inexplicably caring about; for the warship carrying the only path to survival for her and her friends; and even more... for the friends aboard this ship who, like her, had been swept into this disaster and were now fighting alongside her—Tolle, Miriallia, Sai, Kuzzey... She couldn't let them down, and she absolutely couldn't become the weakling who only hid behind others and cried.

"And..." Jiliang took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound calmer and more natural, "just call me Jiliang. That's what my friends call me."

A brief silence followed. On the other end of the communicator, Xia Ya seemed to pause before replying in his distinctively flat tone, "Is that so... Then you can just call me Xia Ya too."

"Mm!" Jiliang nodded forcefully, as if this simple exchange of names could give her extra courage. "Xia Ya. Let's... do our best together!"

After she spoke, Xia Ya's side fell silent again for a moment.

Then, in the viewport, he slowly nodded. It was a slight movement, yet it seemed to carry tremendous weight.

Immediately afterward, the communications window vanished.

In an instant, Jiliang found herself surrounded once more by the broad, cold indigo glow of the Strike Gundam's main screen.

Her only companions were the low hum of the instruments and the sound of her heart still pounding like a drum.

"Haaah..." She let out a long, forceful breath, trying to expel the tension in her chest that felt ready to explode.

But it did not seem to help much.

Her heart was still racing violently, as if an invisible hand were tightly clutching it.

The hands gripping the controls had long been soaked in sweat, and the cold metal sticks felt slick beneath her palms.

Even so, her fingers showed no sign of loosening. Instead, as if trying to draw strength from the cold metal, she gripped them even tighter. Her knuckles turned faintly white from the force.

Just then—

"Xia Ya! Jiliang!"

A crisp, ringing female voice suddenly burst into the cockpit over the public communications channel!

It was completely different from Xia Ya's deep, steady voice from before, filled with urgency. It was Captain Murrue Ramius!

Jiliang's heart felt as though it had been struck by a heavy hammer, suddenly contracting! She understood. Even before Captain Murrue could say another word, she already knew—the battle was about to begin!

Inside the Blaze Gundam's cockpit

...It looked like Jiliang had really made up her mind?

Xia Ya cut off his private communication with Jiliang, and the main screen returned to its panoramic display.

He quietly reflected on their brief conversation, a strange feeling rising in his heart.

On the surface, Jiliang Yamato still seemed to fit the established framework of "piloting a Gundam because she had no choice but to protect her friends."

She herself made no attempt to hide her fear of battle.

Yet for some reason, Xia Ya felt that the resistance within her did not seem as intense as that of the Kira Yamato from the "original work" he remembered.

The two reasons she had just given for joining the battle—she didn't want him to be alone, and she wanted to confirm Athrun's identity.

The former... had truly caught him off guard, carrying an indescribable emotional weight.

The latter was most likely related to Athrun Zala and fit the trajectory of the "original work," but because of the first reason, it seemed to have taken on a different meaning as well.

Did this development... mean that the invisible river known as "the plot" had already begun to veer away from its predetermined main course and surge toward an unknown destination?

Had the existence of himself, a "transmigrator," along with some of his careless words and actions, already begun to trigger unpredictable butterfly effects?

Was this... really okay?

...No, this was clearly not the time to dwell on such metaphysical questions.

Xia Ya swiftly cleared those distracting thoughts from his mind.

Whether the plot had "collapsed" or not, the reality before him was this—the enemy would be here any moment, and he had to focus on dealing with them.

Besides, since Jiliang... she herself had allowed it and even asked for it, he could call her by name directly from now on without reservation, and more naturally too. That counted as a small step forward.

More importantly, Jiliang's decision to sortie with him was truly an enormous help to Xia Ya. Especially...

Xia Ya's eyes flickered slightly as his mind raced, beginning to formulate a preliminary battle plan.

He was almost certain that ZAFT's pursuers would include the Aegis Gundam piloted by Athrun Zala.

And Jiliang, for the reasons she had just given, was highly likely to approach Athrun on her own initiative, perhaps even try to stop him.

At this early stage of the war, judging from Xia Ya's vague memories of the "original work" and his inference from their relationships, Athrun should still be in an intensely conflicted and struggling state. His feelings for Jiliang were far from having reached the point where they had to turn weapons against each other later on.

Therefore, at this point in time, the possibility of Athrun ruthlessly attacking Jiliang... was almost zero.

That meant Jiliang's presence was equivalent to a powerful form of "soft control," capable of effectively restraining one of the enemy's strongest individual combat units—the Aegis Gundam.

Meanwhile, Xia Ya himself could control the Blaze Gundam without any lingering concerns and focus entirely on dealing with the remaining, comparatively outdated mass-produced units—the Ginns.

A perfect plan... at least in theory.

Just as Xia Ya's thoughts raced, Captain Murrue's urgent, clear voice rang throughout the cockpit:

"Xia Ya! Jiliang! The enemy is here! Three—no, four MS are approaching at high speed! Bearing XXX, distance XXX!"

That voice was like an invisible current of electricity, instantly surging through Xia Ya's nervous system and tightening his already focused mind to its limit!

"...Understood! We're sortieing!" Xia Ya replied steadily without a moment's hesitation. "Captain Ramius, please open the Catapult Deck hatch!"

His voice sounded exceptionally calm, without the slightest trace of fear or retreat, as though this were a procedure he had rehearsed countless times.

His mind shifted gears at once, adrenaline began to flow, and his entire body instantly entered a cold combat state.

His second battle. This would be his second time.

Thinking back to the first time he had piloted this machine and hastily confronted a Ginn, he could still faintly feel the lingering aftertaste of that heart-pounding tension and unease before an unknown enemy. Then there had been the brief confrontation with the Commander CGUE piloted by that masked man—Rau Le Creuset—the crushing pressure of being completely suppressed by such a powerful presence, with life and death hanging by a thread, remained especially vivid in his memory.

Yet now, about to head into battle once more and face enemies armed with live weapons again, Xia Ya was surprised to discover that compared to those earlier two experiences, which had been little more than instinctive reactions, he... could now think and judge with a little calmness.

His heart was still beating fast, but it was no longer a frantic, helpless pounding. Instead, it carried a kind of... excitement? Or perhaps the rapid motion brought by focus.

..."Humans are creatures who get used to things." For some reason, a line once spoken in the "original work" by Andrew Waltfeld, the man known as the "Desert Tiger," suddenly flashed through Xia Ya's mind.

Xia Ya silently repeated those words to himself, and a nearly self-mocking smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

How ironic, to think of that at a time like this.

But who cared!

Whether it was getting used to it or going numb, as long as it allowed him to fight more calmly and effectively on this battlefield, cruel as a meat grinder, and increase his pitiful chance of survival by even the slightest amount, then what did it matter if he had to get used to this trial of life and death a thousand times, ten thousand times?

Ahead of him, the hatch slowly rose with the low sound of hydraulic mechanisms and metal scraping.

Blinding light poured in, like the curtain rising on a stage play.

Xia Ya took a deep breath, cast all stray thoughts aside, and a cold resolve flashed through his eyes. His hands steadily gripped the controls as his feet forcefully pressed down on the thruster control pedals beneath them!

Hummm—!!!

In an instant, an unprecedentedly powerful thrust slammed into him from behind! The massive thrusters on the Blaze Gundam's back unleashed scorching, dazzling plasma flames like an enraged roar!

The tremendous acceleration instantly pinned Xia Ya hard against the cockpit seatback, and the entire cockpit seemed to tremble faintly!

Like a beast breaking free from its restraints, the machine became a crimson Meteor, racing along the catapult track and shooting out of the Archangel's hull at high speed, hurling itself without hesitation into the vast, boundless sky!

"!!!This guy...!!!"!!!This guy...!!!"

The intense force of the Gs made Xia Ya's breath catch, but deep within him surged an indescribable shock and excitement!

When he had fought the Ginn for the first time, everything had happened too suddenly. He had neither the time nor the chance to push this machine's thrusters to full output before the battle ended in a confused blur.

In other words, this was the first time he had truly experienced firsthand the terrifying, world-shattering power this Gundam named Blaze could unleash at full acceleration!

This speed! This power! It was simply... incredible!

The crimson comet charged toward the hunters about to strike. The battle had officially begun!