Xia Ya's Resolve to Fight

Then, like melting snow, a faint yet incomparably resolute, gentle smile appeared on his face.

That curve carried a strange power to move people, as though a cold light radiated from between his brows, yet could kindle a candle flame and bring a trace of warmth.

His bright eyes were slightly unfocused, as if reflecting distant stars and the bright future soon to arrive. His voice was gentle and calm, yet rang with absolute conviction. "Of course. We fight."

His tone was simple, almost plain, without the slightest affectation. Instead, he spoke as though stating a truth—directly, and with immense force.

"..."

Michel's expression froze once more in that instant.

Feeling a shock as though a thousand-pound boulder had crashed down upon his head, he silently swallowed in the stillness.

Upon hearing Xia Ya's decisive answer, spoken without the slightest hesitation, Michel's heart was so violently shaken that he could no longer speak. Only the smallest reactions throughout his body revealed the extreme shock he felt.

Michel was astonished. Not long ago, during his monotonous days of confinement in the detention room, Xia Ya had repeatedly brought him food and soup. Though their peaceful exchanges had been brief and often interrupted, Michel had nevertheless had several deeper conversations with him. From Xia Ya's casual remarks, he had vaguely learned that neither Xia Ya nor Jiliang, the pilot of the Strike Gundam, was a regular soldier.

He had always understood the two of them—Xia Ya in particular—as people who had only joined temporarily out of necessity.

But his heart suddenly clenched. An unimaginable flaw in logic, one utterly incompatible with his deeply ingrained military beliefs, silently surfaced: this mysterious young man was only temporarily aboard the Archangel as a soldier, yet he could so easily abandon the side he had once