"You said you were abandoned... Since you were a perfect clone, perfect in every way except for your lifespan... why were you treated as a complete failure?"
That man wanted a better heir—Rau Le Creuset, born under such expectations, claimed he had been discarded like trash. Was it merely because of his lifespan? Or was there a deeper reason?
"Does it matter to you, Kira Yamato? Is that perfect 'product' curious about the flaws of a failure?... Fine. Then I'll show you. I'll let you witness the cruelty of time with your own eyes, and see why he was disappointed in me, just as he was in Mu—"
Rau Le Creuset still held that deadly gun, keeping Mu in his sights, while his other hand slowly reached toward the back of his head. Then came a soft click—the sound of a metal clasp coming undone, as though something that had bound him all this time had been removed.
In that instant, time itself seemed to slow. The silver-white mask that had always covered the upper half of his face, symbolizing mystery and fear, drifted down like a kite with its string cut. It spun through the air before crashing onto the floor with a clang.
At the sight of the true face revealed beneath the mask, both Kira and Mu seemed to have their throats seized. They sharply sucked in a breath and froze completely.
As for his status as an heir, putting aside his younger brother Xia Ya, who had been born later—though Rau Le Creuset was technically their "father" by seniority, as a clone, his biological age should have been close to Mu's. Due to the incubation period, he might even have been slightly younger.
Yet the face now revealed before them—that face which should have been handsome