Xia Ya's Shock That Would Last a Hundred Years

He slightly increased his flight speed. The advantages of piloting an MS showed themselves once more: its powerful mobility and speed let him swiftly cross the distance he had deliberately opened up to lure the enemy away.

Before long, the Strike Gundam appeared in his field of vision again, standing in the somewhat wrecked clearing below.

He skillfully controlled the Blaze Gundam, adjusted its posture, slowed down, and descended.

Accompanied by the soft hiss of hydraulic cushioning and dust kicked up by the thrusters, the crimson giant landed steadily not far from the Strike Gundam.

Its movements were smooth and precise, a stark contrast to the savage fury it had displayed in battle moments ago.

He slowly turned the unit's head camera, like a giant's eye looking down upon the ground below.

Just as expected, Lieutenant Murrue Ramius stood at the very front, her arms folded across her chest. Her pretty face was filled with seriousness and wariness, and her gaze was as sharp as a hawk's, fixed unwaveringly on the Blaze Gundam's cockpit as though she intended to see straight through its pilot.

Behind her stood several students in Heliopolis Industrial Academy uniforms—Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw, Sai Argyle, and Kuzzey Buskirk.

These important supporting characters from the original story had all gathered here. Their faces were pale from surviving disaster, filled with confusion about the future, as well as curiosity and unease toward the red MS that had suddenly appeared and saved them.

However, when Xia Ya's gaze swept past those familiar faces and finally settled on the person standing slightly ahead of the crowd, right beside Murrue, his movements, thoughts, even his breathing... all froze in an instant.

That person... that person...

Kira Yamato...?

No... that wasn't right!

Something... something was terribly wrong!

"Did I see that wrong...? A hallucination? Some aftereffect from the battle?"

His brain felt like it had crashed. Instinctively, he ordered the unit's camera to focus again and even increased the resolution.

He rubbed his eyes—of course, that was merely instinctive. Rubbing his eyes inside the cockpit could not change the image on the screen—then stared again.

The facial features... they really did belong to Kira Yamato's delicate face. He could faintly make out the shadow of the original character. The body proportions... also seemed similar to the somewhat slender boy in his memories.

But... but...!!!

What was with that silky, lustrous dark-brown hair cascading down like a chocolate waterfall, extending even past the shoulders?!

Kira was supposed to have neat, short hair!

And there was that green, uniquely designed mechanical bird—Tori—perched obediently on that person's shoulder, tilting its head as it preened its mechanical feathers.

That was the token of affection Athrun had given Kira... uh, no, the symbol of their friendship.

How could it be resting there so naturally?

Looking more closely... the shoulders seemed rounder and softer than a man's.

The curve of the chest... though concealed beneath the academy uniform, he could vaguely see it... That was absolutely not the flat chest a teenage boy should have!

That full, distinctly feminine curve—

No! Stop deluding yourself! Face reality, Xia Ya!

It felt as though ten thousand alpacas had stampeded through his heart, leaving utter devastation behind.

A horrifying conclusion, one so shocking that he nearly lost control and shouted it on the spot, exploded in his mind like a bolt from the blue:

This person... this person was not Kira Yamato at all!!!

This was Jiliang Yamato?! A female version of Kira?!

No way—!!!

The impact of that discovery far surpassed even the thrill of piloting an MS through a life-and-death battle just moments ago.

Like a massive bomb, it instantly blew apart the worldview and plans for the future Xia Ya had built upon the original story's plot!

His mind fell completely into a snowy white screen, like a signal had been cut off.

Shock, confusion, absurdity, disbelief... every emotion churned violently within him like boiling water.

He slowly controlled the Blaze Gundam and opened the cockpit hatch.

His movements seemed a little stiff from the violent turmoil in his heart.

Fresh air, though it still carried the scent of gunpowder, rushed in and somewhat dispelled the stuffiness created by battle and tension within the cockpit.

He unfastened his safety harness, grabbed the rope by the hatch, stepped onto the descent pedals, and carefully began climbing down one step at a time, like a man walking in his sleep.

As he descended, he could clearly feel everyone's eyes on the ground focusing on him like spotlights.

Curiosity, vigilance, scrutiny, doubt... all sorts of complicated gazes intertwined, forming an invisible pressure.

Yet his own gaze seemed drawn by an irresistible magnetic force. From the moment he left the cockpit, he had been unable to look away from that... that "Jiliang" who had turned into a beautiful girl.

Why?

Why had things turned out like this?!

Kira Yamato, the gentle and kind core male protagonist from the original story, the one known as the Ultimate Coordinator, who grew through confusion and pain before eventually becoming one of the world's saviors—how could he... how could he have become a girl?!

This... this rewrite of the plot was way too ridiculous, wasn't it?!

This made no sense at all! Was the original author screwing with him?!

He ranted wildly in his heart, trying to find even a shred of logic in this absurd reality, yet found nothing.

Normally, a gender-swap setting like this would only appear in fanfiction or some parody side story, right?

Who could have imagined that this seemingly "orthodox" SEED World he had transmigrated into had undergone such a world-shattering change from its very foundations?!

This was absolutely bizarre! Incredibly bizarre!

And... wait! He suddenly realized there was a problem even more terrifying and despair-inducing than the plot itself falling apart!

A serious problem that could cause many of his future plans to die before they even began!

If Jiliang was a girl... holy shit! What was going to happen to her pairing with Lacus?!

Kira and Lacus getting together—the couple hailed as the "strongest married pair of the C.E. era"—their love, the fusion of their ideals, and the path on which they would ultimately guide the world toward peace together, at least temporarily... That was the highest-priority and most important part of the series of plans he had made after transmigrating here to "set things right" and "save the regrets"!

It could be said that this was one of the pillars holding up what he believed to be the world's "correct" course!

But now... Kira had become Jiliang... a girl with a girl?

This... this...

"No... don't panic! There's still hope!" In his despair, Xia Ya forcibly activated the emergency program known as "self-comfort."

"Lacus is a girl too... a girl and a girl... yuri? Right! Yuri works too! There is absolutely no problem!"

He frantically brainwashed himself in his mind.

It was fine! As long as the ending was good, as long as they could be happy together and continue guiding the world toward peace, did gender really matter?

It didn't matter! Yuri was infinitely wonderful, and the great doctrine guaranteed safety! Yes, that was it! Nothing wrong with that!

After forcibly convincing himself—or rather, temporarily numbing himself—he finally planted both feet firmly upon the soil of Heliopolis.

Just as he took a deep breath and prepared to face the inevitable questioning—

"Um..."

A crisp, pleasant voice, carrying a trace of hesitation and curiosity, rang out.

Xia Ya abruptly looked up. The girl who had just shattered his worldview—Jiliang Yamato—was blinking those large eyes that were as gentle as Kira's but even more lively. She looked at him and lightly took a small step forward, seemingly wanting to say something to the mysterious pilot who had just saved them.

It really was a girl's voice! And it was rather nice... No! This was not the time to be thinking about that!

However, before Jiliang could finish speaking, the highly vigilant Captain Murrue Ramius stepped forward, extended an arm, and gently blocked Jiliang's path, stopping her from approaching.

Then Murrue turned her head and locked her hawk-sharp gaze onto Xia Ya once more.

Her expression was stern, and her eyes were filled with scrutiny and unquestionable authority.

"I am Captain Murrue Ramius of the Earth Alliance." Her voice was clear and firm, every word carrying the iron-blooded air of a soldier as it echoed across the quiet clearing that had just endured the ravages of war. "I'll be direct. Who are you? Why are you piloting that unit? GAT-X106 Blaze—how did you learn of the existence of this classified machine, and how did you activate it?"

The barrage of questions struck Xia Ya like a rapid-fire cannon. Every question went straight to the heart of the matter, carrying pressure he could not evade.

The surrounding air seemed to grow heavier under her interrogation. Tolle, Miriallia, and the others watched him nervously, waiting for his answer.

Only Jiliang, seemingly confused because Murrue had blocked her, showed a hint of puzzlement and... even greater curiosity in her eyes.

Here it came, Xia Ya thought. What had to come would come.

He raised his head slightly and met Murrue's pressuring gaze.

He tried to make his expression look as natural as possible, carrying just the right amount of post-disaster exhaustion, helplessness, and a little reverence toward a military officer.

"...I'm just an ordinary student. When the ZAFT attack began, I was nearby... Like everyone else, I just wanted to find somewhere to take shelter. I saw a sign saying there was a shelter in the factory district, so I ran this way as hard as I could... but..."

He began calmly recounting his "experience" according to the script he had already prepared in his mind.

He described how he fled through the chaos, how he had narrowly avoided explosions and stray fire, how he had discovered that the entrance to the designated shelter had already been destroyed—that part was true—and how he had desperately searched for a way to survive amid gunfire...

"...I was trapped in the factory district. There were ZAFT soldiers and battles everywhere.

"I couldn't get out at all. Just when I thought I was going to die, I saw that... that red unit. It was parked there, and its cockpit seemed to be open... I... I truly had nowhere else to go at the time... I knew I shouldn't touch military property. I knew it was a serious crime... But, ma'am, to survive... I really had no other choice. Activating it... I only... tried messing around with it using some mechanical and programming knowledge I'd learned at school... I never thought... it would actually move..."

He tried to make his voice sound sincere and earnest, carrying traces of lingering fear and "regret" for his own actions.

He portrayed himself as an ordinary student forced to break the law in order to survive in a desperate situation, attributing his act of piloting an MS to survival instinct and "good fortune."

—Naturally, it was filled with lies and deliberate misdirection.

His appearance in the factory district had been premeditated, and choosing to board the MS had been a decision he had made after careful thought.

As for activating it and modifying its OS, that had been a "skill" he had prepared long ago.

But he could not reveal a single word of those truths.

Deceiving the kind-hearted female officer before him filled him with intense guilt.

Murrue Ramius, a woman known in the original story for her resilience, gentleness, and sense of responsibility, was now being misled by the carefully woven lies he had created.

But... he had no choice. For his own goals, for the "future" he believed in, he could only bear this heavy guilt.

"You understand that you've done something you shouldn't have, correct?" Murrue stared intently into his eyes, seemingly trying to catch even the slightest sign of falsehood in his gaze. Her tone remained stern, but it seemed to have softened a little compared to before.

"Yes... yes, ma'am." Xia Ya immediately lowered his head obediently, putting on a remorseful expression. "Whatever decision you make, I'm willing to accept it. I will comply completely with your instructions." He acted like a child who had made a mistake but was willing to bear the consequences.

Murrue looked at him silently for several seconds, her expression complicated.

In the end, she seemed to temporarily suppress her doubts. She nodded and said, "It's good that you understand... Listen, I'm sorry, but this isn't over yet."

As she spoke, she suddenly turned around, her gaze sweeping across Jiliang beside her, as well as Tolle, Miriallia, Sai, Kuzzey, and the others.

Her expression turned serious again.

"All of you," she announced in a tone that allowed no argument, "including you"—she indicated Xia Ya—"and all of you"—she indicated Jiliang and the others.

"Huh?" Tolle and the others cried out in shock. Jiliang also looked confused. Why did that include them?

Seeing the obvious confusion and unease on their faces, Murrue continued in a calm yet resolute voice:

"Regardless of your reasons, whether you acted willingly or were forced into it, you have all come into contact with the Earth Alliance's highest-level military secrets—these two Gundams." She pointed at the Strike and the Blaze beside them. "According to regulations, I must temporarily detain all of you as 'persons connected to the military.' Until I have contacted my superiors and a final decision has been made regarding your identities and circumstances, all of you must act together with me and the Archangel, which will soon set sail."

Detained?! Acting together?!

That sudden declaration stunned every student present. They had only wanted to escape with their lives. How had they suddenly become "people who had come into contact with military secrets" and ended up being "detained"?

Seeing their shocked and panicked expressions, Xia Ya quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Though it was forced... he had at least successfully gotten "on board."