"Smack—"
"Bang—"
"Athrun!"
At the Z.A.F.T Military Academy, two young men stood in the center of the training room with daggers in hand, watched by their classmates.
"Yzak! Be careful not to lose again! Athrun, go easy on him. Just make sure he can't get out of bed for three days!" A slightly dark-skinned young man lounged on the floor nearby, calling out lazily to the two in the ring.
"When was the last time Yzak won?" Rusty asked from the side.
"Diakka, Rusty, you two shut the hell up!" The white-haired man called Yzak turned and snapped furiously.
"Uh..."
"Tsk, tsk—"
Rusty and Diakka exchanged a look and helplessly spread their hands.
"Go, Athrun!" Nicol, with his green hair, stood nearby cheering for Athrun.
As if realizing that was not quite right, he quickly added, "Um, Yzak, you too!"
"Nicol! What the hell do you mean by that?" Yzak's hair practically bristled. Since when had he become an afterthought?
"Yzak, how about we call it off?" Athrun Sarra, standing before Yzak, could not help saying.
"Call it off? I'm definitely beating you today!"
"Die!"
With a roar, Yzak charged at Athrun.
"Athrun, watch out!" Nicol hurriedly called out in warning.
"Yzak, don't..."
Diakka called from where he sat.
"Bang—"
Before Diakka could finish, Athrun sidestepped Yzak's dagger, seized Yzak's wrist with his backhand, and placed his right foot behind Yzak's heel.
Then he shoved hard.
Yzak fell straight backward.
But Yzak was no pushover. After a brief moment of stunned surprise, he reversed his grip on the dagger and slashed toward Athrun's chest.
Athrun's eyes narrowed as he took a backward step and tilted his head away, dodging the dagger.
Taking advantage of the gap created by Athrun's retreat, Yzak hurriedly adjusted himself and regained his footing.
"Whew, not bad. Looks like he won't get completely crushed today," Diakka said, unable to resist whistling at Yzak's move.
"That remains to be seen. After all..."
"You two shut up!" Yzak was so furious he nearly started cursing.
"Diakka, watch out!" Nicol suddenly noticed Athrun's movement and hurriedly warned him.
"What..."
"Bang!"
The moment Yzak turned around, he saw Athrun right in front of him. The world spun, and before he knew it, he was lying on the ground with a practice combat dagger pressed to his throat.
"Wow—" Diakka continued to marvel.
"See?" Rusty spread his hands.
"Yzak, are you okay?" Once the fight ended, Nicol hurried over and pulled Yzak to his feet.
"Get lost!" Yzak shoved Nicol away, then turned to Athrun. "Again!"
"Tsk, tsk. He refuses to admit defeat when he loses, and gets cocky when he wins. Sigh..." Diakka said as he slowly walked over, arms folded as he shook his head.
"Diakka, you brat..."
"Enough. We've already held up the other students for too long."
Athrun quickly stepped in to stop their argument.
"...Next time, I'll definitely beat you!" Yzak was not an unreasonable person. Seeing the gazes of the surrounding students, he left behind that threat and stormed out of the training area.
Among this year's military academy students, the few of them were indeed a distinctive sight.
Leaving aside the fact that each of them was far stronger than others of the same year.
Their family backgrounds alone made it impossible for them to keep a low profile.
White-haired Yzak Joule, a second-generation Coordinator.
His mother, Ezalia Joule, was a member of the Supreme Council and the Defense Committee—a second-generation official.
He was also extremely capable. Even against Athrun, he could put up a real fight, with victories and losses on both sides. Though he lost most of the time, compared to the other students who were utterly crushed, he was already exceptionally formidable.
Green-haired Nicol Amarfie.
His father, Yuria Malfi, was a member of the Defense Committee under the P.L.A.N.T Supreme Council, and Nicol himself was extremely capable, far surpassing the other students of his year.
Blond-haired Diakka Elsman. His father was Tad Elsman, one of the members of the P.L.A.N.T Supreme Council.
His personal strength ranked among the top ten of his year. He was extremely capable, roughly a forty-sixty match against Yzak.
Purple-haired Athrun Sarra.
His mother, Lenoya Sala, was responsible for developing the neutralizing agent for Gene Potion No. 4. His father, Patrick Sala, was one of P.L.A.N.T's councilors and also served as the Defense Committee Chairman.
He was also the fiancé of the songstress Lacus Clyne.
Rusty...
These people were unquestionably the academy's most prominent figures. Even outside the academy, they were among P.L.A.N.T's most notable rich young heirs.
"Hey, Yzak..."
"Forget it. Let him go. He'll come back on his own after he blows off some steam."
Diakka stopped Nicol, who had been about to chase after him. They knew Yzak's personality all too well. He was just a hopeless tsundere.
How had he even ended up getting along with that tsundere? The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed!
"But..." Nicol was about to say something else when his attention was drawn to Athrun beside him.
Or rather, to the man Athrun was looking at.
Outside the training grounds, on the field, a blond man in a white uniform and an eyepatch walked slowly across the grounds with two attendants, heading directly toward the academy's MS training area.
"Shouldn't Z.A.F.T white uniforms be at the front lines? Why would one appear here?" Nicol frowned in confusion as he looked at the suddenly appearing white uniform.
Because Z.A.F.T relied on volunteers, it had not established formal ranks. However, there were still ways to distinguish status.
The simplest method was by the clothing they wore.
Green uniforms: ordinary soldiers. Though there were differences in status among them, they generally belonged to the regular ranks.
Red uniforms: elite candidates and elite pilots.
Black uniforms: captains, vice-captains, and executive officers.
Yellow uniforms: Army ground force commanders.
White uniforms: fleet commanders.
Purple uniforms: chiefs of staff and senior officers.
A fleet commander in a white uniform appearing at a Z.A.F.T school when the war situation was so tense was rather thought-provoking.
"Ah—Yzak went after him too." Diakka immediately spotted the white-haired figure. Yzak was currently charging toward the white uniform with an aggressive air.
It did not look good.
"Should we go take a look?" Nicol asked, unable to resist looking at Athrun. Their small group mainly followed Athrun's lead.
Even though Yzak made a fuss every day, most of the time he still followed Athrun.
"Let's go take a look."
Athrun pondered for a moment, glanced at the students behind him, then headed toward Cruze.
Among the white uniforms, only one man wore an eyepatch: Rau Le Creuset, recipient of the Nebula Medal.
Before long, the four of them arrived together at the MS training area.
By then, the place was already packed with students from the Mecha Maintenance Class.
Besides being used by the MS class, the MS training area was also borrowed by the Mecha Maintenance Class.
After all, if a mecha mechanic could not even operate an MS, what the hell could he repair?
It was like being a car mechanic. If you could not even drive a car or understand its basic operation, what car were you going to repair?
Before you continue