Graduation Season, the Ridiculous Squad Assignment

Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was September 20.

The war between PLANT and the Earth Alliance had not escalated into its most intense phase with the passage of time. Although the two sides had experienced varying degrees of friction during this period,

no large-scale war had broken out, as though both sides were recuperating.

"Eggplant!"

"Click~!"

At the school, the crisp sound of a shutter captured the youthful, innocent faces in frame.

Five people in slightly different red uniforms stood before the school gates, with one guy in green mixed among them.

Aside from the white-haired one, whose expression was somewhat disdainful, everyone else wore smiles.

Today was the graduation day of the Z.A.F.T school.

"Noer!"

"Noer's over there!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Chase him!"

"Noer~!"

Before the photos had even been developed, countless shrill female voices rang out behind them, drawing the attention of numerous students.

The people at the school gates also turned toward the sound.

They saw dozens of young girls in different outfits rushing toward the photo group in unison.

"I'm leaving first! Bye-bye!"

Noer, standing among the group, was startled. He did not even have time to collect his photo before taking off running.

Not long after Noer left, under Athrun and the others' strange gazes, a group of girls rushed past them in unison and chased after the green figure in the distance.

"I really don't get it. Noer's just a guy in a green uniform—why's he so popular?"

Watching Noer get chased by countless girls, Yzak felt somewhat... annoyed.

"What? Jealous?"

Diakka muttered slyly from beside him.

"Get lost! Me, jealous of him? Jealous of someone who can't even wear a red uniform!?" Yzak refused to admit it even if it killed him.

"But will Noer be okay? There are so many of them..."

Nicol looked worried. Although Noer had good grades in firearms classes and physical training, the number of girls was a little terrifying.

"He should be fine."

Athrun shook his head. Then he called out toward Noer's retreating figure, "Noer, don't forget about the squad dinner later!"

"Got it!"

Noer shouted back without turning his head.

"Has that guy gotten faster at running away?" Yzak could not help frowning as he watched Noer's back.

This had not happened only once or twice before. There simply had not been this many people before.

The main reason Noer was so popular was not that he was handsome.

Of course, Noer did not look bad either. At the very least, among the crowds of attractive men and women in PLANT, he ranked above average.

Nor was it because he possessed some domineering aura. It was because of his status.

Noer was the only person in the Z.A.F.T academy who had not been entered into the compulsory marriage system.

Of course, that alone would not have drawn much attention. What truly made him stand out was his MS Piloting skill.

A guy in a green uniform who could hold his own against the top five students in MS combat was impossible to ignore.

On top of that, his circle of friends consisted either of children from the Supreme Council or people in red and White uniforms. He even knew Councilor Sala.

Someone with looks, ability, and connections was already attractive enough.

And on top of that, this guy's parents were both dead, and he had a car and a house...

Back when they had not graduated, everyone had still exercised some restraint, after all, the school rules had been there to keep them in check.

But now that they had graduated, if they missed this chance, there would not be another!

At exactly eight that evening, Athrun's sedan came to a steady stop outside his house.

Noer, changed into casual clothes, opened the car door and got out. Completely at ease, he led Athrun toward the top floor of Athrun's home.

"Why is that guy here too..."

However, the moment Noer reached the top floor, he spotted that scheming man with the eyepatch—Cruze.

"It's a squad dinner. Why wouldn't he be here?"

Standing beside Noer, Athrun naturally heard his complaint.

Recalling Noer's expression when he learned that he had been assigned to Cruze's team, Athrun could not help asking, "By the way, do you and Captain Cruze have some kind of misunderstanding?"

"A misunderstanding? Why would you say that?"

Noer did not know why Athrun had suddenly asked that.

Athrun studied Noer carefully, then shook his head. "Forget I said anything. Let's go in."

With that, he led the bewildered Noer inside.

"I thought you wouldn't come."

Just as Noer had immediately noticed Cruze, Cruze also spotted Noer the instant he entered.

Noer rolled his eyes helplessly, too lazy to waste words on Cruze.

If he had had any way to resist, Noer would have sneaked away long ago.

Whenever Noer thought of that transfer order from a few days ago, his head started to ache.

He really wanted to ask Cruze, What exactly do you like about me? Tell me, and I'll change it myself, okay?

Actually, Noer had not originally been assigned to Cruze's squad.

Since Cruze's squad was an elite squad, it normally only accepted the top ten graduates of that class—the so-called red uniforms. Noer, the eleventh-ranked student in a green uniform, had no qualification to join them at all.

On the initial list that was announced, only Athrun, Yzak, Nicol, Diakka, and Latis had been assigned to Cruze's team.

After carefully confirming the list, Noer had even been so excited that he could not sleep all night.

The reason was simple: Noer had previously wanted to join the protagonist's squad mainly because he believed the protagonist's squad was safe and had a high survival rate.

But on second thought, that did not seem right.

Was the protagonist's squad really safe?

Could he possibly be safe?

What was a protagonist's squad? As the protagonist, they were bound to be active on the very front lines of war, the sort who rushed wherever danger appeared.

As a little guy in a green uniform, a nameless minor cannon fodder, if he ran around with them every day, would he not just be delivering himself to Kira as a free kill?

Cruze's team had been directly clashing with the squad Kira was in from beginning to end.

Kira, the ceiling of MS combat power in the SEED world, could even change the course of a large-scale war by himself in the later stages.

When no other super-ace MS pilots were keeping him occupied, destroying a thousand or eight hundred MS units alone was as easy as eating and drinking.

Of course, Kira was not that terrifying at this point, but he was definitely no weakling.

And that guy could enter Seed mode. Once he did, his combat power increased severalfold. Even a novice could go head-to-head with two red uniforms.

Although Noer seemed to have that ability too, after all this time, he had tried countless methods without ever succeeding.

But Kira seemed able to trigger it whenever he wanted. It was insanely overpowered!

Besides his strength, Kira at this stage particularly liked aiming for cockpits, the so-called one-shot headshots. It was not until much later that he developed a preference for disarming people instead.

So, all things considered, not joining Cruze's team at this stage was the best choice.

Until... Cruze filed a little report.

With a snap, his dream shattered.