Free, Mostly Original Content, Optional Reading

Shin borrowed a motorcycle from the base and rode along the coastal road.

The wind blew straight at him, and the sense of speed and engine roar brought a satisfying thrill to his senses. He could keep his eyes on nothing but the road, ignoring the scenery at the roadside.

Normally, he would have cast aside pointless thoughts and worries at a time like this, allowing himself to relax for the moment.

But now, all sorts of thoughts swirled through his mind, with no way out.

The truths he had learned during the Chairman's audience yesterday left him with a hollow sense of powerlessness.

The war he had been fighting was one manipulated by human hands.

He had never considered the idea that war could benefit people. Once war began, not only weapons but all people and things would be destroyed or lost—homes, factories, roads, power plants, cities, villages, and lives.

Those should all have been immeasurable losses.

Yet Shin Asuka recalled something they had taught in school—what if losses were explained as consumption?

Expanded consumption would generate economic effects.

What was gone had to be produced again, creating substantial amounts of money.

Anything could be reproduced except life.

—Think about it yourself. Why do we still need power?

Suddenly, the resentful cry of that girl rang through his mind.

Only then did Shin Asuka realize it.

Those were the words Cagalli had said to the Chairman.

Why did people have to make weapons to kill one another? She had once asked that question so directly. At the time, it had sounded like nothing but hypocritical rhetoric, but now it made his heart ache.

—Because we are killed, we kill. And because we kill, we are killed. Can that truly bring peace in the end...?

That was what Athrun had