Chapter 84: SEED – Desert Interlude 1
In the evening, at the outdoor camp in the Dawn Desert, Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw, and a few other friends gathered together to chat.
Sai Argyle spoke with a helpless expression.
"I can't believe we're actually in the resistance's base right now. The way things are turning out is getting stranger and stranger."
"We're going to be stuck in this desert, aren't we? If I had known, I wouldn't have said I'd stay. I should have just gotten on the shuttle back to Earth. Would've been so much better."
Tolle Koenig thought Kuzzey Buskirk usually kept quiet, but every time he did speak, he made sure people noticed.
But if I hadn't saved the Eighth Fleet, you wouldn't even be around to say that. Everyone on that shuttle was killed, after all.
Tolle shrugged and said to Kuzzey Buskirk,
"Ah well, nothing we can do. There's no medicine for regret. But if you ask me, the Archangel isn't going to stay in this desert forever.
After all, Captain Ramius and the others need to get the battleship and MS data delivered to the Earth Alliance. If they stay here, all of it will have been for nothing.
And who knows, maybe the Archangel will even have to cross the ocean to reach Alaska."
Miriallia Haw leaned against Tolle's chest and asked,
"Tolle, what's going to happen to us?"
Gently stroking Miriallia's hair, he spoke softly,
"Don't worry, Miriallia. Everything will be fine. With me and Kira protecting you and the Archangel, we'll definitely make it to Alaska safely.
And besides, we've never even seen the ocean before. When the time comes, we can be like those people on TV—standing on deck together, fishing, and feeling the sea breeze."
Tolle glanced at Kuzzey Buskirk, knowing none of them had ever been to the ocean, and deliberately tried to scare them.
"Kuzzey, I've heard the ocean is really beautiful, sparkling blue.
But there are also huge monsters lurking in it—ones that can swallow a little boat whole in a single bite.
They say the biggest ones might even be larger than the Archangel itself!
So when we're out at sea, we'll have to be careful, or else—splash—a sea monster will eat us all up."
[Heh, well, it's not really a lie, is it? Blue whales are huge. Their mouths really can fit a fishing boat a few meters long. Not completely making it up, right?]
Kuzzey Buskirk looked a little shaken.
"Tolle, is that true? Don't scare me. Now I'm starting to not even want to see the ocean."
Miriallia clutched Tolle tightly, looking as if to say, Stop it, I'm scared, really scared.
Seeing her so pitiful, Tolle couldn't bring himself to frighten her anymore.
Feeling guilty, he hugged her close again and gently stroked her hair.
At that moment, Flay Allster walked over and asked everyone, "Have you seen Kira?"
Sai Argyle looked at Flay. She didn't care about her supposed boyfriend at all—only about Kira Yamato, who she had never liked in the first place.
And lately, every time Sai went looking for Flay, she just shut him out.
Sai was full of anger, but could only swallow it back as he said,
"Kira's probably in the hangar on the Archangel. Why are you looking for him?"
Flay didn't even glance at Sai, replying impatiently,
"Forget it if you don't know. I just came from the hangar, didn't see him."
Tolle Koenig really disliked the way Flay spoke. Sai was supposed to be her boyfriend, after all.
If you want to chase after Kira, at least make things clear with Sai first. That way it might lessen the conflict between them. Otherwise, you'll just make everything awkward, and in the end none of us will even be able to stay friends.
Thinking this, Tolle deliberately tried to spook Flay a little.
"Kira? Oh, I think I saw him with that blonde girl. They looked pretty close to me.
Right, Miriallia? Doesn't she seem like she could be Kira's girlfriend? From what we saw on the ship's monitor earlier, that's what it looked like."
Miriallia thought about it and said,
"Now that you mention it, it did kind of seem that way. Kira and that girl are definitely not ordinary acquaintances."
As soon as Flay heard that Kira had some kind of special relationship with another girl, she glared daggers at Tolle, then gave a cold "hmph" and stormed off.
Sai Argyle just looked utterly dejected.
Tolle hadn't liked Sai much before, but now he couldn't help feeling sorry for him.
After all, when I was younger, I was just like him, fawning over someone who didn't care. But in the end, groveling never wins you a place in her heart.
We're all men—why make things harder for each other?
Tolle looked at Sai and said with heartfelt seriousness,
"Sai, you need to let go a little. Some things just can't be forced. If it's meant to be, it will be. If it isn't, there's no use trying."
Sai understood what he meant, but still looked unwilling as he muttered half a sentence—"But, Flay and I…"—before lowering his head in silence.
Miriallia rolled her eyes at Tolle, as if scolding him for bringing up Flay's fickleness so bluntly.
Tolle could only hold Miriallia close, saying nothing more.
But in his heart he thought, Now you've made my girlfriend upset. Hmph. Sai, Kuzzey—you two can just sit there and watch me enjoy my happy life.
As night fell, everyone finished resting and returned to their posts.
Tolle went to the hangar and found only Murdoch and Kira Yamato still there.
By the Strike Gundam's cockpit, Murdoch called out, "What are you up to now?"
Kira replied,
"During last night's battle, the grounding pressure settings on the Strike were changed. I'm just making some adjustments."
"So that's it, huh? You really are a handy pilot—not like a certain someone who only makes more work for us.
Still, you've been full of energy lately, Ensign Yamato."
"I heard that, Sergeant Murdoch! And besides, I do help out, you know. I'm just not very good at the technical stuff."
"Yeah, yeah, our dear Ensign Koenig. Anyway, you should be adjusting your own MS too.
I already modified that orange Ginn for you—the Thunderbolt's right arm and the Assault Shield system have been swapped in. You just need to calibrate the system.
Oh, and don't give me that 'I can't' or 'I don't know how.' I've already backed up the OS, so even if you mess it up, it won't matter.
Plus, the Skygrasper has been tuned as well. Your favorite Assault Shield system can be mounted on it too."
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