Chapter 124: SEED – Orb
Kira handed the drink in his hand to Flay, continuing to persuade her.
"We might be able to go ashore."
Flay kept her head lowered and said softly, "Yeah."
"Flay, you have a home in Orb, right? Do you want to go take a look?"
Flay shook her head sadly.
"Although there's a house in Orb, there's no one there anymore. My mom died when I was very little, and my dad, he also…"
Leaning against Kira's shoulder, Flay went on.
"Kira, I only have you now. Please don't leave me, okay?"
Kira gently held her by the shoulders and said tenderly,
"Don't worry, Flay. I'll always stay by your side. We'll be together forever."
Flay lifted herself up, wrapped her arms tightly around Kira's neck, sat on his lap, and kissed him softly.
…
The path was still narrow, and it took several more steps before a person could pass. The brook kept flowing, water never ceasing; draw the sword to cut the stream, yet the water flowed all the more.
…
At that time, Orb's leader Uzumi also arrived aboard the Archangel, where Murrue, Mu, and Natarle welcomed him.
Uzumi said to them,
"As you've said, Orb is a neutral nation. In our public declaration, we already stated that your ship had been expelled from our territorial waters."
Mu was the first to question him.
"Chief Uzumi, you didn't save us just because your daughter was aboard our ship, did you?"
Uzumi smiled as he replied,
"The fate of a nation and a spoiled foolish daughter—do you really think those can be compared?"
Mu quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
Uzumi continued,
"If it really were like that, it would've been much easier to deal with. As for the incident at Heliopolis, and our own children dragged into this and becoming volunteer soldiers…
And we've long heard that the X series has been very active on the battlefield. The ZAFT military will never let that ship slip away so easily.
At the time, we considered only rescuing the personnel and allowing the ship itself to be sunk.
Even now, I'm not certain whether that would have been the right choice."
When Murrue heard that the Archangel had brought trouble to Orb, she immediately lowered her head to apologize.
"As for Heliopolis and those children… I'm truly very sorry.
My words may not hold much weight, but personally, I feel deeply apologetic."
"Forget it. We are hardly spotless ourselves, and we have our own domestic problems.
We maintain neutrality because we don't want to become enemies of either Naturals or Coordinators.
Of course, without power, one cannot realize one's own will—but once you have power, others covet it.
To say such things to you soldiers, my words must sound barbed."
Hearing this, Murrue grew nervous and quickly responded,
"Chief Uzumi, I understand everything you've said. But we cannot simply give up like this."
"In any case, we must explain our greatest reason for keeping your ship safe from being sunk.
Our country wants all the combat data from Strike Gundam up to now, as well as technical support from the Coordinator pilot, Kira Yamato, at Morgenröte.
If you agree, we can offer your ship a great deal of convenience."
Murrue hadn't expected Uzumi to be so direct with his demands. She stood up in agitation.
"Chief Uzumi, wouldn't it be possible for us to discuss this among ourselves first?"
Uzumi nodded. "Very well, I'll look forward to your answer."
Meanwhile, aboard the Archangel, Cagalli's caretaker had found her and forcibly dressed her up in a princess gown.
Everyone on the ship was dumbfounded—they never imagined that the tomboyish Cagalli could look so stunning and graceful when properly dressed.
Murrue, Mu, and Natarle then gathered in the Archangel's conference room to discuss Uzumi's proposal.
The moment Natarle entered, she voiced her strong opposition.
"I'm against this. This country is far too dangerous."
Mu tried to reason with her. "Even so, what should we do now? Do you want us all to swim back to the Alaska base after disembarking?"
Hearing that, Natarle immediately lost her momentum, replying reluctantly,
"That's not what I meant. If repairs are done, it could cause a leak of classified information."
"Of course I understand that…"
Not wanting Mu and Natarle to quarrel, Murrue cut them off and said,
"This matter won't be so simple. Though they never mentioned it outright, ZAFT must be exerting considerable pressure on them too.
In that context, isn't their reason for sheltering us all too obvious?"
With a stern face, Natarle listened unwillingly but finally conceded.
"Since even the captain says so, I have no right to oppose. But once we reach Alaska, please allow me to report this issue."
She saluted Murrue, then stormed out of the room on her own.
Mu sighed helplessly. "So it's decided, then? Looks like that child will be burdened once again."
Murrue collapsed face-down on the table in frustration. Mu, seeing her like that, patted her back and tried to comfort her.
Unfortunately, Murrue wasn't receptive.
"Stop that, Major Flaga. This is sexual harassment."
Mu instantly pulled his hand away and played dumb.
"Really? I honestly didn't know."
In the end, Murrue, as the highest authority aboard the Archangel, reached an agreement with Chief Uzumi of Orb: in exchange for all of Strike Gundam's battle data and Kira's technical support, Orb would protect them.
Everyone on the Archangel was then granted leave to go ashore.
Tolle immediately left on his own, following his memories back to his home in Orb. There, he released Lynn Minmay and provided her with a main-world ID card.
Along with setting her as his cousin, the ID automatically generated her academic records, identity details, phone number, bank account, credit card, and all other identification information.
Once it was done, Lynn Minmay looked outside at the scenery, then tightly hooked her arm around Tolle's right arm and asked,
"Brother Monty Hill, I can finally get some fresh air again.
So this is your world? Is it the same as ours? Is this Earth in a parallel world?"
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