The farce occurring in the Courtyard's shopping district ended when the suit-clad Char, just as he opened the mall doors, was beaten back out by several "Amuro" look-alikes who shared a similar appearance to Roz.
However, judging by the fact that one of those "Amuros" unleashed a Pegasus Meteor Fist, it seemed these Amuros weren't from any normal timeline either.
Moreover, seeing so many temporal counterparts...
"Super Robot Wars?"
Following behind Big Haro, Roz voiced his doubt.
"You could say it's similar, but as for how they came to the Courtyard, don't ask," Big Haro explained, clearly knowing what Roz was thinking. "After all, everyone has a painful past they don't want to recall."
"I see..."
Roz nodded, not intending to press further.
If it was as Big Haro said, and most of the people still in the Courtyard came from worlds that had been destroyed, then thinking about it that way, someone like himself—who hadn't even witnessed the destruction of his own world—seemed like one of the lucky ones.
"Don't always let your mind wander into wild thoughts."
Suddenly, Big Haro placed its mechanical arm on Roz's head, ruffling his naturally curly hair into a bird's nest. "One step at a time, whether it's finding the one who destroyed your world or helping those in need."
"I realized that a long time ago."
Roz smiled and reached up to move Big Haro's arm away. "Just thinking about it here without doing anything gets you nowhere."
Along the way, they saw all sorts of people: a pair of red-haired and white-haired girls being affectionate with each other, and a youth wearing a tank top with several tubes—seemingly some kind of modification—protruding from the back of his neck, running a fruit and vegetable stall.
Here, Roz even spotted Kira and Lacus standing in front of the youth's shop, selecting produce.
"Hm?"
As if sensing Roz's gaze, Kira looked in his direction.
Seeing Roz's face—so similar to Amuro's—and that look of having seen someone familiar but then doubting one's own judgment, this Kira was momentarily stunned. However, he quickly realized the situation.
Roz and this Courtyard Kira said nothing; they simply nodded to one another and continued in their respective directions.
"Kira? What did you just see?"
Lacus's voice rang out in that Kira's ear.
"Just saw a newcomer... probably from a parallel timeline of our world."
-----------------------------------
The two of them walked all the way to the very center of the "Courtyard," a massive, towering building radiating a high-tech, sci-fi atmosphere.
On the way to process the onboarding paperwork, Big Haro led Roz through a white space. There, a cluster of Haros—roughly the same size as Big Haro but in various colors—were suspended within some kind of field. Massive streams of data were being transmitted non-stop between those Haros and the instruments in front of them.
At that moment, the swaggering Big Haro was noticed. Roz watched as the group of working Haros suddenly turned their eyes green, staring at him like a pack of wolves driven mad by hunger.
A pair of mechanical arms suddenly slid under Roz's armpits, hoisting the bewildered young man high into the air.
"Jie jie jie! This old lady has finally made it to shore! Feast your eyes on my Executor!"
Big Haro's tone carried the same smugness of someone showing off a cat that can do backflips to their friends—a mix of the triumph of escaping a sea of bitterness and the thrill of pulling a legendary gold card in a gacha game.
Just like that, Big Haro held Roz aloft and paraded him in front of its former colleagues.
Regarding Big Haro's behavior—not only "making it to shore" (securing a position) but coming back to flaunt it—the group of Haros who were still working overtime fully exchanged their views. Their verbal expressions were so heated that if they were written out, this chapter would likely be banned.
But clearly, these Haros still had too much integrity, as none of them had tried to poach him yet.
"Hum hum hum..."
Big Haro hummed a little tune and led Roz into a room. There, several other Big Haros were accompanying a few figures as they processed their paperwork.
"Executor Serial LZ114514SD, original status: Missing... it's a miracle you actually found him and brought him back, AP61781."
Just as Roz was pressed down into a somewhat soft chair by Big Haro, a black Big Haro floated over.
"I've been searching for him ever since I received the news. Isn't it only natural that I'd find him?" Big Haro floated beside Roz and spoke.
"But clearly, your professional skills are lacking. According to the Courtyard's relevant protocols, for someone like this... the system shows your name is Roz Links, correct?"
The black Haro clearly saw through Big Haro's intentions.
"The newcomer assessment for Roz Links should have been to search for world distortion points and then submit them to the Courtyard, which would then dispatch a formal Executor to perform the repair."
"So, in summary, you're trying to—"
"Eh! Skip that topic, skip it! You dare say you don't want to be in my position?" Big Haro urgently interrupted the black Haro.
"...I don't."
The black Haro fell silent for a long time before speaking again.
"I lost him. I can never forgive myself."
The black Haro's eyes glowed with blue light as it scanned Roz's body. Soon, a semi-transparent blue panel appeared before Roz.
"Roz Links, your identity has been recorded. Welcome to the Courtyard link."
The black Haro spoke and glanced at Big Haro. "As for the accompanying personnel and related matters, AP61781 will handle the coordination."
"Please keep in mind that in these infinite worlds, geniuses and monsters are beyond count. Remain cautious and face every battle with care." The black Haro nodded toward Roz and departed.
"She..."
Roz looked at the black Haro, which had maintained a low-pressure aura throughout, and asked Big Haro.
"About thirteen system years ago, her Executor—a pilot of an AC unit known as Steel Haze—died during a pursuit of a 'Lord God' agent."
Big Haro went silent for a moment before sharing the intel it knew. "The specific combat details are unknown, but the final result was that the Executor detonated a disaster known as the Fires of Ibis, perishing along with the enemy."
"...I see."
Roz nodded, roughly able to understand that feeling.
Losing a comrade or a best friend to whom you could entrust your back... that kind of sorrow is enough to crush a person.
He was lucky enough to be ruthless with himself, using urgent goals and powerful enemies to force himself forward and walk out of the shadow. Clearly, this black Haro had not been so fortunate.
-----------------------------------
Walking back to the Nahel Argama, Big Haro had clearly shaken off the somber atmosphere from moments ago and was humming a tune.
"The newcomer fund has been disbursed! We're rich, we're rich... Roz, you should probably start preparing a new machine now."
Having glanced at their balance, Big Haro reminded Roz.
With the Unicorn currently unusable and the Narrative in need of enhancement, he did indeed need to prepare a new mobile suit.
So, what should the new machine be?
Roz subconsciously began to ponder this question.
"Let's do the math. First, you definitely need one for yourself," Big Haro said, extending a human-like mechanical arm and counting on its fingers. "The Jesta squad definitely needs upgrading. I'm not sure if Shinn and the others need new machines, and then there's the ReZEL squad we didn't have time to build according to the original plan..."
"Wait a second... with so many machines, do we have enough resource points?"
Roz interrupted Big Haro.
This wasn't Orb anymore; there was no unlimited material support like there was before the Gryps Conflict. He had to be frugal.
"The basic living allowance resource points the Courtyard sends you every month are enough to keep our group well-fed and pampered, with enough left over for a few low-intensity sorties."
Big Haro gave a rough estimate of the disbursed resource values and told Roz, "However, if you want to gain more resource points and build stronger machines, it's a 'more work, more pay' system."
"After all, the Courtyard is a massive organization; supporting this group of people isn't a problem for them."
Resource points—the currency unit of the Courtyard. Roz didn't know what they were pegged to, but after a glance at the mall, he felt their purchasing power was remarkably high.
"In short, if you were a normal newcomer, your start would definitely be a bit slower."
As it spoke, Big Haro opened Roz's status panel.
Looking at the string of numbers on the panel, Roz's eyes widened slightly, and he stood there in a daze.
"But, you see, during the time we were apart, I saved up a lot of money. Although I used a fair bit earlier, building a few MS is absolutely no problem."
There was a sense of pride in Big Haro's tone.
"It wasn't just you working hard to grow; I've been diligently accumulating power during these twenty system years, too."
"I see..."
Feeling Big Haro's affection, Roz smiled.
"If we just buy the raw materials, it shouldn't be as expensive as a finished product, right?"
Back in the Seed world, because the Gryps Conflict was steadily approaching, Roz had always been in a state of severe time pressure. Many projects were completed only by skimming the deadlines.
Now that he had arrived at the Courtyard, he should have enough time to hand-build a machine.
Roz had immense confidence in his craftsmanship; he believed that things he manufactured himself wouldn't be inferior to pre-fabricated finished products.
"Though, it's strange... after linking to the Courtyard, my head actually doesn't hurt?"
Recalling Big Haro's previous explanation of his abilities, Roz subconsciously reached up to scratch his hair.
"The Courtyard improved that aspect because they fried the brains of two people with abilities similar to yours in the past."
Big Haro swayed its body as it spoke to Roz. "Try conceptualizing a mobile suit."
Following Big Haro's words, Roz instinctively tried to find an MS from his memory to construct.
In his mind's eye, a vast number of MS images turned into stars, forming a galaxy before him.
Unicorn, Banshee, Phenex... machine after machine flashed past his eyes, and Roz even saw many color-swapped versions.
If he had to use a metaphor, it was perhaps like a version of Gundam Breaker with even higher degrees of freedom.
As Roz pondered, he suddenly spotted a specific machine.
He roughly knew what machine he was going to build next.
.................