Even though the Minovsky particles had begun to gradually dissipate and the previously paralyzed network was back online, the damage caused by the particles to various electronic instruments in the Tokyo area had brought commercial activity to a near standstill.
Fortunately, the cybernetic bodies worn by Mayu Asuka and Stellar Loussier, as well as the electronic devices belonging to Shinn Asuka and Lunamaria Hawke, utilized shielding technology against Minovsky particles and remained unaffected.
Ultimately, the grand restaurant feast Louise Halevy had envisioned did not materialize. Instead, they gathered in a small eatery that was barely managing to stay operational.
The reason was simple: electronic equipment was malfunctioning intermittently, leading many merchants to demand cash.
While Louise came from a wealthy family, most of her wealth was stored in banks, and she didn't carry much physical cash on her.
"I'm so sorry... I intended to treat my life-saver to a feast, but I ended up defeated by a lack of cash..."
Despite the delicious food in front of her, Louise leaned against Saji Crossroad as if she had been completely burned out. "Ugh... no more cash. Saji, I'll have to rely on you to support me for a while."
"It should be fine. My part-time job shouldn't be affected..."
Looking at Louise leaning against him, Saji smiled and soothed her. "It's okay. I'll talk to my sister; she'll understand."
"So, Mr. Saji has a part-time job... Are you working your way through school?"
Hearing that Saji was working, Mayu instinctively glanced at Shinn, who was sitting quietly to the side.
"Ahahaha... of course. I go to work at a pizza parlor every day. Since I live with my sister, I want to share some of the pressure on her shoulders."
Saji scratched his head, giving Mayu an embarrassed smile.
That's a lie.
Shinn, who was just one step away from becoming a True Newtype, instinctively made this judgment in his heart.
However, hearing that Saji also held a part-time job likely reminded Shinn of his own legendary days as a "Part-time Warrior." Moreover, back when he was in ZAFT acting like a "Money-obsessed Mercenary," he hadn't told anyone his reasons either. This caused the look Shinn gave Saji to soften slightly.
"Speaking of which, Big Brother could share some of his part-time work experience with Mr. Saji."
At this moment, Shinn caught that "mischief-making" look in Mayu's eyes.
"...My experience isn't applicable to him, Mayu. Don't forget, our situation is completely different from theirs."
Shinn shook his head, declining Mayu's suggestion. "They just want to improve their quality of life, whereas we were working to pay off our med—medical bills."
"Besides, they have to attend university. It's impossible for them to work five jobs a day like I did."
"Five... five jobs?!"
Hearing Shinn's nonchalant declaration—one worthy of being called the "Emperor of Part-timers"—both Saji and Louise cried out in shock.
Even Louise, who didn't lack money, knew of the hardships through Saji's experiences. Saji, on the other hand, was stunned by the extreme feat of working five jobs in a single day, and a sense of inexplicable respect rose within him.
Even in the UNION's American region, people generally worked two or three jobs at most. Shinn's five jobs were truly pushing the limits of human endurance.
"Ah, that was in the past."
Shinn fell silent for a moment, deciding to offer a modified version of the truth. "Because of the war, Mayu's and my parents passed away, and she was seriously injured. The medical expenses were incredibly expensive."
"To pay off the debt, those were desperate measures... at least until I found my second job."
Shinn nodded as he spoke, possessing an air of calm after having overcome great adversity. "By the way, my current job is my third one."
While Saji and Louise only knew the outline, Lunamaria and Stellar—comrades who had experienced much together in the previous world—instantly understood Shinn's underlying meaning.
"No wonder you acted like you were obsessed with money back then."
Lunamaria hadn't asked Shinn about it before, but hearing this now, she instinctively covered her face. "So many girls wanted your contact info back then, but they were all scared off by your money-grubbing attitude."
"Hmph. Women only hinder my pace of making money."
At this point, Shinn folded his arms across his chest and spoke with a very firm tone. "At least at that point in time, that was the case."
"So... so cool."
Seeing Shinn so committed to his goals and style—radiating a sort of Sigma energy—even Saji couldn't help but marvel.
"But, war..."
Recalling Shinn's earlier words, Saji sighed again.
Before him were two victims of war. Thinking of Celestial Being's goal of "stopping all wars," the words he wanted to say—either to maintain the status quo or to join the angry denunciations against them—could no longer leave his mouth.
Could it be that Celestial Being's methods are actually right? In places he didn't know, in places that felt unreal to him, all sorts of wars were still breaking out...
"Still, I can't tell at all that little Mayu was ever seriously injured..."
Louise sat up from Saji's side, touching Mayu's arm and face, observing her with curiosity.
"Impressive, right? You should know, back then I had massive burns all over my body—I didn't even look human," Mayu said with a smile, winking at her. "But now, I'm exactly the same as before."
"...It must have been expensive, right?"
Although Saji had no real concept of the debt Shinn had faced at the time, he looked at the beautiful and charming girl before him and found it impossible to link her to the idea of "massive burns all over her body."
"It was expensive, but it was worth every penny."
Shinn nodded, looking toward Mayu as she interacted with Louise. "Saji, staying alive is a very troublesome thing."
"But that's exactly why we have to keep living. No matter the method, no matter the cost, we have to keep ourselves—and the ones we love—alive."
-----------------------------------
In an AEU base somewhere.
Slap...
A file was tossed onto a somewhat cluttered desk.
Upon closer inspection, the desk was piled high with various Gundam sighting reports. Nearby stood several chalkboards covered in the names of various Gundams and lists of analyzed key points.
"Penelope appeared in the UNION's Tokyo area. It's all over the internet now—sighting reports are everywhere."
Black-Flag, the leader of the Lord God squad, who had only recently removed his bandages, sat down in a chair.
"Zero civilian casualties, the targets were terrorists, and even when UNION machines appeared, they weren't killed on the spot... There's no doubt about it: the pilot of Penelope is Lane Aim."
At this point, Black-Flag let out a subconscious sigh of relief. "Good news. At least our previous deduction was correct."
As for the changed beam rifle in Penelope's hands, they had known since Inoue Takina attacked them that they weren't facing just one Hunter, but a whole squad. "Lane Aim" must have found someone to swap weapons with to minimize collateral damage.
But as long as they destroyed Penelope, whether they salvaged the machine for their own use or cooperated with the three superpowers to annihilate the remaining Hunters, it shouldn't be harder than downing the Penelope itself.
After all, that machine was from the UC 105 era. As cutting-edge as it was, it wasn't like the pilot could suddenly pull out some "magic-tier" god-machine, right?
This intelligence temporarily swept away the gloom of having lost two team members, giving the squad some room to breathe.
"By the way, Locksmith, remember to add some electromagnetic shielding to our machines later."
As he spoke, Black-Flag looked toward a young man standing before the whiteboard examining the machine specs. He wore a baseball cap, overalls, and a tank top, looking like a typical construction worker. "You're the mechanic of our team; only you can handle this."
"After all, the news from Tokyo has broken—a massive amount of electronic equipment was damaged. Without a doubt, those are the characteristics of Minovsky particles."
The somewhat blunt-looking youth, "Locksmith," said nothing. He simply gave a thumbs-up and left the room.
"Morphine, how is Shadow-Blade's recovery coming along?"
Black-Flag turned his gaze to the other side of the room, where a temperamental girl with a medical kit slung over her shoulder and an ill-fitting lab coat was smoking a cigarette.
"Alive and kicking. Already ran off to train."
Taking a drag of her cigarette, the girl named Morphine looked at Black-Flag. "Be careful when you face that Penelope. My skill set is just healing; I can't perform resurrections."
"I know. But if we really die, you won't need to do anything anyway. The power of the opponent's beam rifle is too high; there's no saving someone from that."
Black-Flag naturally understood why Morphine was irritable. Against a Beam Magnum, her role as the team doctor was essentially useless. "You be careful not to die, too."
He had a feeling that his teammates would die one by one, and the promise he made to "take them out of the Lord God Space and back to the real world" would be broken.
"Why...?"
Recalling the past scenes, where two teammates had died miserably before his eyes, a sense of guilt for failing to protect them nearly overwhelmed him. "We just want to survive... why does everyone have to come and kill us...?"
"That's just how this world is."
Taking a final puff, Morphine tossed the cigarette butt to the floor and crushed it. "They live, we die; we live, they die... Pull yourself together and drop those overly idealistic thoughts. Casualties are unavoidable; both you and I have done our best."
"Is that so? Am I being naive?" Black-Flag gritted his teeth, unwilling to accept it. "But if I become just like those cold-blooded bastards, I won't be me anymore. I won't be 'Black-Flag' the person."
"...There's just no helping you, you naive brat."
Morphine shook her head and reached out to pat Black-Flag's broad shoulder. "But maybe it's because of that naivety that we were attracted to stay in your squad in the first place."
"Ah... is the Captain in 'emo-mode' again?"
At that moment, Four-Eyes, who never let go of his laptop, walked into the room. "New situation, Captain. A guy named Alejandro Corner wants to meet with us."
.....................