"Ah, you're finally here!"
Perhaps because she had nothing else to do, Louise had been waiting at the entrance long before Shinn and the others arrived, waving at them the moment they stepped out of the car.
But when she saw the group clearly, she froze instinctively.
Even without wearing extravagant gowns—just casual outfits—Shinn and his companions gave Louise the distinct impression of "actors from an idol drama currently filming on location."
'I didn't realize they were this good-looking when we first met. Was it just because it was too dark in Tokyo that night?'
"Sister Louise! Where's Mr. Saji? Is he not coming?"
As soon as she hopped out of the car, Mayu trotted over to Louise.
"Saji couldn't make it because of work. You guys are the only friends I have left..."
At the sound of Mayu's voice, Louise snapped out of her daze and looked at the girl. "But... I'm already so grateful that you all accepted the invitation."
"Oh? What a cute little girl."
Just then, a mature female voice came from behind Louise. "Louise, are these your new friends?"
"Mom!"
Louise turned around to see a woman with short blonde hair and glasses, dressed in an elegant formal gown.
"These are the new friends I met in Tokyo. This is Mayu, and that boy moving the things over there is Shinn. Beside him are Stellar and Luna."
"That's lovely... you've made so many new friends."
Seeing her daughter with a new social circle, Louise's mother couldn't help but smile. However, her brow furrowed slightly as she watched Shinn close the driver's side door.
"But that boy... he is a boy, right? At that age, can he really drive?"
Shinn walked over to Louise, carrying two large cardboard boxes containing the framed paintings he had taken from the trunk.
"As for whether I can drive..."
Faced with the mother's inquiry, Shinn practicedly removed his sunglasses with his right hand and tucked them into the collar of his T-shirt.
"As long as the traffic police don't catch me, there's no problem."
"Mom!"
Fearing her mother might develop a negative impression of Shinn and the others, Louise hurriedly interjected with an explanation. "Shinn and Mayu's parents passed away because of the war. He's the pillar of their family now—he used to work five part-time jobs a day!"
"Part-time jobs, you know? Like what Saji does!"
"I don't have dementia yet, Louise. Of course I remember," Louise's mother chuckled, seeing her daughter defend her friends so fiercely. "It feels like everyone you've introduced me to lately—whether it's your boyfriend or your friends—has lost their parents."
"However, compared to Saji's youthful perseverance, Shinn, you give me the impression of an adult who has shouldered heavy burdens..."
Louise's mother observed Shinn closely and let out a small sigh of relief.
"A prematurely ripened youth... it truly is a cruel world."
While the people her daughter associated with didn't seem entirely conventional, her first impression of them wasn't bad at all.
Still... her friends' looks were a bit too much, weren't they? They looked like the tragic, handsome leads of some idol drama.
"Working five jobs... that must have been very hard."
"It was manageable back then. After all, as long as you're alive, you'll always find a way—whether it's making money or just living..."
As he spoke, Shinn pulled one of the cardboard boxes out and handed it over. "This is my gift. A painting I did myself."
"Ah, you even brought a gift?!"
Seeing the box, Louise's mother was pleasantly surprised.
"...My mom loves receiving gifts, especially handmade things like this. she can't resist them," Louise explained, trying to prevent her mother's reaction from startling Shinn.
"It's fine. I've seen many people with... much more extreme emotions."
Having dealt with the anti-human bigot Rau Le Creuset and the crazed Extended Humans of the Earth Alliance, Shinn actually felt a sense of peace from the joyful brainwaves Louise's mother was emitting in her excitement.
"Ah, speaking of which, we've been standing at the door for so long. Please, come inside."
Looking at Mayu, who was curiously observing the massive castle before them—looking like an elf from a fantasy world despite her ordinary dress—Louise's mother felt her maternal instincts flare up.
Moreover, she truly did adore cute children.
She reached out and took Mayu's hand, intending to give this cute little sister a tour of the historic castle behind her. But the moment she grasped Mayu's palm, a strange sensation welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Though there was a certain softness to the touch, Mayu's hand was too hard—like steel. It didn't feel like the hand of a girl her age at all.
"They're prosthetics."
Seeing the expression on the mother's face, Mayu didn't even have to think to know what she wanted to ask. She smiled and raised her free right hand.
"My limbs are all high-end custom prosthetics. They look a lot like a real human body, don't they?"
The suffering of war—that seemingly distant thing she only saw on reports—had appeared before Louise's mother for the first time in such a visceral way through these "victims," causing her to instinctively cover her mouth.
Her eyes trembled. She couldn't imagine how such a young girl, having lost her original limbs and enduring the pressure of a mangled body, could still face life with a smile.
"Good girl... you're all such good children... Please, come in quickly."
Trying to steady her emotions, and not knowing how to comfort these youths whose scars had been so suddenly exposed, Louise's mother could only invite them in with a slightly muffled voice.
"I forgot to tell you, Mom is easily moved," Louise added, continuing her explanation.
"She's probably already fleshed out a fifty or sixty-episode TV drama about your lives in her head."
It was obvious. From the pity in the gaze she directed at Shinn, she had likely cast him in the role of someone who had to abandon his dreams of painting due to a family tragedy—or perhaps someone who dropped out of art school or failed the entrance exams because of those major upheavals.
If it were the Shinn of the past, he might have turned red under such scrutiny, but now he remained perfectly calm.
Perhaps, as Louise's mother had said, he was merely a prematurely ripened person, out of place among his peers.
-----------------------------------
Although they had felt the castle was massive from the parking lot, the sheer luxury of the interior decorations still caused Shinn and the others a flicker of surprise as they actually stepped inside.
"This castle is a property of the Halevy Foundation. It's our family's private resort and is usually closed to the public," Louise's mother explained calmly, her words carrying a weight that would have shocked any ordinary outsider. "We chose to hold Louise's cousin's wedding here this time."
"Alright, this is the room where the guests' gifts are kept."
Louise's mother led the group into a large, sun-drenched room. "It's no good wandering around while carrying those two gifts. You can leave them here."
"Now then, let me see what the gifts are!"
At the mention of the gifts, Louise's mother instantly shed her heavy emotions and opened the box.
Inside was a far from expensive frame—simple, even clashing with the opulent decor of the castle. However, the image within caused her to freeze instinctively.
It was a view of starry space. A deep blue Earth seemed to rotate within the canvas; the 'Water Star' that served as the cradle of humanity possessed a strange, visceral impact.
Circling the Earth was a magnificent green aurora, surging like a tide in a specific direction. The "meteors" and "ribbons of light" melting into the aurora lent the piece an inexplicable beauty.
"This painting is..."
Even Louise found herself slowing her breathing as she gazed at it.
The level of detail was enough for one to feel the emotions the artist had poured into it. It was, without a doubt, a work that looked as if it had required an immense amount of time and energy—so much so that the gift instantly ranked among the highest in her mother's heart.
"The title of this painting is Miracle," Shinn explained briefly. "You could say... I drew it by extracting a specific node from my life."
Since no one would believe that this was the result of a novice painter cramming in a single night, Shinn didn't bother explaining. Besides, the scene of GENESIS being pushed away was indeed a very important period in his life.
'I just have this weird feeling... are they overthinking it? It feels like they're doing a deep literary analysis of my work.'
Glancing at Louise and her mother—who were likely hallucinating a backstory where this was "the final masterpiece of a genius youth, gifted to them"—Shinn walked over to the window.
Outside the massive window was the wedding scene. The bride and groom in their elegant attire, children running happily across the grounds, people sharing a massive cake... without exception, everyone was laughing, offering sincere blessings to the newlyweds.
Seeing this, Shinn instinctively clenched his fist.
Regardless of their status or identity, this beautiful emotion—this beautiful world—was exactly the reason why Roz, himself, and everyone on the Nahel Argama fought.
He could absolutely not allow this world to be destroyed.
Feeling an increasingly powerful and approaching sense of discomfort pricking at his mind, Shinn narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady his emotions.
"Sometimes, you have to trust your intuition," Roz's words echoed in his ears. "Especially for a Newtype."
"Yeah, I understand."
Shinn made his decision. He opened his eyes again and surveyed the scene. He pretended to pull out his communicator, checked it, and turned around.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Halevy, Louise. I've suddenly got an emergency at work and have to head out first."
Shinn gestured toward his communicator to Louise and her mother, who had just set the painting down. "Lunamaria, take care of Mayu and Stellar. I'll be back to pick you up later."
Lunamaria and the others looked at Shinn; they knew exactly what he was thinking. Though they frowned slightly, they nodded. After all, Newtypes possessed a strange sense of mystery.
According to Roz, Shinn was just one step away from becoming a true Newtype, though no one knew what the final trigger would be.
"...How exhausting. Emergency work even on a holiday?"
Recalling the tragic backstory she had just invented, Louise's mother sighed as she watched Shinn politely depart. "What a strong child."
'Yes, he's strong,' Lunamaria thought. 'Strong enough to pilot an MS and cut through an entire battlefield.'
She kept the thought to herself and quickly found a topic to divert the attention of the Halevy women.
-----------------------------------
Meanwhile, in the sky quite a distance away from the castle where Mayu and the others were located.
Three mobile suits emitting red particles flew through the air, trailing streaks of crimson light behind them.
"Ugh... I'm such a workhorse. All this running around makes me feel like the wounds I got from that Penelope are about to split open again."
Nena Trinity, piloting the Throne Drei, felt she was becoming numb to it all.
Ever since Celestial Being's right of intervention had been seized by them, the global missions that used to be shared among four people were now distributed among the three members of Trinity.
Combined with the highly specialized nature of their machines and the unstable mental states of her two younger siblings, Johann Trinity, as the eldest, had no choice but to keep them close, naturally slowing down their efficiency.
"Less complaining, Nena. We still have a heavy workload ahead of us," Johann's voice crackled through the comms channel.
"Yes, yes... we fell behind so much while the machines were being repaired. We have to speed up and finish it all. Everything for the sake of eradicating war..." Nena tiredly parroted the words Johann always said. "But that Taklamakan Desert was seriously messed up. Just going there once meant a ton of electronic components had to be replaced..."
Nena sighed, bored out of her mind as she scanned the images being fed into her cockpit. Soon, she spotted a castle, and within it, a wedding ceremony filled with people laughing happily.
"...This is too much. I'm working myself to death, and they're here having a heartless party?!"
Seeing this, the resentment from her high-intensity workload combined with a wave of petty spite to fill her heart. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and her eyes narrowed into a twisted smile.
"Well, the world is about to change anyway... why don't I let you experience that feeling first?"
She steered the Throne Drei and, before the other two units could notice, she quietly dropped her altitude and dove toward the castle.
"What is that...?"
The interference caused by the GN particles and the roar of the thrusters caused everyone below to look up. They saw the wicked silhouette of the Throne Drei descending, trailing red particles.
"As I thought, the best experience for you is to just die."
Seeing the bewildered crowd, her playful malice reached its peak. She raised the GN Handgun fixed to her right arm. Nena believed that even if she did something like this, her two protective brothers would still shield her.
She pulled the trigger. Red beams erupted from the muzzle, streaking toward the terrified people in the wedding venue.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
A voice laced with fury exploded in Nena's ears like a thunderclap, causing her to freeze instinctively.
A black shield, trailing a blue exhaust flame, flew in front of the red beam and expanded, revealing a ring-like structure within. The I-Field integrated into it activated; the red beam was twisted, scattered, and ultimately neutralized by the field.
Before Nena could react, and under the watchful eyes of the guests at the castle, a black machine with a single golden horn charged forward.
Trailing a stream of blue light, it slammed into the Throne Drei. Its massive left "gauntlet" punched the Throne Drei's head and upper chest, sending the machine tumbling backward.
"Firing on civilians! Are you bastards even part of Celestial Being?!"
Shinn didn't have Trinity's communication codes. In fact, the Nahel Argama hadn't managed to obtain them since the Taklamakan incident, so Shinn roared through the suit's external loudspeakers instead.
Shinn wasn't even wearing a pilot suit. He was still in the jeans, plaid shirt, and T-shirt he had worn to the wedding, yet he looked like a lion in a fit of rage.
In contrast to the stunned wedding guests, Louise and her mother were shocked upon hearing that voice. It was Shinn's voice.
Despite the anger, Louise's mother hadn't forgotten the boy who had just left and given her such a heartfelt gift.
She instinctively looked toward Lunamaria and the others, but just as she was about to speak, Mayu Asuka smiled and placed a finger to her lips in a "hush" gesture.
Back to the battle in the sky. Nena had just recovered from the Banshee Norn's assault. Looking at the black machine before her, a mixture of confusion, grievance, and rage caused tears to well up in her eyes.
"What are you doing?! Aren't we allies?!"
"Who the hell is your ally?! You're just a brat who attacks civilians for no reason!"
Shinn didn't waste words and barked back. The Armed Armor DE, which had been shielding the castle, returned to the Banshee Norn's back.
"Dammit... You jerk! Even my brothers have never hit me!"
Nena screamed, raising her GN Handgun toward the Banshee Norn.
"Then I'll hit you twice more!!"
Shinn had reached his limit. He slammed down on the pedals, and the Banshee Norn accelerated at a speed Nena could barely track. It slammed directly into the hovering Throne Drei.
Under the force of its powerful thrusters, it overcame the resistance of the GN particles and pinned the Throne Drei against a heavily forested hill.
A massive fist slammed into the Throne Drei's chest armor once more, warping the dark red E-Carbon steel.
"Why... aren't we comrades? Why are we fighting each other over those worthless mortals?!"
Nena wept out of a sense of victimhood. In her worldview, there was nothing wrong with her logic. "Besides, aren't they being unfair? We're risking our lives to stop war, and they're here having so much fun!"
An emotion called "jealousy" began to fester in Nena's heart.
"Is life really that cheap in your eyes?! You bastard!"
Just as Shinn was about to land another punch, a needle-like prick of intuition forced him to maneuver his machine away from the downed Throne Drei.
Red beams struck the spot where he had just been. Had he been a step slower, he would have been hit.
"Nena, are you okay?"
In the Trinity communication channel, Michael was anxiously checking on Nena's status.
"Why did you attack us? Please state your reason."
As the most stable of the three, Johann was the first to question him.
"She attacked civilians! Is that reason not enough?!"
Shinn replied with biting irritation, recounting Nena's actions.
"...That was a necessary sacrifice."
Even knowing Nena's actions might be problematic, Johann instinctively defended his sister. "Everything is for the sake of ending war. Please do not interfere with our operations."
"You people..."
Hearing Johann's sophistry, Shinn's teeth were gritted so hard they could break. He gripped the control levers tight as his internal emotions surged, and his brainwaves began to grow increasingly active.
"Big brother, let's just take him out! Why are you being polite? He already made Nena cry!"
The hot-tempered Michael could no longer restrain himself. He drew the Buster Sword from the Throne Zwei's right shoulder. "Besides, they're just some insignificant ordinary people. If they're dead, they're dead. What's the big deal?"
Rage—a violent, intense rage—burned in the depths of Shinn's heart, as if it were about to incinerate him entirely.
Blue Cosmos, the Atlantic Federation, Extended Humans, ZAFT... his past life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.
"I knew it. There's no way you people are Celestial Being."
..................