Disclaimer: Gundam SEED and all its characters, mecha, worlds and other components belong to someone else. I own a little plastic model.
A/N: It's occurred to me that technically, the two never could have met in academy days if one followed the story of Suit CD 4 (i.e: Miguel only meets Athrun and co. after their transfer to the Klueze squad). Therefore for the purposes of this timeline, Suit CD 4's plot does not exist. (How was that graduation picture with Miguel in it taken, anyway?)
Theme 32: 'self-esteem'
Miguel attempts to offer sage advice.
Industry
"Your problem," he drawls, "is that you don't give yourself enough credit."
She spares his head and shoulders a puzzled glance above the rim of her book before flicking her eyes back to the text.
"….I don't quite understand."
"A-hah. That's where the root of it is, see?" He slides off the edge of the table and jerks a thumb at the haphazard stack of hardcovers and datapads beside her. "You just don't get that there's no need for you to work that hard. You're talented as it is. You could spend the months up to the evaluations running round naked daily in the quad and you'd still get the red."
Silence.
"…okay, maybe not naked, but you get the idea?"
More silence. Then a sigh.
"Listen. Shiho. It doesn't matter whether you're first or eighty-ninth in academy rankings. What counts is whether you can think on your feet while you're out there trying not to get shot."
A thumb slowly turns the page.
"…wouldn't my ability to 'think on my feet' increase with as much preparation as possible?"
Silence again.
The rustling of worn paper.
"…Migu---"
"Catch!"
Her hand whips out and snatches the flying datapad from its path. Surprised, to say the least, she stares in incredulous wonder at his smug features.
"I'd say you're plenty prepared." The blonde smirks and waggles a finger. "It's just a matter of your self-esteem."
He supposed he deserved the projectile in the face after that.