Chapter 10: Conflicting Thoughts

"You even have a ranged weapon!?" Suprised Ichika as he evaded the first barrage. He was completely unaware that the Crossbone possessed a capable range weapon other than the pair of CIWS on its head. Now being caught off guard, he had to make a change of plan to deal with the new hurdle.

Gazing up to the sky, he saw his training partner aiming a peculiar looking weapon at him, and soon after, many energy bolts were discharged out of the barrel of the gun.

The power generator inside the ZanBuster roared and shot out a large beam at sub-light speed. The once mega-particle beam that could match a battleship main cannon flew through the distance, though tuned down, it was still equivalent to that of a tank cannon and was now being used to bombard Ichika with its high precision and rate of fire.

After 10 minutes, Byakushiki had received many hits and its shield energy was draining fast. The weapon that Tobia was using looked paled in size by comparison to Cecilia Starlight, yet it packed one heck of a punch.

Currently, Ichika didn't have the time to think since shots after shots kept coming his way from multiple positions. Tobia was one tough opponent to crack, his hit and run tactic made it impossible for Ichika to predict the next attack. Being fixated on the new shots heading his way, he couldn't possibly focus on the change of Tobia sniping position, and before he knew it, the next barrage was already on its way from a different angle.

But in a way, it reminded him of the duel with Cecilia, the situation was pretty much the same, though his opponent was way tougher. If the same scenario was happening, then he knew only one way to resolve the problem.

To close in the distance.

However, it wouldn't be easy, if he went in for a CQC with Tobia, that would be worse than dodging his beam attacks. He knew damn well how it would turn out based on the training lesson. But it was not like he had any other choice, so he decided to just go with it.

Ichika ignited all of his boosters and rushed towards our pilot. He may not be the brightest of all, but he certainly knew that a 3-dimension battle is harder to fight than a 2-dimension one. Sticking too long on the ground would only make him an easy target.

On the other side, Tobia smirked to himself, for the adrenaline inside him had risen. The Crossbones' pilot skillfully used his four X-shaped thruster binders to maneuver and closed in on the Byakushiki via a complicated trajectory. Both machines' thrusters were glowing, the heavy sound roaring through the sky, and the two pilots gave every piece of their minds into their decisive blow.

Tobia switched the selected firing mode, instead of a condensed single beam, the beam would explode into a wide arc when coming near contact with the enemy, thus blinding them. The explosions flashed on the screen of Byakushiki and although it didn't cause much damage to the machine, it did force Ichika to evade, losing him the precious time needed to calculate the next movement. Under the cover of the explosions, Tobia immediately closed in on his target.

Tobia's first close-range exchange was a set of 3 beam shots aiming for Byakushiki abdomen, but luck was on the Ichika side that moment. The shots merely missed it mark by few inches when Ichika twisted his waist to the side with precise motion, one that greatly resembled Houki form during her training. He then charged right through Tobia in an instant without making a strike. Instead, when he flew past Tobia, he immediately made a sharp 180-degree turn, ignoring the G-force that would usually render a pilot unconscious; Ichika instantly went aiming for the Crossbone's back. In such a close range and a short reaction time, there was no way for Tobia to summon his sword for defense, the victory was sure in his hand, Ichika could feel it.

However.

The second before Ichika could achieve his revenge from the morning sparring, Tobia had already had him in his hand.

*Brrttttt* the pair of Vulcan of the Crossbone ignited its hell of bullets at Ichika. At such a close range, it was impossible for the raven hair boy to dodge. Although it didn't affect Byakushiki much, the sensors did receive heavy damage, which caused its pilot a second to react. And that instant was all that it took.

The weapon that Tobia was wielding was in fact, a combination of two; in under a second, both separated, and the back of the gun, which now resembled a cutlass hilt, caught the attention of Ichika. It emitted a large beam blade, almost identical to Byakushi Nigata, but with a different color.

One blow and the sword Ichika had in his hand was wrenched from his grip and sent flying across the field, shattering the ground as it came crashing down.

The Crossbone had used its beam Zanber to counter the Ichika strike and with its superior output and strength, it was able to rip the Yukihira Nigata away.

Being taken by complete surprise, Ichika was left dumbfounded at the counter-attack before a kick landed on his side and sent him flying down to the arena ground.

"That was a sword!?" Were the final words from Ichika before he felt the force of impact on the ground.

Although Byakushiki's energy shield hadn't run out yet, it was clear by that point that who would be the victor, so when Ichika fell down to the ground, he didn't even bother to continue the struggle.

And thus, the battle was over with Ichika accepting his defeat, marking it as his 3rd official lost since coming to the IS academy.

"Sorry if I went too hard on you," Tobia spoke first. He believed that he may have gone too far as to kick Ichika down to the ground like that. He admitted that his enthusiasm for a fight had taken over him at the last moment. As much as he hated war and battle, when using a mobile suit in a sport like this, it was quite addictive for him when his adrenaline started pumping from a good fight. After all, mobile suit battle and their design were what he looked up to when he was a child.

Lying on the ground now was Ichika with his eyes squinted and his mouth shut close due to frustration. Despite his deceptively blank face, the raven hair boy was on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

"Aghhh! Come on, I almost have you there! Your IS is basically a Pay-to-Win. You have 2 weapons like Yukihira and I only have 1! It's unfair!"

"Now, now, Ichika. Don't be too sad, if you try harder next time, you will win. After all, this loss was due to-" Tobia tried to cheer his friend up and gave him advice, but Ichika quickly interrupted. Probably still feeling sour of his close victory being taken away.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I went in underestimating your weapon capabilities and got my ass handed. That's all."

Despite disappointment as he appeared to be, it seemed like Ichika did realize his mistake, so Tobia was glad that the boy had taken in an important lesson.

But when thinking about it further, Ichika remembered that he had also made the same error last time during the duel with Cecilia. Out of embarrassment and frustration, he instantly knitted his eyebrows and rustled his head. He couldn't believe that he made such an amateur mistake back then and even now. "Ugh... I think I should fix that..."

"I see, Ichika still has that bad habit huh?" An acknowledging voice could be heard from the side, which belonged to Houki. Seeing that the training is over, she walked over to the two of them with two towels and some drinks on her hands. "Here, it must have been tiring, right?" She handed a bottle and a towel to Ichika and another to Tobia.

"Thanks." Tobia nodded and accepted them, "By the way, your sword fighting is really good too Houki. I think your sword training has definitively helped him there." He stated, thinking about the last maneuver that Ichika had pulled off, "Your toughness in teaching will make him more likely to remember. He's more of a muscle memory type anyway."

"You really think so? Umu, I also believe that if Ichika follows the way of the sword, he will become much stronger." Houki was glad that Tobia also had the same thought as her, she held her hand tight to her chest in contemplation and delight.

"Oh, come on. Give me a break, I can't handle Houki spartan training anymore." Ichika groaned, having a PTSD of what he had gone through during her past training. To which, Houki quickly shot an eye at him, silencing whatever the guy had in opposition.

"…Nevermind," Ichika quickly turned away, coincidently meeting Tobia's eyes as he sat flat on the ground and drank his energy drink. On the topic of swords, Ichika seemed to realize something about Tobia IS.

"What's wrong, Ichika?" Feeling being stared at, Tobia awkwardly asked.

Ichika blinked twice when he was called out before answering. "Ah, it's just that... I have just realized... You are the representative of Austria, right? So why is your sword named Muramasa?"

Ichika folded his hands in front of his chest as his face showed a curious gesture. "And about that new weapon of your too... what was it?" And Houki sitting on the side also had the same look.

With a question like that, the pilot himself didn't know how to answer it. The fact that he himself never bother to think about it now that he thought about it made him scratched his cheek in trouble. The Gundam was indeed passed down to him by its former pilot, Tobia Arrnonax, however, not much was known about its history even by the former pilot himself.

"I'm not sure of myself. But to the best of my knowledge, the one who designed Silver Phantom weapons was a Japanese, so that's properly the reason why." He replied honestly without batting an eye, believing that it was a suitable answer.

"Heh, so there was a Japanese collaborating in designing your IS? Well, I guess it does sound kind of cool." Said Houki with Ichika nodding in agreement as well.

"While you explained that Muramasa has the same property as Yukihira, Chifuyu-nee said that it didn't drain your shield during the duel. And you have 2, isn't that basically a cheat?" Ichika asked.

"Well... it's complicated..." Replied Tobia, but half-way through, an idea flashed up inside his head. "But no. In a battle, you would always want to have an edge over the enemy. What I have in my arsenal are simply put, my strongest assets. So, it's not a cheat. The enemy will not always be playing to your strength. You should throw away that line of thought."

"Ugh, so straightforward. But I guess you're right..."

"Anyway, I think that's enough for today. Let's clean things up and head back."

"Umu. Let me help with you guys too."

Since there were three, it didn't take long for them to clean up everything. They all decided to head back to their dorm room right after that to take a bath. Since it had been a long day and sweat had been building up quite a lot, both Ichika and Tobia agreed to at least be clean before dinner.

When they finally got back to the dorm, both Tobia and Ichika parted their way with Houki since her room was on the upper floor. When they opened the door into the room, Tobia realized that he had forgotten one important thing.

"Ah, shit. We haven't bought the ingredients for dinner tonight yet."

"Wait, you haven't!? We gotta be fast before the dorm is locked down. I will go, you can take the bath first." Hurried Ichika as he dashed out of the room to the convenience store. The dorm would close at 7 p.m. and it was currently 6:15 p.m., so Ichika needed to be quick.

Seeing that his buddy had helped him out on the ordeal, Tobia thought that he could make a good dinner that night ask a thank you for Ichika. But before that, as usual in his daily routines, he would go through the reports from Haro investigation, though he preferred to do it in the bathroom today since he was so sweaty already.

"Haro, today reports?"

"Yes, master." spokeHaro. Its eyes projected out many hologram screens while Tobia was taking a bath. The first one was news coverage from an Austrian news agency; they together with the Austrian government were on a hunting trip for any possible information possible about him and his IS.

The flying sphere began playing the video on the news and slowly explaining its discovery. It seemed like after the information about his duel with Cecilia got outside, there was a massive uproar in the IS industrial world. The Austrian government was essentially bombarded with questions since everyone thought that they were incapable of making their own IS and had collaborated with the German instead to develop their own mass-production model. Yet, there it came, accounts of a completely new model, fully armored IS called the Silver Phantom said to belong to Austria was able to defeat England's newest experimental 3rd gen.

Speculations were thrown around and the German-Austrian collaboration was in big mayhem. For an unknown unit to appear out of the blue like that, even though their 3rd gen was still in testing, made the Germans felt that they were backstabbed. As such, both countries were pushing at the Academy for an answer and a meeting with him.

However, since the IS academy had sworn to provide absolute privacy for their students, none would dare to intervene with the issue about Tobia and his Gundam as it would violate the Alaska treaty.

Thanks to Chifuyu, he was able to stay off the radar for a while, and even now, she was still protecting him, which made him felt quite guilty for pushing it on her. Though at the same time, he also wondered why she did it for him, except for the part that she said she was interested in his Gundam, there were no actual benefits to be gained.

"Well, I still had to rely on her, so it's best to be both cautious and obedient for now." After some more exchange, he concluded the matter and moved on to the next one.

For the second matter, it was about Tabane and the data of the F91 Gundam that Tobia had given to her. It was a gamble on his part and he was waiting for her reaction and decision regarding the data. Since the information regarding the Bio-computer, Pyscho-frame, and reactor had been extracted, he didn't have to worry much should Tabane uses it against him, for the Crossbone Gundam was superior in specs.

Regarding why Tobia decided to handle it to Tabane, it was a part of his test. The F91 was suitable enough as an explanation regarding her question for his background without revealing his personal backstories; it also would explain the Crossbone Gundam's true nature and spare him the ordeal. If Tabane joins him, it would be great, but should she use it against him, then it would be to kill or be killed situation. He couldn't let the F91 be mass-produced and become a tool of war again, should thing gets out of hand, he will take full responsibility.

Believing that the daily reports were over, he decided to dismiss Haro. But for some reason, Haro didn't disappear right away, instead, it hovered around him for a while before he noticed it.

"What's wrong?"

"Master, I have another thing to report. Around the world, there have been some IS missing cases. I have confirmed 6 cases in total. Should we pay attention to it?"

"Hmm, I didn't see them on the news? Is there a reason?"

"Yes, master. It seems like the countries with their IS stolen refused to make the information public."

The reason why those countries refused to announce their losses was no doubt that it would put them in a disadvantageous position to rival countries. Due to the simple fact that a country with more IS cores will have an advantage in the political monopoly, the loss of ISes would be detrimental to their national defense. With the limited cores, being 467 only, once a core was lost, it was impossible for them to rebuild their number again.

What were the most concerning for Tobia was that for even big countries to be pirated like that, an individual like him without a solid backing could easily be targeted.

He pondered on for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Investigate them, track everything down."

"By your order, master."

It was better to be prepared for a possible future problem.

The sound of water coming from the bathroom could be clearly heard throughout the room. Tobia came out after finishing his shower, wearing his casual shirt and shorts with a towel wrapped around his neck. As He went reaching for the hairdryer, the door opened, which he expected to be Ichika returning. And indeed, it was Ichika, though with a very depressed look on his face… and a red handprint on the left cheek.

Blinking confusingly, Tobia could only mutter a simple sentence that any normal people would say. "...What happened dude?"

Ichika placed the bags down onto the kitchen first before answering. "I met Rin outside when I came back from the convenient store."

"Uh-huh. And?"

He sighed and went reaching for some ice to apply on his face. "I just don't understand. We talked a bit about our older days and then she suddenly mentioned the promise I made with her. I was certain that I remembered it exactly, but for some reason, when I explain it to her, she gave me this extra." He said while gesturing to the glowing red mark on his face.

"Promise?"

"Uhm, she promised me that if she became a better cook with her dish, she would treat me to her sweet and sour pork every day."

"Ahhh... I see the problem."

"You do? But wait, that is not what I'm worried about. We ended up agreeing that if I win in the interclass tournament, then she will tell me. But if I lose, I will have to do any one thing that she wants." After letting out a long-exasperated sigh, he lied down on his bed. "Aghhh… I think I just dug my own grave…"

At this point, Tobia didn't know what to say to his friend anymore. On one hand, from his point of view, Ichika was a lucky bastard to have a girl offering a deal that was beneficial to him both ways, but it was just that the guy didn't realize it. On the other hand, if the guy loses and then rejects the girl's feelings, he would just turn into a pathetic person.

Tobia rolled his eyes before going over to the kitchen and began sorting out the ingredients. "I'm not sure whether to sympathize with you or feel jealous of you..."

"What do you mean? Shouldn't it be the former?" Ichika raised a finger to object.

"Shut up, lucky bastard." Said Tobia as he threw a sandwiches package at Ichika to vent his anger.

He was very envied of Ichika that the guy was having three girls actively pursuing him while he himself had no one. Though, in reality, it was because he didn't go for any girls in the academy, for he still clinging to the notion that his destined one was Belle, Tobia Arronax-san's daughter. He did get flustered when he was alone with Chifuyu however, as her beauty was indeed unrivaled currently, but he would not admit it, so it was actually hypocritical on his part.

"What? Don't you see I'm in trouble right now?"

"Hmm! Serve you right!" deadpanned Tobia.

Contradicting the fact that he was a 22-year-old guy since when he got into this world, Tobia had been acting out of his age sometimes by being a bit childish.

It was quite late to be outside now, and the distant stars above were illuminating brightly upon the sky.

As the night breeze was biting and crashed over his face, a shiver traveling down his back. He knew that he shouldn't be outside at the current hour, but the urge for some hot coffee was really pushing him.

After dinner, our pilot had decided to go out to buy some coffee from the outside vending machine.

With the push of a button, the clicking sound from the machine went off, and soon followed was the ejection of two black coffee cans.

Holding onto one, he popped it off to take a shot. Unlike what Chifuyu had told him that the canned coffee was bad, to him, it was not that terrible considering the one that he used to be supplied within the EFSF didn't even taste like one. They were obviously not to the quality of that his mother made, but for what they were, he took it for granted. If he has a chance to have some real beans, then it would be great.

Back in his world, he wasn't a smoking or drinking type, so to help himself coping up with stress, he found a connection to coffee. Although he knew that coffee was not something good to be abused too much, it strangely helped him through many tough times and thus became a part of him. And currently, he had many things to think about.

A stupid mistake was made.

And the situations that would follow.

Similarly, a different world that he did not know, but was surely very familiar.

It was enough to cause many to question whether or not they had the ability or qualifications to follow through with them all. Even more so when more variables and factors continued to be added into the mix.

A powerful machine called Infinite Stratos.

A world order that was driven by the possession of these machines.

And of all, he was now a chess piece in this mad game.

All were enough to bring along a headache, yet despite that, he had already decided on what he would do. To disregard anything that stood in his way and go back to his world. Due to limited resources and lack of knowledge, he was forced to lay low and adapted to a new life for the time being.

He knew that he would eventually go back to his world, so he tried to keep his attachment to others at a minimum. That was what he had thought at first.

However, for some reason, he constantly ran into many nuisances and interactions with people. Chifuyu, Maya, Ichika, Houki, and then Cecilia. Over a week, he had begun growing some bond to them that he did not want to acknowledge that it was pleasant.

Although he still held onto his objective, the thought of being alone daunted him. After all, he is still but just a man, living alone without interacting with anyone was not something he could do. As thus, he found himself to them, for it brought him the warmth of people.

"I guess I should return."

Since he had gotten what he wanted, Tobia decided to head back to his room. Though, on his way, he noticed a figure standing behind a bush that was on the phone talking to somebody. At first, it was quite dark for him to distinguish the person, but when he focused in, the figure appeared to be a blonde girl and her conversation was a bit heated judging from her tone.

The tone? Right, the person was none other than Cecilia Alcott, the girl who had just become their friend recently after calling him and Ichika to a duel.

Having easily recognized her, a small part of him was curious about why Cecilia was outside at the time and who was she conversing with on the phone? But the other part of him didn't want to be too privy to other personal issues, so he decided to just ignore it and return.

*Crack* What a spot of bad luck, for he to suddenly step onto a conveniently broken tree branch lying on the walkway by accident at that moment.

"Who's there!?" Cecilia, being a trained pilot instantly notice the strange noise behind her. When she turned around, the image of Tobia sheepishly trying to sneak away flew right into her eyes.

"Tobia-san?"

As soon as Cecilia called him out, he knew that he couldn't run away, for she would just push him for an answer tomorrow for sure.

"...Cecilia-san, I swear... It wasn't my intention to listen to your phone call..." Facing such an awkward situation, he meekly looked back and tried to diffuse the situation.

However, the unpleasant atmosphere quickly turned out to be less overwhelming than he thought when Cecilia left out a sigh.

As she looked around, Cecilia walked out to the light to show herself. She was wearing a blue dress with a light coat and a long scarf. Under the light of the lamps, her smooth blonde hair and snow-white skin really stood out, not even mentioning those azure blue eyes of her adding more to highlight her charm.

'So, when she dresses moderately and not bitching at you, she does possess such beauty huh?' he held the thought to himself at her approaching. Though, her beauty was still nowhere near comparable to Chifuyu.

Wait, why did he also think about Chifuyu? Right, he may just be pointing out his opinion, that was all. He hastily returned to the topic.

"What are you doing out here at this time?"

"Ah... I'm just out here to buy some coffee. What are you doing out here then?"

"..."

No answer. She constantly evading his glance, a sign that she was not keen on telling the reason. The deafening silence only continued to stress out.

Pushing for an answer was not something he wanted. Everyone had their own personal space and he would respect theirs.

"Well, if there's nothing, then I'll excuse mys-"

"W-wait!"

Seeing that there was nothing to be spoken anymore, he attempted to flee from the scene but was then being abruptly stopped by Cecilia's delicate hands holding onto his shirt.

"...C-could we talk?"

Sitting on the nearest bench while looking up at the sky, a breeze blowing by and tussling Tobia' bangs. More than that, the wind came from the same direction of a certain individual that he just thought about.

"I'm sorry for taking your time like this... It's just... I want to have somebody to talk to..." Apologized Cecilia, hugging her arms together to keep herself warm from the cold wind.

Inside her right hand held the mobile phone that she had used to make the call. Her grip on it seemed to be tight and shaken at the same time.

Tobia stared at her absently, his non-existent communication skill with women once again came into effect. As usual habit, he unthinkingly offered her the other can of coffee that he had bought. An unintentional act it was for Tobia, the girl on the receiving end actually had a different thought about it. And received the reaction of a widened pair of eyes he did.

"Uh...T-thank you!?" Cecilia, surprised by Tobia offering, shyly accepted it. Although she did not know why he did so, she did smile a bit at his good nature.

She had noticed for a while that Tobia himself despite always act like a normal person that was good with communication, he was actually more of an "active" introvert in a sense. Unlike when he was beside Ichika when he was alone like this, he generally tried to avoid the look of the other girls. Nonetheless, it was still unknown to her the reason why he did so.

As the bitter taste of coffee traveled down her throat, her doubts cleared, and her thoughts were finally back onto what she should do. The future he would lead her towards was important, and the only thing he needed to do was to stop those that would harm her.

Cecilia subconsciously took another swig of coffee, eliciting a surprised gasp from Tobia as he reached out for the can in her hand.

After all, Cecilia had begun choking.

"Ahh... Easy there," Tobia consoled her. "It's black coffee so it's quite bitter."

She wiped the spilled coffee off of her with a handkerchief before letting out a sigh. Her mind was almost absent.

Tobia took the can away and gave her some light pats on the back.

In this way, the two sat in relative silence.

The sound of nature and crickets setting a calming sort of mood that would make anyone want to throw away any sorrow inside their head. And so Cecilia did, finally decided that she would hold in her trouble alone no more.

After all, Tobia had listened to her story back then, even now, he would listen this time too, right?

"I..." Spoke Cecilia, prompting the boy to perk up. "…I have a fight with the branches family... After the duel, they have come together and begun pressuring me for the position of the head."

Tobia opened his eyes and raised a brow, thinking about what the girl had just told him.

So, he was the source of her trouble. Granted, she was the one who came up with the duel, so what happened after that was only the consequence of her action. Yet, there was a sense of guilt and sympathy lingering within him when listening to her story.

"I didn't think through the consequences because of my overconfident, I have brought shame to my country. And now I am at risk of losing what my mother had worked so hard for."

"Tobia-san," she called, a hand brushing back the hair that had fallen over her eyes behind her ears. "I don't know what to do anymore. It feels so difficult to let go but at the same time, I just can't."

Tears began to form over her eyes.

A heart-wrenching scene for him to watch, but what could he do? He was only a simple man who had no real connection to this world, less trying to influence it.

Unless... the Gundam.

True, he had no business to involve in this personal dispute, but as a human being, he wanted to help her out. But he had understood her circumstance and had consented to help her restart her life, so it was not like he did not have any connection with her anymore.

Once again by instinct, he raised his hand up to pat her head when he saw her cry. It was something he always does after a fight with his younger sister to calm her down.

And it worked somehow as she felt a pleasant feeling that she had not felt for a long time. The warm feeling that gave one a sense of comfort and reliability, just like her mother.

"Tobia-san...?"

"Don't worry. I will help you out on this." He gave her a reassuring nod and a gentle smile.

"N-no, I can't possibly pull you into this. It's m-!"

"It's ok. I told you before, didn't I? That I will listen to your trouble and help you out. Trust me, I'm a man of his word after all." he said. His eyes full of resolution and determination, those that made others can't help but feel secured. "You don't need to be worried; I will take care of it for you."

Noticing his gaze, the weariness in Cecilia's tired eyes disappeared, her gaze shifting slightly to the left in an unspoken act of bashfulness that she had no idea she was displaying.

She was speechless.

Why? Why did he once again lending out his hand to help her? She could not understand him at all.

Growing up in a cold environment where everyone fought and backstabbed each other for power, she had grown disdained with the lie and deception of adults, especially towards men. But Tobia and Ichika were different, even though she had mocked and ridiculed them, they still forgave her, talked to her, and even became a friend with her.

To her, Ichika was the image of what a capable man should, always striving to be stronger to protect his loved one. When he said he would fight for Orimura-sensei's name and pride by showing what he could do, he meant it. Not empty words, for his action, spoke louder than all. He lost due to elimination, but he had certainly won over her heart as a man.

With Tobia, he showed the image of a caring brother. He who remained patient with her and listened to her. He was reliable and always be on the side of others, like when he protected Ichika-san. Even now, he agreed to help shoulder her burden.

Despite the time they were together had only been for a few days, what she emotionally experienced was something she would never think of seeing in those years back in her mansion.

"We should head back now. It won't be nice if Orimura-sensei finds out us being out here this late," he said before extending a hand out to her.

Her own hands stretched out to accept his as she inwardly felt conflicted. On one hand, she had already fallen for Ichika, but on the other, what Tobia had done for her was beyond the feeling indebted to the point of affection.

"Yes, Tobia-san."

In the end, her trust won over and what had troubled her seemed to disappear completely.

Slowly, she stood up, and together, they walked back to their room as the grass and tree rustled behind, breaking the quiet atmosphere of that tranquil night.

A/N: Comment Reply

Setsuna Rizky: Yeah, I first intended for him to have a flashback of him having a talk with an older Banagher, but then I drop the idea so a few words may have been left back since I forgot to delete them. Anyway, thank you for reading my story.

Guest DCDGojira: Thank you

Luke: New chapter for you mate. Thank you for reading my story

Peperoncino: Here you go, hope you enjoy it

Dragon Lord Syed 101: Yeah, in these first many chapters, I mainly wanted it to be a canon retread for the sake of not dumping too much information on the reader. Also, IRL, not anyone would start running around and doing crazy shits and expect to get out of it easily, so that's why Tobia is taking a more careful and slow approach. Changes will eventually happen in the future, but more of a world-building than the actual event in the novel and anime. And well, I also looking forward to other U.C verse stories too, especially those that are less well-known.

Luke: I hope you enjoy the chapter

ericsofly2: Well, too bad that since it's stated that she is important to Tobia right not as she is the only hope for him to go back, I don't think she will be killed in the near future. She would actually play a very important role later *cough* F91 Gundam *cough*

So that's all, see ya in the new chapter. Any questions can be asked in the comment and chat.