Phase 3: Conflicted
A week had passed since Kira first arrived. It was the day that classes finally started for the year and Kira was putting on his new uniform.
There was something about the uniforms that made Kira feel nostalgic. As if he had worn them before.
From what he understood, the men's uniforms were based on the old military uniforms of the nation of ORB that were used during the Bloody Valentine Wars.
The stripes that used to indicate the ranks of their military were no longer on it. One the upper arms of the uniform held the old and outdated symbol of ORB which was now the symbol for the school.
The tips on the lapel on the jacket held different colors that changed depending on what year you were in the school. There was black for first years, blue for second years, yellow for third years, and red for fourth years. Kira's held the yellow mark indicating he was a third year.
The jackets were required to be worn even during hot days as part of the school dress code. Luckily they were made of a special material that regulated the temperature so that even under the scorching sun they still felt cool.
He hadn't heard too much about the female uniforms other than they were quite beautiful looking.
A knock on the door distracted him from the mirror while he was trying to straighten out his uniform.
"It's open," he called out and the door opened to reveal a certain pink haired girl. Kira was surprised to see her there but was dumbstruck when he saw her in her uniform.
Kira realized right then that the rumors were true. He didn't notice it the other day because no one was dressed in their uniforms yet since the year hadn't started yet.
The uniforms that the women wore seemed almost more like a dress. It had a skirt that fell down to just below the knees. A pair of fashionable looking boots was on her feet. The dress was collared at the top.
The jacket was very similar but a little smaller with a smaller lapel but it still had the color coding for year on it. It also had the symbol on both arms.
Kira heard that originally they had similar uniforms as the boys but with normal skirts when the school first opened. Apparently though, the girls wanted something a little more fashionable since they weren't actually in the military and it was eventually changed to what it is today. Nobody seemed to have any real complaints about it though.
Pulling himself together, Kira responded. "L-Lacus… what are you doing here?" he questioned since she was supposed to live in a different dorm.
Lacus found herself staring at Kira in his uniform for a few seconds longer than she should have. What she was seeing was like something out a memory. However she was sure that she had never met Kira before the other day.
Yet again Lacus felt that tight clenching of her heart. 'Why? Why does it feel like this whenever I see him?' she asked herself before doing everything she could to keep herself composed.
Lacus stretched out a hand holding an envelope. "Miss Murrue was busy so she asked me to deliver your schedule," she quickly explained.
"Thank you for bringing it," Kira responded with a smile as his hand reached out and grabbed it.
Kira opened the envelope and stared at the classes he was given. 'So much for not standing out,' he thought as his head fell forward.
"What's wrong? Didn't do as good as you expected?" Lacus asked peaking over his shoulder and reading the schedule.
Her eyes widened when she saw that he was in most of the higher level classes for their grade. "Wow, that's amazing," she exclaimed in surprise.
"You seem to be in a lot of classes with Athrun with the exception of your engineering courses. You even have several regular classes with me," she explained feeling strangely happy despite that painful feeling she kept getting every time she saw Kira.
"I don't understand why I'm in a higher piloting course. I only did well because I rewrote the system," Kira said since he tried his best not to show anything.
"Mr. La Flaga is a good judge of character. He probably saw something in you that you have yet to notice," Lacus replied offhandedly while continuing to look at the paper.
'Or he realized that I wasn't really even trying,' Kira thought in annoyance.
"Not to mention that it takes a completely different kind of skill to rewrite something like that in the middle of a battle," Lacus continued as she stepped away from Kira.
'Oh yeah… I failed to think about that,' Kira thought finding that he could only internally laugh. His attempt to not show his skill only made him more suspicious.
"Well at least it proves to the big headed ones that your recommendation into this school wasn't a fluke," Lacus said looking on the bright side of things.
A chuckle escaped from Kira's throat at Lacus's description of "Big headed ones".
Just then Kira couldn't help but noticed what else Lacus was wearing. It was something that really peaked his interests.
While her hair was down in the style she wore when he first saw her a week ago; she was now wearing an accessory that looked very familiar.
Lacus noticed where Kira was staring and smiled. "You like it? My mom had it specially made for me on my fourth birthday. She was a big fan. Part of the reason she named me after her. It's just a copy but it's special to me," Lacus explain fingering the double crescent moon headpiece.
Kira noticed a saddened dip in her voice. He didn't need to ask to know that her mother was probably dead as well. He knew the feeling she was having all too well.
'Why do I feel like I've seen it before? Not in pictures or today. Like I saw it in person many years ago,' Kira thought as he tried to delve into his memories but failed to pick anything up which was weird since he always had such good memory.
"She died in an accident a few weeks after giving it to me," Lacus suddenly revealed with her back to him as if recognizing what Kira was thinking.
"Why would you…" Kira asked unsure why she just suddenly decided to tell him about this.
"Because you told me about your parents. Now we're even," Lacus said turning back towards him with a quick smile before she walked towards the door.
"By the way," Lacus started as she stopped in the door way, "the uniform looks good on you," she said with a wink before she truly exited the room.
Kira chuckled as he watched her leave. "Lacus Clyne, what an interesting person," he muttered as he grabbed his supplies and schedule. He too then left the room.
"Lacus!" a blue haired, green eyed boy yelled out when he spotted his fiancée while he was heading to class.
The young pink haired woman didn't respond and just kept walking even seeming to speed up a little bit.
"Lacus!" he called out again almost right next to her but she continued to walk without responding.
It was like he didn't even exist at that moment. He'd been seeing this a lot recently as a result of some work he'd been doing.
"Look I'm sorry I missed another date," Athrun relented when he knew she wasn't going to respond.
"That was the third time this week Athrun and like the tenth time in the last month," Lacus finally responded in an eerily calm voice.
Athrun couldn't help but shutter. He'd rather her just yell at him than to speak to him in such a calm voice even though she was really angry.
"I'm sorry there's nothing I could do. My dad's been having me do a lot of work for him lately and it's just taken up a lot of my time," Athrun tried to reason even though he knew that it really wasn't that great a reason.
"Then you need to make some time Athrun. You asked me on most of those to make up for it and then never show up. Several times without even a call. We may have been engaged by our parents, but that doesn't mean you can take it so lightly Athrun," Lacus complained before she turned from him and went off on her own.
Athrun came to a stop as he watched her walk off. He didn't need to be told that to know it was true.
The marriage may have been arranged but he had no problems with it. He'd always liked Lacus and yet she always seemed so distant about it. Sometimes it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself that it was fine. Sometimes even as if she was waiting for someone else.
Athrun didn't hold it against her. There were times even he questioned if this was right for them.
Yet now his father had him running errand after errand for him effectively taking away a lot of the time he could possibly have had to change her mind.
In the last week though, he had noticed a kind of change. Impatience seems to have overcome her. Her mind seemed to be wandering elsewhere sometimes when he was with her.
More than once the new kid had come up in her words as well. Athrun wasn't sure what to think of it yet but he felt worried.
'If I don't step it up, I could possibly lose her. Yet I can't just say no to my dad when he needs so much help,' Athrun thought to himself not sure what he could do to satisfy both of them.
The bell ringing caught his attention and he ran towards his class.
Thanks to the tour that Lacus gave him when he first got to the school, Kira had no problems finding his classes.
"My name is Kira Hibiki," Kira started as introductions were being done. "I just transferred here from Copernicus City. I enrolled in the engineering program because I've always been good at it and hoped to become better," he stated when people were giving him expectant eyes as if urging him to say more.
Kira witnessed mixed reactions around the room. Many girls were whispering to each other excitedly. Many of the guys were whispering to some friends while giving him some suspicious looks.
'I guess rumors of what I did has already gotten around. Never underestimate high school students,' he thought with a mental sigh.
Looking around, Kira was kind of saddened to see that Lacus wasn't in the same class. It was just homeroom though so he wasn't too upset.
He also noticed that there was a silvered haired boy glaring complete daggers at him while his blonde haired friend was trying his best to not laugh at his friend's displeasure.
'I can already tell this is going to be fun,' Kira thought sarcastically. He could tell that boy wasn't going to be letting go of it anytime soon.
Kira also recognized Athrun sitting in the far back and he seemed to not be too interested in what was going on. His mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Thanks you Kira. If you could take that empty seat in the back, we'll get started," the teacher said pointing to a seat next to Athrun.
Many girls sighed in disappointment since many were hoping they would eventually be moved into that seat.
"Hi there. We met last week remember?" Kira said to Athrun once he got to his seat. He was surprised that he was sitting next to him.
"Yes I remember," Athrun said giving Kira a weak smile. "Have you had any trouble getting accustomed to here?" Athrun asked politely.
"Not at all. Lacus showed me around this place very well. She's also been very helpful whenever I needed it," Kira explained showing his gratitude towards Athrun's fiancée.
"I'm glad. She's sometimes too eager to help people but I guess that's one of her good points," Athrun said with a chuckle though Kira heard hollowness to it.
'I wonder if something happened,' Kira thought to himself as he pulled out his chair to his rather fancy desk and took a seat.
"My name is Andrew Waltfeld," the teacher spoke to his students many who whispered about the name since it was one who was known for his closeness to Lacus Clyne.
"I will be in charge of your homeroom and one of the teachers that will be instructing you on your piloting training alongside Mu La Flaga for this year," Andy continued while handing out a manual for them to look over. "You went over mostly theories last year with some simulation training but you'll be working with the real thing this year. I must stress that while there haven't been any wars in over 500 years and the fact that mobile suits are primarily for defense or building, the fact is that they are still dangerous weapons. We will have no shenanigans or you will find yourself out faster than the Freedom could chop up a mobile suit," he stressed which earned a chuckle for his comparison.
"Due to restrictions instated after the second Bloody Valentine War, many of you may never see the inside of a mobile suit after you leave but we are required to make sure that you understand their workings in the case of an emergency," Andy continued as he paced before them.
"To recap from last year; what is the purpose of the school Mr. Amalfi?" Andy asked as he pointed to the young green haired boy.
"The purpose of the school is to better improve the relations of those from different nations." Nicol said calmly and with sureness.
"Correct. The school was first opened in 274 CE on the 200th anniversary of the end of the war. However it was originally planned up by Lacus Clyne prior to her untimely disappearance shortly after the completion of this colony. The plans were scrapped until the nation of Orb found and released them hundreds of years later. It was built in memory of her and those who fought for the sake of peace rather than victory and was named after one of the ships that lead the resistance," Andy stated like he had said it many times before.
"Why did she disappear? Your family was close to her so surely you must know," a student piped up making many look at him.
Andy stared at the student for several seconds before he finally replied. "Unfortunately I don't. Whether my family knew at one point in time or not, I don't know. I will just say that so the question won't be asked again," he explained though Kira noticed it sounded scripted and was also curious about the pause he had when the question was asked.
This was a question that had been asked for hundreds of years. For some reason, Kira always felt so interested when he heard it asked. It was a strange feeling for him.
Another hand was raised but Andy cut it off. "I also don't know who the pilot of the Freedom was," he stated quickly and the hand sheepishly went down. "I get these questions every year guys. If I knew I would've said something by now," he said with a sigh hoping no other questions of the kind popped up.
"The Freedom was a stolen mobile suit so ZAFT had no information on the pilot despite creating the suit. So there was no registered information on the pilot when compared to Athrun Zala pilot of its twin mobile suit the Justice," he continued just to be clear to them.
"The Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice also disappeared with Lacus Clyne. They were supposed to be destroyed after the wars but many believe and it is commonly accepted that she actually had them hidden instead in case of an emergency and so they wouldn't be abused by anyone for power. To this day neither has been seen nor found since the end of the war," he said stating the next question that he knew was going to come.
"He's obviously been asked those questions one too many times," Kira overheard Yzak whisper to his blond haired friend with a chuckle.
Kira was pretty sure that he was lying about something. He'd always been pretty good at catching lies. It was like he had a sixth sense for them.
"I heard that Lacus Clyne was lovers with the pilot of the Freedom and intentionally hid any data about him and he was the reason she left politics," a girl in the class said dreamily.
"We're dealing with facts rather than romantic notions," Andy said shaking his head with a chuckle. "Believe me when I say that experts have looked into that one for hundreds of years with nothing to suggest it even popping up. Now let's get back to the topic at hand," he responded while trying to get the chatting class under control.
"Mobile suits were first introduced during the first Bloody Valentine War. ZAFT introduced them in their fight against the Earth Alliance. This gave them a superior advantage for the first portions of the war while the EA was dealing with crippling energy issues and using the inferior mobile armors," Andy said clicking a switch in his hand which turned on a projector.
"Certain branches of the nation of ORB secretly cooperated with the EA to create a new type of mobile suit. These were known as the G-machines. For you engineering specialists it used a special operating system. General Unilateral Neuro-Link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver," Andy stated as the operating system was displayed.
"Gundam," Kira accidentally spoke out loud. The name of it just rolled off his tongue almost as if he was used to using it.
Most of the class turned to look at Kira since he said it a little louder than he meant to.
Andy actually seemed a little shocked to hear that specific word. "That was never an official word for it but it was stated that Lacus Clyne once used that word to call them," he said pulling himself together.
"Anyways these mobile suits were considered superior to the mobile suits used by ZAFT. They featured a special feature called Phase Shift which used electricity to nullify physical attacks. This made them extremely effective for a time where all weaponry were still physical bullets and swords. Beam weaponry had yet to truly be used yet so they were a game changer on the battle field," he explained showing images of the original five.
"The Strike, the Aegis, the Dual, the Buster, and the Blitz were the original five prototypes. However four of those five was stolen before they could be rolled out by the EA leaving only the Strike still in their hands. By the end of the war only two of them remained. The Blitz being destroyed by the Strike and the Strike and Aegis destroyed each other when the Aegis self-destructed. The remaining two became obsolete with mobile suit development after that war," Andy went into a long explanation of the two wars and mobile suit development for the first class.
"Due to a limit placed on the development of mobile suits since that time, no significant improvements have been made to mobile suits in hopes of those wars never being repeated. The Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice are still to this day considered to be epitome of mobile suit development," he said as the bell rung.
The class packed up as they prepared to leave for their next class. Kira was in a hurry since he still needed to locate his next class.
"I hope we don't have to go over all this again. I just want to get into an actual mobile suit," Yzak said as him and Dearka headed for the door.
Kira quickly left the room so that he wouldn't be late for his next class.
The irony wasn't lost on Lacus as she sat immediately behind Kira during a basic history class.
'It hurts to look at him and yet I'll be staring at his back for the rest of the years. Yet I feel happy. I just don't understand it,' she thought barely paying attention to the teacher. She found that she could only keep staring at Kira.
When she first saw Kira while she was singing on that stage, she was surprised. The tears so easily but she felt happy even as her heart clenched so tightly in her chest.
'Is it the feeling of seeing someone wanted to meet after so long? Like meeting someone you thought that you would never see again?' she questioned herself before thinking that it was impossible since she had never met Kira before.
Her hands struggled as she felt tempted to reach out and grab a hold of Kira. Yet her heart felt scared. Like pain would only come from spending time with Kira.
'What am I thinking about? I have Athrun. It's decided that we will be married. Nothing can change that at this point. Once we graduate we'll marry and that will be that. We'll have children as well. There isn't any room for Kira,' she thought feeling a headache coming on.
And yet Lacus still yearned to reach her hand out and take a hold of Kira and never let him go.
Every night for the past week she found she could only think of Kira when she was alone. 'This is ridiculous! I don't even know Kira!' she chastised herself.
'Love at first sight? Maybe it' a love from a past life,' her brain seemed to taunt her.
'NO! NO! NO!' she screamed in her head in a way that even those around her noticed how frustrated she was.
"Is there something wrong Miss Clyne?" the teacher asked after he stopped talking.
"Uh…" Lacus stated with a bright red blush since people noticed her acting strange. "No sorry," she continued as she tried her best to calm down her heart.
The teachers looked at her curiously for a few seconds before he started up discussing what they would go over in the class.
Lacus's eyes unconsciously shifted towards Kira's back.
Kira was staring forward so she couldn't see his face and yet Lacus noticed the slight shaking of his body and what was undoubtedly a chuckle escape from his mouth.
'You're the cause of my embarrassment and you have the nerve to laugh?!' she angrily screamed in his mind.
Of course there was no way that Kira could've known what was going through her mind before then. To him, he just couldn't help but think about how cute she looked when that happened.
Kira rubbed the bridge of his nose as he read through articles on the computer about the events that happened fourteen years ago using one of the schools computers in the school's library. He had been doing it for several weeks since he got there but nothing had been coming up.
Kira was also eager to come here because he felt that he would be able to have access to more information on the events that transpired. Yet even after several weeks of research he had found nothing that he didn't already know.
The act was performed really early in the morning. Not just his parents but hundreds of others were affected by it when many bombs went off completely destroying a large area of a city.
It was such a major event but the government had done a hasty investigation into it that even Kira felt was a rather flawed but not much was really done about it.
Besides his guardian's secrecy, something that tipped off Kira to who the real targets of the attack were was that while every victim of the attack was listed with the exception of his family.
'I don't have the proof of it yet but this likely means that the one responsible holds a lot of power. It's like he erased their existence,' Kira thought as his eyes flew over the text in front of him hoping for at least something new.
Giving up on this attempt, Kira erased his browsing history and shut down the computer.
'There has to be something here. The school is completely independent governmental affairs. They wouldn't be able to tamper with the databases here,' Kira thought as he stood up and made his way out of the building.
It was dark outside when Kira stepped out the doors. While there were many still in the library, the outside was almost deserted.
Kira started walking and turned a corner of the library.
He took a few steps before coming to a stop. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that made him look upwards.
To his surprise there was a masked man hanging from a rope which extended up to the fifth floor of the library.
"Who are you?!" Kira yelled out startling the man who didn't think anyone would come that way.
"Damn!" the person growled as he dropped down the rest of the way and right towards Kira.
Kira swiftly dodged the man with ease and the two of them stared at one another for a few seconds when the man regained himself.
Without notice the guy attempted to sweep his leg under Kira's feet to knock him down. Kira was quick to react again and jumped out of his sweeping range.
Before the man could react Kira kicked at the man. He put up his arm to try and block it and Kira's foot collided with it.
The man blocked the kick but fell over in surprise.
Kira approached the man to find out who he was when the man suddenly threw dirt at his face.
"Shit!" Kira cursed as he tried to quickly remove the dirt from his eyes.
Kira did his best to follow just be listen and trying to sense his opponent like how he was taught by his guardian but the guy was quick. By the time Kira had his eyesight back properly the guy had already disappeared.
"What was that about?" Kira complained as he went to the bathroom to try and use water to get the rest of the dirt out of his eyes.
When he finished that he went back to the library where he encountered the guy.
Kira looked up at the window where the guy had come out of.
'Isn't that the restricted area?' Kira asked himself as he remembered the layout of the library.
The restricted area had a lot of materials that were forbidden even to most of the older students. It was also a place of key interest to Kira for his research.
Most of the files that were there were highly confidential. Kira knew that the place likely held all the information he needed but there was no way to access it besides doing what that guy did.
"Kira?" a voice spoke out behind him.
Kira turned and was surprised when he saw Lacus. "Oh Lacus. Were you studying in the library too?" he asked trying to play it cool as he moved back around the corner and away from where he fought the man.
"Yes," Lacus spoke quietly while giving Kira a smile. "Are you ok? You seem to have dirt all over you," Lacus said pointing at his clothes which had leftovers from the attack.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just tripped," Kira lied since he worried that if the news of a break in got out that it would negate any chances he might have for seeing those files in the future.
"I see. You should be careful," Lacus said giving him a smile.
"Thanks," Kira replied thinking that her smile was the most beautiful that he had ever seen.
"Oh Athrun!" Lacus yelled out to the man that was approaching them. "Sorry I have to go. I was supposed to meet up with Athrun," Lacus said before turning and running towards her fiancé.
Kira watched her run away and sighed while wondering why he was so unlucky.
'What exactly was that guy after up there?' Kira asked himself before he started to head back to his dorm.
"So what were you talking to Kira about?" Athrun asked Lacus with unease while also trying his best to hide the jealousy he was feeling.
It was perfectly clear to him just how interested in the new guy Lacus was and this bugged him. She was the girl he was going to eventually marry and start a life with but he interest was elsewhere.
"Nothing much. We just happened to run into each other outside the library," Lacus honestly responded as she took Athrun's arm like what was expected of her.
Athrun hissed slightly as he pulled his arm away.
"Are you ok Athrun?" Lacus asked worriedly as she watched him rub his arm.
"I'm fine… I just fell and landed on my arm," Athrun responded quickly while letting go of his arm like it was nothing.
"Are you sure that you don't need to go the infirmary?" Lacus said but Athrun just ignored her suggestion. "Well fine! Geez. You and Kira seem like such klutz today," she said walking ahead of him.
Athrun sighed as he muttered out a quiet, "Sorry."
Athrun caught up with Lacus but heard her singly quietly under her breath.
"In this quiet night I am waiting for you forgetting the past and dreaming of you," she sang the first verse of one of her predecessor's most famous songs.
'That song again,' he thought since he found her singing it under her breath a lot lately.
"Time passes by and memories fade but time can't erase the love that we've made," she continued to sing under her breath.
While Athrun knew Lacus was fond of her predecessor's song, he found her almost constantly singing that song in specific for the past few weeks.
"You've been singing that a lot recently. Is there any specific reason?" he finally asked her since it was starting to get on his nerves for reasons he didn't know.
"Sorry about that. I've just felt like singing that one a lot," Lacus said while trying to laugh it off.
Honestly though, she herself wasn't sure why she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was such a sad song to her but it was a song that her heart felt like singing.
"And the stars in the sky that I wish upon can't bring you back to my side. Though you're not here with me. I dream of the day we'll meet again," she continued on despite Athrun's obvious annoyance as the two walked on.
for those of you who are curious about what the women's uniforms look like, i got the idea from the uniforms the women where in the light novel Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. I find those uniforms to be very beautiful. Just imagine them more in ORB design and colors with the veil that comes off the coat.