"It sure is hot today…"

"Yes. It's not as bad as a volcano though."

"…I imagine there's not many people who can say that from experience…"

Shin and Lena stood under a storefront awning, taking cover from the sun.

It was a bright summer day. As they were currently on leave and attending school in the city neighboring the base, they had taken to wandering the city together after classes, on the pretext of Shin showing her around.

However, today was particularly sunny and hot. The sun blazed down on them, baking the cobblestoned streets.

Lena fanned herself with her hand. "...Maybe we should spend today somewhere indoors?"

Shin, trying very hard not to notice the way Lena's hair and clothes clung to her with sweat, agreed readily.

They had already explored the library and most of the shops in the city, so Shin decided to take her to one place he hadn't shown her yet. The movie theater.

He had gone to a few movies with Raiden and the others back in Sankt Jeder, but he hadn't yet visited this theater himself. They had a steady supply of movies, TV shows, and cartoons back at the base, after all. He had to admit though, he was looking forward to seeing a movie with Lena.

They arrived at the theater and looked up at the marquee.

"What should we watch?"

All of the listed titles were unfamiliar to him. Save for one.

"Oh! Break of Dawn! That takes me back," Lena said.

Shin looked at her. "You know it?"

She smiled. "Yes! I saw it when I was a child. I didn't have much time for movies after Father died, because I was too busy with my studies. But this was one he took me to see, and I remember loving it."

Her voice was warm and full of wistful nostalgia. He liked that tone in her voice. It reminded him of how she talked about Rei.

"I haven't seen the movie," he said. "But I did read the book."

"You have?!" she beamed.

He nodded. "I found it in an abandoned library in the Eighty-Sixth Sector." He had only picked it up as a distraction from the Legion voices like he did all his other books, so he wouldn't call himself a fan. But he could see why she might like it.

"Then shall we watch it?"

"Sounds good."

Fortunately, there was a screening of the movie starting in ten minutes. They bought their tickets and breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the air-conditioned building.

The auditorium was sparsely occupied, so they were able to find decent seats. As they sat and waited for the movie to start, Shin looked around idly. Strangely enough, all the other audience members also sat in groups of two.

…Wait. What was going on here?

Not only were they in groups of two, nearly every group consisted of a man and a woman. Two rows down, a man had his arm over his female companion's shoulders. A few seats over, a woman was resting her head on her man's shoulder. There was one pair that consisted of two teenage girls, but they were definitely the outlier.

Then he realized. Did this mean…he and Lena looked like a couple too…?!

Beside him, Lena let out a squeak. Apparently she just noticed too, because her face was as red as a tomato.

Shin could perhaps be forgiven for not being familiar with the concept of a 'date movie.' This might have been Lena's first time going to a theater with a boy as well (not counting her father). And so, it had slipped both their minds that, though the story was a historical epic and had plenty of action scenes, it was technically a romance…

Shin sat frozen, not knowing what to do. Should he say something, to alleviate the awkwardness? Or should he…make a move? But Lena no doubt wanted to enjoy the movie. And there were other people in the theater. Would Lena think he was being a creep? No, no, he couldn't.

Meanwhile, Lena was equally frozen, and now letting out a high-pitched noise almost on a frequency that could only be heard by those below a certain age.

In the end, neither of them were able to do or say anything by the time the lights dimmed. Even when the movie started, Shin was too busy mentally debating whether he should or shouldn't try to hold her hand to pay much attention to the screen.

He glanced at her. For some reason, Lena now had her head tilted, a frown on her face.

"Lena?" he whispered. "Is something wrong?"

"Isn't this strange?" she whispered back.

Shin looked back at the screen. The film was currently introducing the female lead. Nothing seemed out of place to him. "What is?"

"The story is supposed to take place in the Republic four hundred years ago. Why did they change it?"

Shin blinked at her. "No? The book was set in the Giadian Empire two hundred years ago. The author herself was Giadian too."

"What?!" Lena turned to gape at him, then looked back at the screen, aghast. "No…"

Then it clicked for him.

"Lena…the version that you saw…the entire cast was Alba, wasn't it?"

"Yes…" she replied weakly, as if only just realizing it herself.

Ah. That made sense.

Lena sank in her seat, her face in her hands.

Shin considered what to do. It didn't look as if she was going to be able to enjoy the movie at this rate. He didn't want her to just sit in shame and embarrassment for the next two hours. And they were already causing enough of a disturbance to earn some glares from nearby audience members.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked.

"Huh?" Lena looked up in surprise. "But…"

"Let's just leave." He took her hand and led her out.

They left the theater, back to the sun and heat.

"Oh no, I can't believe that we just walked out!" Lena groaned. "There was nothing wrong with the movie! This is the proper adaptation. I should have just enjoyed it instead of comparing it to a bastardized version…"

Shin sighed. He should have realized sooner himself. There was no way the Republic would have screened a movie that took place in an enemy nation, let alone starring races they were in the middle of dehumanizing.

"Lena, it's fine. You weren't in the frame of mind to enjoy it."

She wilted, but didn't deny it. "I'm so sorry…"

"We could try again tomorrow, if you'd like?" he offered.

This earned him a small smile. "Yes…that'd be nice."

He took her to a cafe that had tables with parasols, where they bought cold drinks and sat in the shade.

Shin hoped this would help calm her down, but Lena didn't appear ready to drop the subject yet. So he helped compare notes by sharing what he remembered of the original novel. Hopefully this way, there would be less surprises next time.

As it turned out, besides changing the names and setting and erasing all traces of non-Alba ethnicity, the Republic version kept the story and characters pretty much intact.

It was a tale of forbidden love. The male lead, Armand(Republic version)/Herman(Giad version), was an illegitimate son of a noble who found success in the military. The heroine, Jeanne/Johanna, was a noble lady engaged to a man she hated. They met by chance at a party, fell in love, and began a passionate affair that, in hindsight, was probably too steamy for young Lena's presumed age range?

(Maybe the Republic version toned down those parts? At least, from Lena's description, the Republic version seemed to have an anti-royalist theme, whereas the novel struck him as very pro-empire, so it wouldn't surprise him if there was further censorship.)

(Incidentally, Shin was only fourteen when he read the book himself, but he had already seen enough in the Eighty-Sixth Sector by then for it to faze him much.)

Soon, Lena's shame turned to outrage.

"I can't believe this! Did they even have to change the names?!"

"Since they were being played by Alba actors, I suppose they did," Shin said neutrally, sipping his iced coffee.

Shin, as usual, was neither surprised nor upset. As far as he was concerned, this ranked very low on the list of crimes committed by the Republic, and he hadn't been emotionally invested in the story to begin with. So all he could say on the matter was that it was very typical.

Lena groaned. "Now I remember…Father said he didn't like the movie. So this must be why…"

"Don't worry about it, Lena," Shin said. "You were a child. You didn't know better."

She jammed her straw in her drink bitterly, trying to crush the ice.

"I'm just…frustrated. I thought that I could share something with you that I loved. But it seems that everything from my childhood is tainted."

Then, as if just realizing who she was speaking to, she quickly shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't complain about that. It's so…trivial."

Shin frowned.

He thought back to when she'd stayed at Ernst's house. The nostalgic tears in her eyes when Teresa had prepared traditional Republic dishes for her. It had made him realize that guilt had probably kept Lena from talking about her own pain, from mourning the loss of her homeland, especially around the Eighty-Six.

Perhaps it was the same regarding her childhood. He could understand why she would avoid the subject around them. Why she wasn't proud of a past where she'd lived in blissful ignorance, while they were thrown into internment camps and the battlefield.

But it had been unfair of him to suggest that she just cut all that away. And as a result, he didn't know anything about her life before she became a Handler. He didn't know what she'd found precious back then. What influences had helped build her into the person she was today. Just as his scars were a part of him, and even his childhood, forgotten or buried though it was, probably still influenced him in some ways.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the Republic that stole everything from him and his comrades, was the same Republic that created the person he loved.

Besides, he didn't want to be just another Eighty-Six to her. He wanted to be someone who could support her and stay by her side through thick and thin. He wanted to be someone she could talk to about anything.

He thought about telling her that, right here and now. He wanted to. But seeing her dejected face, he decided that maybe this wasn't the right time for a confession. He did want to cheer her up though.

"We can talk about trivial things, Lena. Didn't you say you wanted to do that, during the previous operation?"

"W-Well yes, but…"

"I don't mind."

Still, she hesitated, so Shin started it for her.

"What did you like about it? The version that you saw?"

"Huh?" Lena looked lost for words, perhaps still wondering if it was appropriate to talk about.

He raised an eyebrow. "Surely the actors' races weren't the only thing that enthralled you."

"Of course not!" she said immediately. "I…I loved the story, and the characters, and the romance…"

"Did you have a favorite character?"

"Both Armand and Jeanne." She looked a bit embarrassed. "I liked Francis too. Oh, that's Armand's friend."

Shin tilted his head in thought. "...Franz? Right. He was amusing."

Lena brightened. "How about you, Shin? What did you like about the novel?"

"Hmm. There was one scene I remember most clearly. The one on the cliff. That was a nice payoff."

"Yes!" She leaned forward. "I love that one too! And the music was so lovely in the version that I saw…I replayed that scene in my head so many times…"

Shin chuckled. "You liked the movie that much?"

"I had a poster in my room!" Lena blurted, before slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Oh?" He smiled teasingly. "Where? On the ceiling above your bed?"

"I wasn't that obsessed!"

"Then where?"

"On the wall…above my desk…"

"Let me guess. Was it framed?"

"...Yes…" Lena groaned. "But I swear, it was only while I was little! I packed it away once I joined the military."

"Why would you need to do that?"

"I wanted to focus on my job as a Handler."

"Even at home?" He shook his head. "You really are a workaholic."

Lena huffed. "But thanks to that, I was able to speak with you and Spearhead every night, wasn't I?"

He smiled. "…True."

Lena returned a bashful smile of her own. Then she let out a giggle.

"Come to think of it, Father was against my having the poster too. But Mother actually took my side that time. 'Every maiden has the right to dream,' she said."

"Dream?"

"Ahh, it's because I used to have a crush on Armand," Lena explained sheepishly. "Father kept saying it was 'too soon.'"

Shin felt like the chair had just been pulled out from under him. "...What?" He could swear this was the first time he'd heard her mention having a romantic interest in anybody. "Why?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Wh-Why…?" The question seemed to catch her off guard. "Well…you know. He's strong, and kind, and dependable. The kind of guy any girl would fall for."

Now he felt a sense of vertigo. "Really?" he said hoarsely.

"Yes, but not just that. He's an outcast, but he embodies all the values that the nobles claim to uphold. I…always admired that."

At this point, Shin wondered if Lena might have very high standards for men?

Lena blushed. "And he…he has a wild side to him, but he's still so refined…"

'Refined'? Was he refined? In the back of his head, Shin heard Raiden's voice pointing out every one of his bad habits. He began to sweat.

Her face grew redder by the second. "And his skill with a sword is exquisite…"

Should he take up fencing?

"Also…the scar on his face is quite…um…"

Damn it, he had scars everywhere but his face!

Lena suddenly seemed unable to look him in the eye. She grabbed her drink and took a long sip. "Th-This cafe has very good lemonade!"

Seeing her so flustered, Shin nearly sank into despair. Was the battle over before it even began? Had he…lost to a fictional character?

But then his rational side snapped back to its senses. Armand was just a fictional character. And Lena had already packed him away years ago. Meanwhile, Shin had just gotten Lena to promise to go to the sea with him. He was even— no, he was ahead!

He narrowed his eyes dangerously. But the true test would be tomorrow. Tomorrow, when a new rival would arise…Herman.

They went to see the movie again the next day.

As it turned out, this adaptation also had the book's pro-empire messaging scrubbed out, replacing it with a pro-democracy slant; ironically, making it more thematically similar to the Republic's version than to the original novel.

Though, this version of the movie did include a brief sex scene, which was very awkward for him to sit through with Lena right next to him. Lena, for her part, let out a loud gasp and flung her hands over her eyes when it happened (though she continued to watch between her fingers).

"So what did you think?" Shin asked, as they left the theater after the movie.

"I loved it!" Lena beamed. "Herman was so gallant, wasn't he? And the duel in this version was amazing!"

"Hm…" He had decidedly mixed feelings about this response. "How is he compared to Armand though?"

Lena put a finger to her chin in thought. "I think the actor did a wonderful job, especially in the action scenes, but to be honest…his chemistry with Johanna's actress was a bit…lacking? Oh, I feel bad saying that."

"No, I thought so too." Shin tried not to sound too smug.

Lena stopped and turned to face him. "Shin…um. Thank you for humoring me on all this. I'm sure it must have been a bother."

"...Not at all."

She averted her eyes, blushing. "The next time we see a movie together, you can choose which one."

"All right," he replied calmly. But inwardly, he was fist pumping.

He was pretty sure this was a victory.

Author's Note:

Ever loved something as a child, only to find out later that it is, uh, problematic? I think we all have complicated feelings about one piece of media or another, especially if there's a lot of nostalgia attached to it. And since the 86 world has popular media, I thought a situation like this might occur for them too.

Also I just want to see Shin and Lena talking and getting to know each other better like they said they would. :) And that gap between Volumes 6 and 7 is just ripe for exploring, isn't it?