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Chapter 207 - Chapter 209 – Amuro’s Message

Chapter 209 – Amuro's Message

"La↑la→la↑"

In the room, a figure bathed in blue-green light hummed a tune at his desk, tinkering with a tiny component in his hand.

Displayed on the terminal in front of him was an interface.

The Federation had developed a system where information could be verbally delivered to a relay company through a device, and then employees of that company would convey the message via video call to the intended recipient.

Naturally, this was due to the vastness of space, where even electromagnetic transmissions could be sluggish.

However, thanks to the Federation's postwar advancements in Minovsky physics, communication relay satellites had been deployed throughout the more remote sectors of space.

Still, within the same colony satellite, normal communication was feasible.

Yet days had passed, and Kamille still hadn't figured out how to send a message through the interface with Mr. Amuro.

Clicking his tongue, Kamille exited the communication screen and switched to a slightly blurry photo—though faint, it clearly showed a humanoid skeletal frame.

He studied the right arm's connection to the torso, then picked up a plastic sheet and sliced off a small piece, carefully trimming and sanding it before attaching it to the component in his hand.

Beep!

"Mr. Kamille, here is a message from your father: 'I'll still be on business trips with Anaheim on the Moon. You and your mother stay safe at home. I'll bring you a gift when I return.' End of message. Please pay."

Still cash on delivery, huh…

Though his father did send him a generous monthly allowance, these little details always left Kamille, with his naturally sensitive disposition, feeling a bit let down.

After paying the message fee, Kamille tried to refocus on his work—but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't settle his mind.

He slumped back into his chair.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at a shelf displaying various mechanical parts.

There stood an MG-scale metal frame.

It was Kamille's recreation of the skeleton in the photo.

The final product had been the NT-X Gunpla model he gifted to Mr. Amuro.

What Kamille was working on now involved crafting plastic parts in hopes of submitting them to DAIBAN for mass production.

For a brief moment, Kamille wondered if this might cause trouble for his father.

Beep!

"Kamille, sorry for the sudden message. I'm about to leave this colony satellite, and I wanted to say goodbye before I go…"

This time, it wasn't the face of a relay operator on-screen, but a lounge area aboard a warship.

Naturally, it was Amuro himself.

"…You might get annoyed when I say this, but 'Kamille' is actually a really nice name. It's gentle, just like the feeling you give off."

Gentle, me?

Thinking about what happened the day he met Amuro, Kamille blushed.

He felt both irritated and flustered.

"But I'm not asking you to abandon your dislikes. I just want you to know—a real man doesn't care how others see him."

Amuro scratched his cheek as he said this.

"Sorry, I've said too much. We only just met. Anyway, I'm shipping out. I hope the next time we meet, you'll have grown into a dependable man. Goodbye."

The screen went dark, reflecting Kamille's face.

This time, there was no fee to pay.

A subtle sense of dissonance stirred in his heart, and the guilt over having peeked at his father's classified documents all but vanished.

"Kamille! Time for dinner!"

That was the voice of Fa Yuiry, his childhood friend, calling from downstairs.

Kamille felt a bit irritated that she shouted his name so loudly, yet he knew he had to respond.

But when the terminal lit up again, Kamille let go of that frustration.

He quickly saved the video, then leaned out the window and called down.

"Got it, Fa! Just give me a sec!"

Hearing his voice from the second floor, Fa tilted her head slightly.

"Is he in a good mood today?"

Just as she thought that, she heard the sound of someone thumping down the stairs.

"Let's go, Fa!"

"Ah, okay. Let's go."

As she watched Kamille stride ahead down the path to his house, Fa hurried to catch up.

The two hadn't walked far when Kamille suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Hmm? Mr. Amuro… no, that's not it…"

A look of obvious confusion appeared on Kamille's face as he gazed off to the side.

There, on the inner wall of the colony satellite, something had caught his attention.

"What are you looking at?"

"Ah… I'm not sure. Come on, let's go. I'm hungry."

He couldn't quite describe the feeling, but he didn't think too much of it.

——

"Amuro! No, not Amuro… Lalah?"

Char glanced around warily from within the cockpit of his Rick Dias, eyes scanning the void.

But after a moment, he realized the presence he felt wasn't from outer space—it was from the colony satellite in front of him.

"What's wrong, Lieutenant Quattro?"

"Nothing. I guess I'm still getting used to piloting a mobile suit again."

Hearing the voice of Roberto, who was accompanying him on this recon mission, Quattro temporarily set aside his unease and focused on the task ahead.

It was worth noting that "forced reconnaissance" didn't necessarily mean direct conflict—it simply referred to armed reconnaissance.

In other words, Char was about to perform one of the tasks he once excelled at: infiltrating a colony satellite for intel.

Just then, a piece of debris drifted in front of the two mobile suits.

Still fretting over how to approach the colony more closely, Quattro suddenly got an idea.

He guided his suit's arms under the rock and gestured for Roberto to do the same.

Using their thrusters in short bursts, the two suits pushed the debris, subtly altering its trajectory toward the colony.

Once the rock was on course, the two MS shut down their systems to minimize the chance of detection.

Looking at the jetpack and portable telescope stored behind his seat, Char couldn't help but recall a mission from six years ago.

Come to think of it, everything had started when he saw a Gundam during a reconnaissance mission and chased it ever since.

But this time, he had confirmed that there were no Gundams inside the colony. Surely, there wouldn't be another boy who'd end up chasing him all over again.

With that thought, Quattro reached the colony's outer wall, left Roberto behind on standby, and launched himself toward the colony using his jetpack.

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