Char was in Yang Hui's office, pulling him into an idle chat. It wasn't until five hours later, when they heard a knock on the door, that the awkward conversation finally stopped.
"Who is it?"
"Colonel-brother, it's Rita."
"Oh, Rita. Come in."
The door opened, and Rita Bernal trotted in. She grabbed Yang Hui's sleeve and started pulling him outside. "Colonel-brother, the big brothers and sisters are all drunk! You have to go check on them!"
Seeing Rita's adorable, anxious expression, Yang Hui patted her head and said cheerfully, "It's alright. A little alcohol won't cause any trouble."
"But... but..." Rita Bernal had never seen people drink like this before. People had drunk at her welcome party, but they had all been restrained, and no one had gotten blackout drunk. She also saw the big brothers and sisters drink on a daily basis.
But this time was completely different. They were drinking as if their lives depended on it! Some were already incoherent, yet others were still pouring alcohol into their mouths. She was genuinely afraid something bad would happen.
She had tried to stop them, but no one listened to her. In the end, with no other choice, Rita Bernal could only run to find Yang Hui, because he was the only one who could control the people of the Twelfth Independent Technical Division under any circumstances.
"It's really fine, Rita. The big brothers and sisters are just drunk. They'll be fine after a good sleep."
"Really?" Rita Bernal asked, looking up with tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
"Really." With that, Yang Hui stood up, took Rita Bernal's small hand, and walked out of the room. "Come on, let's go take a look together. It should be over by now."
"Okay, okay!"
Seeing Yang Hui leave, the alarm bells of Char's survival instinct finally stopped ringing. He let out a sigh of relief, got up, and followed behind Yang Hui.
The three of them arrived at the hangar that had been used as the "battlefield." Looking at the utter mess and the people strewn across the floor, the corner of Char's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He now understood what Yang Hui meant.
It was obvious that if he had arrived earlier, he would have been one of the "corpses" in the pile on the ground.
"See, Rita? The big brothers and sisters are sleeping comfortably," Yang Hui said, pointing at the heap of people on the floor.
"Are you sure they're okay?"
"Of course. Look... uh..." Yang Hui had intended to find a more normal example, but he was met with a speechless sight.
Ford Romfellow and Russ Kessel were hugging each other again, but unlike last time, there was a third person between them, their head squeezed between the two men's thick pectoral muscles, making it impossible to see who it was. The two old-timers, South Burning and Hardie Steiner, were passed out on a table, but their hands were still tightly clasped in an arm-wrestling position. If one looked closely, one could see their hands were still straining. They wouldn't even let each other go in their sleep.
What left Yang Hui even more speechless was the sight of Christina Mackenzie and the Phantom Corps' Bernard Guzman hugging each other. The two were lying intimately at the foot of an MS, and he even saw Christina Mackenzie snuggle a few times in Bernard Guzman's arms.
Not far from them, Shiro Amada was leaning against the foot of an MS, and on his lap lay Aina Sahalin of the Phantom Corps. Shiro Amada's hands were even wrapped around her!
Holy crap! Is this what you call fate?
One pair liked each other but never knew the other's identity until the very end, with the man dying at the woman's hands.
The other pair loved and fought each other, forced to be enemies due to their allegiances, but eventually abandoned everything to be together.
Could these two pairs of men and women, whose destinies had been completely altered, still find their way to each other in a situation like this?
Well, fate truly works in mysterious ways.
"Colonel-brother?"
"Ahem... Anyway, they're fine. See? Aren't Sister Chris and that big brother okay?"
"Um... I guess so." Rita Bernal was still young and didn't understand the matters between men and women, but she could see that Christina Mackenzie and Bernard Guzman exuded an air of happiness.
"So don't worry about them. You should go to sleep, Rita."
"But the big brothers and sisters will catch a cold sleeping here. And it's so messy," Rita Bernal said worriedly.
"It's fine. One night won't hurt. I'll have someone clean it up tomorrow. Go to sleep now, Rita."
"Okay, then." Rita Bernal obediently went to find Margareta. This party was only for the combat units; the logistics, maintenance, and research departments were all fine.
"Who is she?" Char asked Yang Hui, looking at the angelically kind and cute Rita Bernal. It was highly unusual for a combat unit to have such a young child.
"The miracle child. Have you heard of her?"
"Yes. Before Operation British, a child in Australia foresaw the disaster and led her friends to shelter, miraculously surviving... That's her?"
"Yes, Rita Bernal. The first Newtype confirmed by the Federation. I had Revil get her from the Federation."
"..." Char fell silent. Yang Hui didn't elaborate, but he could guess the rest. Both the Federation and Zeon had their bottomless darkness. "So now she..."
"She's the little sister of everyone in the Twelfth Independent Technical Division."
"...Heh." Char gave a wry smile and shook his head. Sometimes, he really felt he couldn't understand Yang Hui.
"Surprised?"
"Indeed."
"Everyone has a soft spot in their heart. I just have more than others."
"..." Char was at a loss for words. He usually wore a cold and ruthless mask, but he couldn't hide it from Yang Hui. There had always been two soft spots in his heart.
One was Lalah Sune, the woman who could have been a mother to him; the other was Sayla Mars, his own sister.
"Having too many soft spots can be very dangerous."
"I'm not a machine, nor am I a beast. The balance between reason and emotion is what makes us human."
"...Alright, your inspirational talks always come out of nowhere."
"You'll get used to it."
"I'd rather not."
Yang Hui and Char didn't stay long. Judging by the state of this group... they definitely wouldn't wake up for another seven or eight hours. After all, there was no telling how many empty barrels of alcohol were piled up nearby.
...
"AHHHH!!!!!"
The next day, Earth time, the groggy drunks slowly began to wake up. A continuous stream of screams startled everyone awake. All the members of the Twelfth Independent Technical Division and the Phantom Corps gathered around, not because they were worried about an accident, but to be part of the gossiping crowd.
Yang Hui and Char naturally came as well. Murrue, Natarle Badgiruel, and Cima followed obediently behind him, glowing with a rosy hue that clearly showed they had been nourished by love. Lalah Sune, as always, followed Char like a well-behaved girl.
"Russ! I'm going to kill you!"
"Ford! Today, it's either you or me!"
"Ford Romfellow! Russ Kessel! Both of you, go to hell!"
"Jung! What did you do to me last night!?"
"Johnny Ridden! Amuro is still just a kid!"
...
Similar curses rose and fell one after another. There were also those who were silent and shy, like Christina Mackenzie and Bernard Guzman, as well as Shiro Amada and Aina Sahalin. In any case, the various disgraceful states provided plenty of entertainment for the onlookers.
"Big brothers and sisters, please don't!"
Rita Bernal, who had woken up early to check on everyone, saw their murderous expressions and how they were about to start fighting. She let out a panicked cry, which froze everyone in place. They all turned to look at Rita Bernal.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, all their anger vanished. They scrambled to surround and comfort Rita Bernal, not even bothering to straighten their disheveled clothes.
"Ahem." Yang Hui coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention.
Tap... tap... tap... The sound of footsteps on the ground struck everyone's hearts, like a countdown to hell.
It continued until Yang Hui reached Rita Bernal's side, patted her head, and looked at the newly awakened drunks with a smile.
"You made Rita cry?"
"Eek~!!!!!" xN
"You know what to do."
"Yes, sir!" xN
The drunks from the Twelfth Independent Technical Division scattered in a panic, fleeing with terrified expressions. Each grabbed a tool and began to clean up the messy scene. At the same time, they shouted to the people from the Maintenance Squad, research department, and logistics department, "Ten sets of Extreme Training! Logistics' transport duty! Research department's experiment cooperation! Get it scheduled for me right away!"
The members of the Phantom Corps, however, were frozen in place. They had also been among those comforting Rita Bernal, and thus were also among those who had made her cry, but... they didn't have to take orders from Yang Hui. What were they supposed to do now?
They stiffly turned their heads to look at Char, only to see him give a slight smile, a phantom of a little devil appearing behind him. "I'm very interested in the Extreme Training Colonel Yang Hui mentioned. Let's participate."
"Your Highness!" The men looked at Char with mournful faces. Although they didn't know what Extreme Training was, the name alone sent shivers down their spines.
"Oh, and by the way, we are guests, yet we made such a mess of our host's home. That's not how a guest should behave."
"Waaaaah..."
Left with no choice, the members of the Phantom Corps could only join the ranks of the punished with tears in their eyes.
"Don't cry, Rita. See? The big brothers and sisters are fine, aren't they?" Yang Hui comforted.
"Wuwu, I know."
"Go find Margareta. You still have classes today."
"But, I want to help everyone..."
"Once you've learned more, won't you be able to help everyone even better? We agreed, Rita."
"Mm, I understand, Colonel-brother," Rita Bernal replied softly, her head lowered.
"Go on."
"Okay."
After sending Rita Bernal off, the MS unit members conscientiously cleaned up the messy site. The others also dispersed and returned to their own work, while also discussing what kind of major ordeal to put the MS unit members through.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"To see Dozle. That needs to be arranged as well."
"...Heh, as expected, you won't let him off the hook."
"No pain, no gain. A man like him would never accept charity."
"That's true."
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