It's hard to say what Flay has been up to lately, but Cagalli and Lu Tianming have had quite a few exchanges during this pre-procurement period - mostly with Cagalli curiously asking various questions about the Strike Suit.
He also took the opportunity to explain the 'Machine Spirit' concept circulating within the Archangel, using it to account for the mysterious look-back that Cagalli couldn't understand before.
Hearing about this Machine Spirit concept left Cagalli completely bewildered. This somewhat supernatural notion clearly delivered a certain shock to the materialist young lady's worldview.
"But the Strike Suit was built part by part in ORB, how could it have something like this?"
After pondering deeply but failing to understand the origin of the Machine Spirit, Cagalli chose to ask Lu Tianming.
"Probably it automatically formed after gathering people's thoughts... Why are you so hung up on this? Weren't you also formed through cell division and differentiation, yet you still have your own will?"
Naturally, Tianming couldn't say he was a university student from another world who had been reincarnated here. He could only think for a moment and attempt a tentative explanation.
Although Cagalli sensed she was being brushed off, she strangely couldn't find a point to refute... So after thinking for a moment, she changed the subject.
"Speaking of which... what are your thoughts about the Strike Suit?"
After hesitating for a while, she finally decided to ask the question she had been pondering for a long time without reaching an answer.
"Why does that question sound so strange? It almost sounds like you're asking about some ambiguous, complicated relationship between me and the Strike Suit?"
Tianming looked at her strangely as he countered... mainly because Cagalli's question sounded too much like something from a romance anime asking about the relationship between the male and female leads.
"No... that's not what I meant! I mean... uh... how should I put it."
Realizing her words had been misunderstood, Cagalli grew somewhat flustered and immediately tried to explain. But she found herself unable to find the right words to accurately express her meaning, becoming increasingly anxious.
Seeing her so flustered amused Tianming, so he ventured a guess:
"I think I understand what you mean... You want to ask whether in my heart, the Strike Suit is a sword for killing or a shield for protecting others?"
"Yes! That's exactly what I mean!"
Seeing that Tianming had read her thoughts, Cagalli felt a sudden relief in her heart.
"Before meeting you... all of you, I always had a rather negative impression of the Strike Suit. I always felt that it was precisely because we created such things that ORB got dragged into war."
"But after meeting you all, I realized that the Strike Suit... or rather, MS as weapons of war also have a positive side. Without the power of MS, we often couldn't even protect the friends beside us."
"Tell me, for humanity seeking peace... are MS things good or bad?"
As she spoke, Cagalli looked at Tianming with hopeful eyes, seemingly expecting his response.
But Lu Tianming wore a bitter expression, lost in thought for a long while as if overwhelmed by an indescribable frustration... After stewing in silence, he finally pressed his forehead and uttered helplessly:
"...Who taught you to analyze things so metaphysically?"
"Huh?"
Cagalli was momentarily stunned by Lu Tianming's words, failing to immediately grasp what "metaphysics" meant.
Lu Tianming waved his hand and, seeing her confusion, directly pointed out the flaw in her thinking from a different angle:
"You're being a bit extreme... Why do you insist that the Strike Suit must be either entirely good or entirely bad? The world itself isn't so black and white."
"Moreover... your assumption that the war was caused by the Strike Suit isn't quite right."
"W-what do you mean it's not right? Didn't the ZAFT Forces attack Heliopolis specifically to seize the Strike Suit? If we hadn't developed such a thing, Heliopolis... or rather ORB, would never have been dragged into this war!"
At this, Cagalli immediately grew defensive. With the facts laid out so plainly, how could he claim she was wrong?
In her heart, she believed that if ORB had strictly adhered to the rules befitting a "neutral nation" and refrained from interfering in the war, the conflict would have remained entirely separate from them. Everyone in ORB could have continued living in peace and safety.
But Lu Tianming's next words struck her like a wake-up call:
"Why wouldn't it? Do you think merely bearing the title of a neutral nation is enough to keep you aloof, watching others fight from a safe distance?"
"If that were true, why haven't the nations suffering under ZAFT's aggression declared independence from the Earth Alliance and proclaimed neutrality? Are they willingly accepting their fate?"
This series of questions left Cagalli speechless, unable to form a rebuttal.
She stood frozen, turning his words over in her mind, and seemed to grasp a fragment of understanding. Tentatively, she pressed further:
"So... you mean even if ORB hadn't developed MS, we might still have been pulled into the war eventually?"
Seeing Cagalli finally beginning to understand, Lu Tianming nodded with some relief:
"Exactly. First of all, ORB's stance alone makes it impossible to remain untouched in this war. Think about it—what is the root cause of this war? Or rather, what is its true nature?"
Caught off guard by the question, Cagalli struggled to respond. After pondering for a moment, she ventured uncertainly:
"Is it... the chain of hatred triggered by the Bloody Valentine? No, that's not right... the Bloody Valentine feels more like the spark that lit the fuse."
She offered her answer but then reconsidered—even with her limited political insight, she could tell the Bloody Valentine was merely the catalyst. The real conflicts had been accumulating long before.
"I'm glad you can recognize that..."
Lu Tianming sighed deeply, feeling a sense of accomplishment that this stubborn young lady was finally learning to think more deeply under his guidance.
Cagalli shot him a glare upon hearing his words, clearly displeased at being underestimated:
"Now you're feeling relieved... So what is the answer to this question?"
"In my view, this war is a conflict between established Natural interest groups and emerging Coordinator interest groups, fighting to redivide benefits and compete for world hegemony... Note that when I refer to interest groups, I'm not talking about the broad categories of Naturals and Coordinators, but rather the rentier classes within each group."
"Emerging Coordinators, with their higher average capabilities and physical abilities, are unwilling to submit to the control of relatively 'inferior' Naturals and resent existing resources being controlled by Naturals."
"Established Naturals, witnessing the power of Coordinators, fear their status, class, and control over resources will be undermined, thus employing various means to restrict and suppress the rise of Coordinators."
"To summarize, it's essentially a conflict between vested interests and newcomers over resource distribution under constrained conditions."
Lu Tianming spoke in a calm tone. At least in his understanding, this was the fundamental nature of the war in the SEED world.
Racism and similar ideologies were merely propaganda slogans used to justify the war, meant for internal consumption - the real conflict was between old and new interest groups, specifically the challenge posed by Coordinator interest groups to the hegemony of Natural groups.
Cagalli felt both enlightened and confused by this stream of knowledge, but when she heard the last statement, she suddenly noticed a problem with sharp intuition:
"Why must we assume limited resources? The universe is being developed, isn't it?"
"Even with space development, we haven't seen any reduction in resource shortages."
Lu Tianming spread his hands helplessly... Indeed, people sometimes equate free space development with unlimited resources, but the SEED world clearly wasn't such a case - at the very least, unlimited energy had been eliminated by Neutron Interference.
"Moreover, human desires are infinite too... The bigger the cake grows, the more they want. I even suspect they measure their share of benefits not by absolute quantity but by relative proportion."
Lu Tianming said this with a hint of humor in his tone. Hearing this, Cagalli nodded thoughtfully:
"And the reason ORB can't escape being dragged into the war... is because it's actually part of that cake itself?"
"Exactly."
Lu Tianming snapped his fingers, quite pleased that Cagalli could actively draw this subsequent inference.
"In fact, it's a particularly delicious piece of cake... After all, ORB's technological capabilities are quite impressive in the grand scheme of things. Capturing ORB would mean gaining significant advantage in technological resources."
"From the perspective of their 'righteous cause,' they cannot allow ORB to exist either. The Earth Alliance and ZAFT... one group wants to exterminate all Coordinators, while the other wants to eliminate all Naturals."
"And what is ORB's current situation?—Naturals and Coordinators coexisting peacefully—it's practically heresy! As racial tensions intensify, both sides will undoubtedly want to eliminate ORB as quickly as possible."
Hearing Lu Tianming's explanation, Cagalli couldn't help but shudder... Did this mean ORB was destined for war?
She felt a deep sense of powerlessness wash over her, as if she—or rather ORB—was being helplessly swept into the whirlpool of war by the tides of the era, unable to resist even for a moment.
Distracted, she looked up with dim eyes and asked in a heavy tone:
"Then... is there nothing ORB can do?"
"Not necessarily."
Lu Tianming shook his head.
"Earlier I told you that neutrality alone cannot prevent war... but that doesn't mean neutrality is impossible to achieve."
"True neutrality should exist under these circumstances—the cost for an enemy to occupy you far outweighs the benefits gained from occupation. Only when this condition is met will the other side refrain from showing hostility."
"To put it bluntly, whether you remain neutral isn't determined by subjective attitude but by objective conditions. It's not that you're called a neutral nation that allows you to be neutral, but that you can maintain neutrality that makes you a neutral nation."After hearing Lu Tianming's words, Cagalli lowered her head in thought, then frowned slightly and asked in a subtle tone: "Does that mean...".. only by being so poor that the enemy can't even be bothered to attack you can true neutrality be achieved? If that's the case, ORB might as well not pursue neutrality."
"...That is one scenario."
Lu Tianming was momentarily stunned by her unconventional thinking—how did she jump to that conclusion first?
He cleared his throat lightly, adjusted his posture, and continued:
"But can't you think more positively? Becoming so powerful that enemies dare not move against you—isn't that another approach?"
"MS development is one method. By enhancing our military strength, we can make the enemy hesitate, even forcing them to consider our stance during military operations. That would be the ideal outcome."
Upon hearing this, a glimmer of light returned to Cagalli's previously dim eyes, as if Lu Tianming's description had renewed her hope for ORB's future. Yet she still held some doubts:
"Can ORB... truly become such a nation relying solely on itself?"
"Unknown, but if we're insufficient alone—why not form alliances?"
Lu Tianming smiled frankly, appearing pleased with his plan as he began unabashedly promoting his agenda.
"ORB isn't the only nation in the world seeking neutrality and peace. Uniting all those who desire peace will eventually form a force that cannot be ignored."
"If this ideal interests you, you could speak with Lacus—like me, she carries this vision and is willing to work toward realizing it."
"Lacus... her?"
Cagalli was somewhat surprised to hear this name, yet it seemed to make perfect sense—her singing, her character, gave off an impression of gentleness and flawlessness. For such a dreamlike girl to harbor such ideals... seemed rather fitting.
She nodded, as if committing the name to memory.
Lu Tianming had told her a great deal this time... but it felt like the knowledge had circled through her mind only to slip away again. She would have to ask Lacus for a refresher later.
"...Wait, you still haven't answered the question I asked you at the beginning."
Cagalli suddenly realized that the conversation had drifted to ORB... Where had the initial discussion about the Strike Suit gone?
"Given how things have unfolded, is it still necessary for me to answer you directly?"
Lu Tianming smiled. Discussing ORB might have seemed unrelated, but in reality, he had been addressing the very root of Cagalli's thoughts, providing his 'answer' through that means.
Cagalli was taken aback for a moment, then seemed to grasp Lu Tianming's meaning.
Her earlier confusion had arisen... from believing that the mere creation of the Strike Suit alone could drag ORB into war.
But after gaining a deeper understanding of the nature of war and realizing that ORB would inevitably be drawn into conflict even without the Strike Suit... the specifics of the Strike Suit no longer mattered to her.
And if she had to give an answer...
Cagalli looked up at the Strike Suit, then at the smiling Lu Tianming before her, and silently arrived at her conclusion.
It was probably—like Lu Tianming, a warrior who fights ceaselessly for the ideal of peace.
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