Hearing Kira's call, Athrun finally couldn't resist turning back again, and in that very moment—their gazes finally met.
Confirming that it was indeed the Athrun he knew, Kira immediately excitedly ran down from the maintenance rack and rushed toward Athrun.
Meanwhile, Lu Tianming sat in the cockpit, watching their emotional reunion, unable to suppress the upward curve of his lips.
"Hahaha, did you see that? Just now when Athrun turned around, Kira's call made him spin a full three hundred sixty degrees on the spot!"
Inside the cockpit, Xia Chuan watched Athrun clearly through Freedom Gundam's monitor, seeing him execute a complete spin on the ground and nearly lose his balance, and let out a boisterous laugh.
"I know it's funny, but hold your laughter for now."
Lu Tianming forcibly suppressed his rising smile and held back his laughter as he spoke.
"They haven't seen each other for so many years... What about you? Have you forgotten when you came home during the first National Day holiday in college?"
"At that time, it had only been a damn month since we last saw each other, but when we met again, you almost wiped your snot all over me, pulling me aside to endlessly chatter about all the crap you'd been through..."
"Damn you, can we not bring up the embarrassing past?"
While Lu Tianming and Xia Chuan began digging up each other's embarrassing histories and hurting each other, Athrun and Kira presented a completely different scene.
Compared to Lu Tianming and Xia Chuan's rapid-fire, practiced banter that sounded like a rehearsed comedy routine, Athrun and Kira remained silent... or rather, they gazed at each other with deep affection.
After all, without their original meeting in Heliopolis from the story, without the plot of Athrun infiltrating ORB to see Kira, their last true meeting... dated back nearly ten years ago, when they were still children.
Now, with the passage of time, Athrun had become an ace pilot who defected from the ZAFT Forces to ORB, while Kira had become an elite maintenance crew member aboard the Archangel.
In each other's eyes, they had both become familiar yet unfamiliar figures, each holding countless words they wanted to say but not knowing where to begin.
Finally, it was Athrun who broke the silence first with a slight smile.
"Speaking of which, Kira... have you been working as a maintenance crew member on the Archangel ever since the incident at Heliopolis?"
Kira, who had been wondering how to start the conversation, seeing Athrun suddenly bring up a familiar topic, immediately nodded enthusiastically:
"Yeah, at that time my classmates and I couldn't find the rescue capsules and were almost caught in the crossfire of ZAFT's MS... Fortunately, Mr. Lu piloted the Strike Suit and saved us."
"Back then we were all lost and didn't know what to do, but Mr. Lu stepped up to take command and had me try debugging the Strike Suit... Later, when they found my work effective, I became the Strike Suit's maintenance technician."
"Although most of the time, Mr. Lu would stay inside the Strike Suit's cockpit himself, conducting various debugging and maintenance tasks... during complex situations requiring continuous combat operations... I would take on certain maintenance responsibilities."
As Athrun saw Kira enthusiastically discussing matters related to Lu Tianming, a twinge of jealousy rose in his heart, but he felt more happiness—or rather, relief.
The fact that Kira held Lu Tianming in such high regard proved that he had been treated well aboard the Archangel—otherwise, he wouldn't have developed such a sense of belonging toward Lu Tianming, or even toward the group as a whole.
The only slightly awkward part was... the ZAFT MS that Kira mentioned had affected them earlier seemed very likely to be the Aegis he himself had been piloting at the time.
Clearing his throat to divert attention, Athrun suddenly realized something.
"You're saying... he handled most of the Strike Suit's repairs himself?"
"That's right."
Kira didn't see anything unusual about this statement and nodded, continuing to explain.
"Mr. Lu mostly has me working on developing new equipment, like refining and implementing conceptual designs for the Aile Pack and Manta Ray pedals... but he's the one who actually adjusts all the various parameters of the Strike Suit itself."
"Even the Strike Suit's OS programming—he guided me through rewriting it back then."
Hearing this, Athrun couldn't help but feel a growing curiosity about Lu Tianming... How could a Natural possibly handle such complex repair work on his own?
And... if that were the case, then those strange combat maneuvers of the Strike Suit were also his own developments, not Kira's research?
"What about... those special techniques used by the Strike Suit and the Freedom?"
"Those?"
At this, Kira suddenly smiled mysteriously.
"According to Mr. Lu... they're the results of the Machine Spirit being greatly pleased, blessings from the Machine Spirit deity."
"...You believe such a perfunctory excuse?"
Athrun was somewhat puzzled; that kind of talk sounded like something used to fool children.
"Because it actually works—I saw the Strike Suit nod at me with my own eyes, without any remote control or anyone operating it."
Kira shrugged, wearing an expression that said, "You outsiders just wouldn't understand."
Athrun was half-convinced by Kira's description. Under normal circumstances... no matter what Kira said, he probably wouldn't have believed it.
But the Strike Suit was just too mysterious... especially after directly witnessing that hundreds-of-meters-long Armor Schneider, it almost felt more reasonable for something like a Machine Spirit to actually exist.
"Anyway, Athrun, it wouldn't hurt for you to pay your respects more often—maybe our reunion this time was also thanks to the Machine Spirit deity's blessing. Come on, hurry up and join me in paying respects."
Kira smiled, then without waiting for a response, pulled Athrun over in front of the Freedom, clasped his hands together, and bowed sincerely in prayer toward the Freedom.
Athrun initially wanted to refuse, but seeing how earnest and sincere Kira was, he didn't want to spoil the moment. He simply smiled indulgently and bowed along with him.
However... this seemingly sacred and solemn scene appeared somewhat bizarre in the eyes of Lu Tianming and Xia Chuan.
"Silly son, I feel like you've become some kind of matchmaking deity. Look, they're bowing to you before bowing to each other, like a wedding ceremony."
Lu Tianming poked at Xia Chuan's Haro shell, chuckling as he spoke.
"I'm not inside the Haro right now, stop poking randomly."
Xia Chuan retorted, then glanced at the two earnestly praying ahead, feeling somewhat conflicted inside.
The term "Matchmaking Deity" that Lu Tianming mentioned... didn't seem entirely wrong. Leaving aside Kira and Athrun's situation, just the romantic encounters Lu Tianming attracted were numerous enough.
Both Murrue and Badgiruel had somewhat intimate contact with Lu Tianming inside his Strike Suit's cockpit. Lacus and Cagalli's first encounters with Lu Tianming occurred when he helped rescue them... Even Flay had fought an important "battle" with Lu Tianming using his previous Strike Suit's cockpit as their battlefield.
He felt that if Lu Tianming really could establish a harem, he would undoubtedly deserve half the credit.
After the prayer ended, Kira pulled out a small black Haro pendant from his pocket—clearly identical in style to Xia Chuan's current accessory.
"This is a Machine Spirit avatar statue I made myself. They say carrying this will make the Machine Spirit more fond of you."
Athrun blankly accepted the Haro... Though he didn't really believe in such things, this was after all the first gift Kira had given him since their reunion.
No matter what, he would treasure it properly.
However... Lu Tianming, watching the pendant in Kira's hand through the monitor, cast a suspicious glance at Xia Chuan:
"Kira said 'they say'... Who exactly told him that? Don't tell me you've been spreading your teachings while I wasn't around?"
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