Mobile Suit Gundam: Code Nova [Rewrite]

[Gundam Nova]

 

March 27th, I.J.C 200, Atlas class Ship, The Klasna, hallway. Klara’s POV.

 

My body felt light as Yoha pulled me with her, she went up to a different stair, huh, so there is a stair here.

 

“Where’re you taking me?” I ask her, but she smiles at me before guiding me again. Well, now isn’t it quite curious? Back then, I would never have dreamed of seeing her smile this genuinely, but now I can see them every time she smiles, well not every time but a lot of time, she’s not faking it as much as before and is starting to become true to herself or at least that what I like to thing.

 

We turned around once more. There was a door in front of us, she opened it and instantly, the smell of food was coming to my nose, this time, instead of overwhelming, it was quite…pleasant.  

 

“This is the real activity hub, the place you went to just now is a rented palace, as for who rented it, it was probably Julia, she loves parties like this after all, Though I quite dislike the atmosphere in the party myself, as it was quite…rowdy,” Yoha said as her face turns into a small frown, she probably thinking about the experience that she didn’t like, also, her speech change to the polite tone again.

 

“You know, you often go back to that way of speech again, the one that sounds more… ladylike? Or should I call it…noble? Like very polite is what I mean.” When I said that, Yoha turned to face me with a bit of a surprised face.

 

“Huh…Sorry, Habits die hard, Well, I at least tried. I will take much more care- … I will try not to use it too much with you.”

 

“Yeah…I won’t count on that, it's the way you were raised, I don’t mind it, it just makes you feel a bit distant.” She looked shocked at what I said, then suddenly started to panic talking.

 

“R-really? I didn’t mean it like that, I-i was just really uh...I really think that we are close, y’know?! It-it just that Habits die hard that was all! I will try to change, I promise, so…so…uh…”

 

“Pft…Ehehehe, AHAHAHA!” 

 

“W-what!?” She was puzzled, her face was red with embarrassment and her red eyes were moving everywhere trying to find what made me laugh.

 

“Nothing. Come on, It's a date, y’know?” My words came naturally, the look on her face was full of shock, embarrassment, and red flush cheek. I didn’t know that she would get embarrassed this easily. But now that I know, I think I can get her back from all the teasing she did to me today. 

 

I grab her hand tightly before dragging her with me, there are other people and they give me some weird looks but I ignore them all, but now here is the problem. I don’t know anything here! 

 

Like, what is there to do? I saw the library but that would be too boring. Dinner? It's still morning and I already ate, Yoha too, probably? The game center? I don’t know…maybe? She likes Mobile Suits, there is sure to be a simulation on here, yeah, since it is a date, let go and play some game, I think that is the normal procedure, isn’t it? 

 

“Alright! I got what we should do in my mind! Come on!” I quickly drag Yoha along with me, walking past many stands, some food, and some movies, I ask the passerby students where the arcade might be and they give me directions all while Yoha was hiding behind my back, with her disguise it would be easily to fool anyone, though her voice is a bit of problem since most will know of her voice.

 

In a flash, we were at the arcade section, and it blew my mind, several machines were put out there, several sounds hit me, a lot of games I had never seen before, and much more!

 

“Come on, Yoha! Let’s go!’ She nods at me, and I drag her with me, alright! What should I play first? Hm…that one then! I quickly walked toward the big arcade machine, and it got a picture of a man in a Gi in a fighting pose, staring down at another one that wore the same outfit, albeit a different color.

 

“A fighting game? It should be fun.” Yoha said as she stood next to the machine, somehow, there was an expression of nostalgia on her face. 

 

“Have you played this game before?” I ask her, curious about the reason behind her expression.

 

“I have, though it was over 5 years ago…It was on my first trip to earth, well, that was the last time I touched any game since.”

 

“Oh…Well, it's time to revive the feeling, right? Come on! Since you have played it before, teach me. I don’t know what these buttons do.” I point toward the machine where there are 2 sets of control panels, each with one handle and 6 buttons.

 

“Well, I didn’t play it much but I think I have the basics down. Do you want to watch first or do you want to start and play?” She has this smug face on her, the one that says no matter what I do, I won’t win against her…

 

And it was quite annoying, so annoying in fact, that I ignored my reason and why I should be cautious when she made this face, it all went out of my head, into the wind, and never to be seen again.

 

“Alright, you on, I just need some training and will beat you.” My competitive spirit got lit up, feeling as if the flame was burning in my heart. I quickly got in front of the machine, while Yoha stood next to me, using another control panel.

 

She quickly moves her handle selecting something that I don’t quite understand, and then it changes to character selection. It happened so fast and now, I am starting to regret my choice a bit.

 

“You can choose first, I will pick a character that has no counter to yours.” Yoha’s smug voice entered my ear and it made me fuming with pride, one thing that I won’t abandon! 

 

“You said that, remember! Don’t come back crying if you lose!” I quickly look over the character roaster and see a big guy who looks menacing, I pick him up and lock my character.

 

“A grab character, it’s quite bad for a new player, y’know?” 

 

“What a grab character?” She didn’t respond to me, only smiled at me…she turned around and picked her character, a girl with a gun.

 

Once she picked her character, it was locked in, and then suddenly, the screen changed, revealing our two characters. A countdown appears and I grab my handle tightly while my other hand is focused on the Buttons, looking at what each one does, good thing there is a guide on what it does.

 

When the countdown came to an end, I moved my handle to the right and saw my character move toward Yoha’s Character. Then, out of nowhere, my character got hit.

 

“Eh? Is it a bug? Why am I taking damage?” I asked out, but I only heard a low snicker from Yoha, seemingly trying to contain her laughter. “What are you laughing at?” I said and turned my attention to the screen again, then I saw it. Yoha's character was crouching, and she shot her gun…

 

“O-oi! That's cheating!” I said to her, moving my hand frantically trying to get close but no matter what! My character won’t move! My eyes quickly looked over the buttons and I saw it, I pressed them and my Character managed to block the bullet!

 

“Hehe! Now that I blocked your bullet, what are you gonna-” I didn’t manage to finish my word as Yoha's character moved from her position and quickly got behind my character, she then started to smash the button while moving her to handle as if it was natural to her, her character starts doing these crazy moves then before I knew it, I lost.

 

“...” I was speechless, I froze there, not knowing that we had to play one more round.

 

“Controlling these control panels was a lot easier than a Mobile suit than I thought, maybe there is something I can do about this? Maybe…no no, there are already more buttons needed to remember, and the new handle I ask for is still in development too, hm…guess there is nothing I could add from it.” Yoha talked to herself, as she thought about what she could add to the absurd control of a mobile suit already, it was one of the reasons why I was never suited to be a pilot, the control was too confusing.

 

“...let’s go, play another game,” I said, drawing Yoha back to reality.

 

“Hm? We can play this more, Y’know? We still didn’t even finish the first game-”

 

“I said we will go find another one to play!” I quickly drag her away from the machine, her body following after me, I look toward the front not looking at Yoha’s face, I feel like I would see a very smug face here, which I do not want to see right now!

 

“There! I want to play that game!” I quickly took her to one of those games where they got a gun as a controller. Surely, she won’t be good with these? 

 

“Hm, Zombie Night? The controller is quite old, is it 2nd gen?” …Why is she saying something like she knows what it is…Don’t tell me… “Let’s start. Come on.”

 

“I-i know that!” I picked up the gun-shaped controller, ohhh it's quite heavy. And just like what I fear, Yoha quickly starts the game, allowing me no time to try it at all. She quickly put her gun up and aimed at the incoming zombie on the screen and then quickly shot all of them down, like it was nothing. I quickly followed what she was doing and surprisingly, it was quite fun.

 

Just mindlessly shooting away the incoming horde of zombies, I was invested in this game so much that an hour had passed by already when we finished it, it was mostly Yoha doing most of the work as I was mostly stumbling with what to do with each situation and getting overwhelmed by the horde of zombies. 

 

“Dang, that was so much fun! Come on, Yoha let go and find some other thing!” She nodded at me and took my hand. I was a bit surprised but I managed to keep my expression. Now that I think about it, I was mostly holding her hand the entire time wasn’t I?! What does this make us?! A friend? Girlfriend? Or just a very good friend?! 

 

Good friend! That's right! I’m not ready for more! We are just good friends, yes we are very good friends! Not more, not less! Yeah…

 

There something caught my attention, I looked at it and saw a row of Mobile Suit, a plastic model. They posed in various poses and looked very cool. My mind instantly knew what to do, I grabbed her hand more tightly and walked toward it. I felt it. She would love this. She loves Mobile suits so she must like them too. 

 

When I walked into the shop, I turned back to see Yoha's expression and it was…weird. A single drop of tear, a shock loo but at the same time, it was also devoid of emotion, then sorrow followed. 

 

“Y-yoha? Are you good?” I ask her, my face twists in worry as I look at her acting so strangely. She heard my words and then turned to look back at me, her expression returning to normal.

 

“Yeah…I’m ok, don’t worry.” She said, her voice shaking a bit, I normally would let it go, but…I don’t want to, I don’t want to let her go.

 

“Are you sure? You're crying just now.” I am pursuing it.

 

“Yes, It just brought back a bit of memory, that's all.” She lied, her eyes twitching just now, a habit I found out about her, from years of observing, it’s what happened when she lied.

 

“You're lying, is there something you don’t want to talk about? If..you don’t want to talk now we can talk later, if you are uncomfortable with this place then-”

 

“It’s…alright, it just brings back old memories, that is all, I will tell you about it…one day, but not now, not tomorrow, I need…time to prepare myself,” Yoha said, seeing her expression that was a mix of sadness but also genuine happiness, trying to comfort the worry me, it pain me but also…make me feel very happy that she trust me, and care for me in trying to comfort me.

 

“When the time comes, tell me about it, alright?” I said to her, and she nodded at me, “OK, so do you feel comfortable with this place? If not, should we go out?” 

 

“No…I want to try this place out.” She said as she walked further into the store, taking a look around at various models until she settled on one box, she picked it up, went toward the cashier, and paid for the box and various equipment on the spot. 

 

When she walked out, she took my hand and I didn’t resist her, letting her guide me toward where she wanted me to go. We went toward this place, it was quite dark, with not a lot of light but I could still see it perfectly, it was a dimly lit palace, basically.

 

She settled down on one of the tables and opened up the box, and then she froze.

 

“Yoha?” I call her out as I sit next to her, she then regains herself and then stares at the box. Picking up the book and laying out the layers of plastic in order. There was colorful plastic, some was clear, some was just a mix of two colors…

 

It’s quite something, the fact that it is a weapon of war… was turned into a toy like this, they really work hard on promoting it too.

 

“This model…is called Gendaro, the first mobile suit that I ever laid my eyes on. It was during one day, when I looked out the window of my house, that I saw them flying over the colony.’ She said as her hand swiftly moved toward the piller, cutting part of the mold.

 

“That was the first time I saw a mobile suit, before that, I didn’t even know it existed.” She then quickly takes the parts together forming a head with a skillful hand, as if she had been doing this thing a thousand times before.

 

“It was the first spark, did you know, I never really wanted to become a pilot, fighting in war? I hate it, spilling blood for people I don’t even know, fighting against someone who has family, and taking the life of someone.”

 

“I want to become a researcher like Mother, I want to be a mobile suit designer, I want to become a test pilot. But circumstances said otherwise, I lost my home, my colony, and my mother and had to play this game of politics where I didn’t understand anything half the time, only getting by with a little scrap that would not be important in the long run.”

 

“I was…bitter with everything, but then…I met you, do you know of the first time I met you?” I shake my head and she smiles a bit. “It was during the interview, I saw you come out of the room. It was the first time I met you.” 

 

“Huh? Has such a thing really happened? I don’t really remember that time anymore.” I remember I first saw her during the ranking announcement, where I found out I wasn't first place, and how I became an eternal second.

 

“Yes, it happened. And then, the academy starts and you see the me I want everyone to see. The training for that version of myself...is quite hard. But then…you just come out of nowhere acting quite rude every time we meet, and we meet quite often too…like fate playing tricks. I was starting to think that you were stalking me or something.”

 

“Hey! It is not my fault you always appear at the worst time! Who would know that you would just bark into the gym screaming!” I retort back to her, and she laughs lightly.

 

“Isn’t it? Coincidence is really something. You appear like a comet crashing down, and somehow, I began to open up to you. I don’t even know why I give you the dub of my mind, maybe…it was during our first fight…or maybe it was long before that.”

 

She finished building it, and the model looked nothing like the real one, making it look cooler than the real gendaro I often see back at Metalica.

 

“Somehow, You, Klara. You managed to make me open up to you, I think that kind of quality is important because you experienced something similar, and you can empathize with others, while I on the other hand was bitter about it, you overcame it. You are strong. Stronger than me.” She picks up the finished model and turns to me, handing it over to my hand.

 

“That's why, stay like this, stay by my side so I can be strong, don’t leave me, ok?” She said with a smile…how could I refuse you like this, and the answer, I already gave it to you, isn’t it?

 

“I said this already, I won’t let you alone, so open up to me more, and when the time comes, tell me what you want to say.” I took the model from her, staring at the work for a bit. In just 30 minutes, she managed to assemble all this and even get a little bit of detail.

 

“You're really good with this, where did you learn it,” I asked her. And she just smiled at me.

 

“That’s a secret.” She put her hand on her lip and her eyes stared at me mischievously before she got up. “Come on, The ‘date’ still isn’t over." She said as she offered me her hand, my heart skip a beat as I reach out for her hand.