> Mobile Suit Gundam Nova <
July 3rd / I.J.C. 196 / New Orleans/ Ottoman's Mansion
"Urgh…" Slumping out of the car, I use the handkerchief handed to me by Hemston to wipe away the nosebleed dripping onto my face, the smell of iron and blood fills my nostrils as I blow it all onto the handkerchief.
"Ahhh, ummm A-are you ok…M-my lady?" Hanya Ask me with a worried voice as she stumbles on her word, the woman, having control of the same machine as I did, was relentlessly beating the crap out of me, I couldn't predict her movement pattern at all, to the point that even with the combine of me and Haro still can't even graze her mobile suit with a single paintball.
She was an ACE pilot for a reason; if someone like me, a newbie, were to be able to hit her, then what kind of joke would the ace be?
"Don't worry," I said as I handed the handkerchief back to Hemston, making my nose feel clear. I took a deep breath, there was still a faint smell of blood, but nothing I couldn't handle. The feeling of G-force hitting me in full was quite something.
"Go take a bath, you smell like shit." Having come out of the other car, Stephan said with his usual unpleasantness, I just glared at him for a bit before leaving.
"Prepare me a bath, I will get there in around…30…no 10 minutes," I said to Jena, and she nodded with a polite smile, taking Hanya, who protested that she should be with me all the time, not taking a hint at what I was saying.
Once I was alone, without those maids, I quickly made my way into the mansion, where I quickly took to the second floor, running past everyone and everything, arriving at my destination, taking in a deep breath, and slowly opening the door.
Beep…Beep…Beep…
The overwhelming sound of the heart monitor, the cold breeze coming from the open window, allowing the sunlight to shine, sitting there with a book in hand and a cup of coffee, was Mama, who looked considerably better than she ever was on Siga-7.
"Mama! You up!" I rush toward her thigh, feeling her warmth as she slowly pats my head.
"Yup, Mama is up. What is going on with you? There is a bruise around your face." Mama asks in concern as she wipes along the bruise on my face.
"It's nothing! Just my head hitting the back of my seat, that was all." I said cheerfully, excited to tell her in the ten minutes I had. "Oh, by the way! During your sleep, I got this." Pulling out the hairpin that Kylie gets me during her sleep, which she does a lot as Kylie said it was too good for her to rest. Well, sleeping almost 18 hours a day isn't normal, but the fact that she is already better has proven to me that whatever method Kylie uses was working.
"That's so? Wow, it's Mr.Whale, isn't he cute?" Mama said gently as she observed the hairpin.
"I got it for Mama, since I don't know your taste, I just went with mine, is that ok?"
"Hm? My taste? Did you get this for me, Yoha?" Mama asks as she pulls the pin closer.
"Yup! I asked Ms.Kylie to get it for me. I think it would suit your hair." The whale was dark blue, which I think would go along very well with Mama's light blue hair.
"Is that so? Hehe, thank you, dear." Mama patted me gently on the head before she slowly pulled her bangs up and slid the pin in. "How is it? Did it suit me?"
"Yup! Very much so!" I complimented her, and we continued to talk for a few more minutes about my day and what she was missing out on. Her face dropped a bit at the mention that I was training with the real mobile suit, but she managed to smile her way through our time.
"Anyway-"
Knock Knock Knock…
"...Guess time is up." Getting up from the floor, I dust my knee a bit. "Well, I will talk to you later!" I waved my hand and quickly went toward the door, without waiting for Mama to finish.
Once I made sure the door was shut, I took a deep breath before sighing it out. "What's next after bath?" I asked Jena who came to get me instead of Hanya, who was probably waiting in the bath.
"The rest of today is mostly filled with light study, Military, History, Politics, et cetera, et cetera. Ah, there is also the night exercise." Jena said. Another study session…
This is why I can't even see Mama for an hour. That bastard pushed those studies to me, and if I was a little late, he would just keep me from visiting Mama. He already did that once, and I won't let him do it again.
"Is that so? The same old, huh…" The week after staying has been rough on me for many reasons, Mama suddenly got admitted into their care, her declining health, which I try to ignore so many times, and there is nothing I can do about it, at least she was recovering.
The endless Study, whether it will be through simulation, through Hemston, or even Stephan himself, everything was overwhelming. I couldn't adjust on the first and second, but after my third, it slowly set in on me. It was quite terrifying how fast I was able to adapt to this environment, Humans can truly adapt to anything, isn't it?
As I arrived at the bathroom, I saw Hanya was waiting inside, already tidying her dress up as she eagerly waved around the loofahs. "Let's clean up, My lady!" She said enthusiastically.
I wonder why she was so overly clingy to me? We met only for a week, and all those days, she would practically stick to me like glue.
I tried asking her after being annoyed with her during our third day together, but she just waved and dismissed it, saying it is just her duty, which I do not believe at all.
I suspect it to be a pity, and I try digging up her information, but everything comes out empty, probably Stephan's work, all of his workers are all empty, a ghost basically, they do not have history or such, only roles…
And he is still somehow able to make Hanya an Ace, which is probably more of her skill than anything, but the fact that a ghost like her manages to have a position in the military is concerning.
How lacking is recruiting to have them like this? Oh, what am I talking about? They literally recruit fifteen-year-olds into the military.
After taking a quick bath, in which I mostly ignored Hanya's ramble, I came out with a set of new clothes and went back to my room, where Hemston was already waiting, with a stack of books in hand.
"Shall we start today's lesson, my lady?" Hemston asks for the answer he already knows, I just sit down without saying anything and open up the book about politics, which mostly contains political moves and such from around 500 years ago to Today. Which is quite helpful in understanding how each of Earth's Political powerhouses come into play.
> Mobile Suit Gundam Nova <
July 10th / I.J.C. 196 / New Orleans/ Ottoman's private training ground.
"Get up!" Stephan yelled across the room, all while I was puking up my dinner, getting tossed around by Hemston, who simply ignored everything I tried.
CQC training was something that was demanded of me by Stephan, even though training with a gun would probably be more beneficial, because really? How many times would I freaking get into a fist fight? Never, I would never get into them in the first place, if anything, I will make the one who started it suffer in the worst way possible before resorting to something so primitive as a fist fight—
"Blergh!" Puking out the sour saliva, I slowly get up. When… Did I start having those kinds of thoughts? I would never have them if I were still living in Siga-7 I would never have those, sure I did make some daddy girls suffer for bullying me and Ann but those are something that I can fix with just a breath, beside those girl father were riches, they could find new source of income, then Sylvy's brother? No, that wasn't my fault; he hit me first, then what? When do I have this kind of thought—
"GuH!" Clutching my stomach, I rolled to the side to stop my sudden momentum. Hemston was staring at me with Pity, and I immediately knew what had just happened. I had zoned out for over 5 seconds, those were limits before Hemston started getting pressure from Stephan, or else that guy would come in here.
"Shit…B-blergh!" He sure is a terrible human being, making someone as old as him kick a 7-year-old girl, well, nothing say that he was a good person, but he sure get his work done, otherwise, he would probably be six feet and under, thought I thing that was a bit too good for him, considering there are hundred thousand if not million of soldier who body was never recover due to his order alone.
"Hurry up! You have never landed a hit yet! How can you defend yourself?! Are you going to rely on your bodyguard or something!?"
"That's what bodyguards are for, you old bastard!" I yell back, rushing toward Hemston, who seems to pity me as he steps aside, making me miss my punch by a large margin.
"No! Bodyguards are only the first wall, the second wall is yourself. If you can't rely on your bodyguard, what are you gonna do? Scream for help?! That's not how things work! No one is going to come to help, no matter how much you scream!"
With a light push to the side, I completely lost my balance, and before I could even get up, Hemston's knee was on my neck while his arm was restraining mine; my kid body couldn't even struggle against his grasp.
"To become strong enough that you can make decision for yourself, no need to relied on someone, that is how you going to be, and how your future is going to play out, you are going to be strong, charismatic, and intelligence, your blood is perfect for it, that why, you are Earth's last line of defence once I'm gone." Stephan gets down on my face, using his cane to poke at my face.
"And if you can't even handle something like this, then Earth was doomed from the start."
"The fuck are you talking about old man? We are not at war, everything is peaceful, our troops are more than ready for the invasion of Folkath or Angellus!" I counter back, getting out of Hemston's restrain, as he was the one to release me.
"Such a naive one." That was the only thing he said. "Today's practice is over. Go take a bath. There's no practice tomorrow, or else your body will break." And he's gone, leaving me with the question. What is he afraid of?
"Are you alright, Young lady Yoha?" Hemstons asks as he wipes away the blood from my mouth and nose, tch, I bit my inside and now it's bleeding, my lip was cut too, his punches are too sharp.
"...Whatever is the damage on his old freaking head anyway? War? The peace treaty was made during his time, so why is he still worrying? Shit, the taste in my mouth is so bad." pushing out my irritation on Hemston, I pull away the napkin he uses and spit out the blood in my mouth.
"Folkath and Agellus combined don't even count up to half of our army of over three hundred million deployed troops. Sure, they are a bit better at piloting and have a better machine, but that was it, we still topped them with our number. They are not even one-third of us combined."
"Out of those three hundred million, over half of them are off-duty foot soldiers, among them, only about one fourth of them know how to pilot a fighter, and even fewer know how to use the mobile suit. While the active are mostly space guards who patrol over our sphere, our actual number is…far from those numbers, considering how far our reach is. It should only amount to about fifty million active soldiers that were ready to deploy, and of those numbers, they are mostly crew who maintain our spaceship; those who can actively fight are less than a tenth of that."
Hemston said as he took out the healing gel and prepared to pour it into my mouth.
"That goes to them too, that means their actual number is even less than ours, in the long run we would win without even breaking a sweat, of course, there are going to be a lot of casualties, but the same goes to them too." I counter, as I open my mouth, as the sticky gel pours into my mouth, the bitterness immediately spreads, I keep it in my mouth just for 10 seconds before I spit it out immediately. "Shit, couldn't she make it sweet or something?"
"Just because that is a fact you have learned, doesn't mean it's true, you have learned how devastating their troops are to us, isn't it?" I immediately froze at his words, sweat poured down my back as if it was trying to freeze my entire back.
The video footage of the war was preserved with the highest quality, including all the communication logs from various recovered mobile suits, ships, and fighters.
"They fight as if they don't care about their lives, just suicide charging without a plan, but their superior ability is the problem… what's more, those suicide charges aren't done without considering, those are just the bait too. Shit the more I think the more I hate those guys." I stood up and threw the napkin on the ground. "I'm going to shower, don't interrupt me."
"...As you wish, young lady."
"Stop calling me that already, you creepy old man."
Hemston just smiled at my comment without saying anything.