Jonathan was far more direct.
“Kid.”
“Did it ever occur to you that if I had merely disabled him, he might have self-destructed his mobile suit?”
“Look at those people outside.”
As he spoke, Jonathan gestured for Kira to look at Sai and the others, who were still standing there in bewilderment on the monitor.
Kira froze.
As he stared at his classmates on the screen, he gradually realized what Jonathan meant.
If the enemy had chosen to self-destruct, Sai and the others could easily have been caught in the explosion and killed along with him.
Yet even after understanding that, Kira still could not accept it.
He stubbornly believed there had to be some way to defeat an enemy perfectly without killing anyone.
Jonathan looked at his obstinate expression and could not be bothered to say another word.
A sheltered boy who had never experienced anything was unlikely to understand until reality beat him bloody.
At that moment, the Strike Gundam’s remaining power began to reach critical levels.
The colors of its Phase Shift Armor gradually faded, and the mobile suit returned to its original metallic-gray appearance.
Without a Striker Pack providing support, the Strike’s operational endurance was truly abysmal.
Meanwhile, Murrue had kept her nerves tightly wound throughout the battle.
Once she confirmed that the enemy had been eliminated and the immediate danger had passed, she finally reached her limit.
Combined with the severe blood loss, her vision suddenly went black, and she collapsed.
When Kira saw this, he immediately forgot about whether Jonathan had been right to kill the enemy and hurried over to shake her.
“Hey!
What’s wrong?”
“Wake up!”
Hearing the commotion, Jonathan turned around and saw that Murrue had already gone limp.
Blood was still seeping from the wound in her shoulder.
Only then did he realize that Murrue had not simply been knocked unconscious by the impact in the original storyline.
She had fainted from excessive blood loss.
“She passed out from blood loss.”
“Press down on her wound!”
Jonathan issued the order immediately.
Kira instinctively obeyed, pressing his hand against the wound on Murrue’s shoulder.
Jonathan had no time to teach him step by step.
He piloted the Strike Gundam toward the place where Murrue had rested in the original storyline.
Then he carried her out of the cockpit and laid her down on a bench.
His movements were not particularly gentle, but neither were they rough.
Afterward, he retrieved a first-aid kit from the mobile suit and briefly disinfected and bandaged Murrue’s wound.
The smell of antiseptic filled the air.
Murrue’s face was pale from blood loss, and the flickering firelight made her appear especially vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Kira finally found his four friends.
“Kira!”
“You’re all right!
Thank goodness!”
The moment Sai saw him, he rushed forward and embraced him.
Kira froze briefly before tightly returning the hug.
The lingering fear of having narrowly escaped death left even his voice hoarse.
“I’m so glad none of you were hurt.”
“Kira, how did you come out of that mobile suit?”
Sai Argyle looked up at the enormous Strike Gundam, his face filled with astonishment.
“Were you the one piloting that thing just now?”
Unfortunately, this time was different from the original storyline.
Kira had not been the one piloting the Gundam.
He therefore shook his head.
“Then who is the pilot?”
“Is he with Orb’s military?”
Miriallia could not suppress her curiosity.
Hearing her question, Kira looked toward Jonathan with a complicated expression.
“I don’t know who he is either.”
“But this machine is the Earth Alliance’s latest weapon.”
The moment he said that, Tolle Koenig’s expression changed.
“That’s impossible!”
“Orb is supposed to be a neutral nation.
Why would the Earth Alliance’s latest weapon be here?”
His voice contained obvious displeasure and suspicion.
Kira could not answer that question.
He did not understand what was happening either.
The atmosphere immediately grew heavy.
In the end, Miriallia was the first to speak and break the silence.
“Whether he belongs to Orb or the Earth Alliance, he still saved us.”
As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted toward Jonathan, her eyes filled with sincere gratitude.
When Kira saw the way she was looking at him, an inexplicable discomfort arose in his heart.
From his perspective, Jonathan might have saved them, but he was also someone capable of killing without hesitation.
Miriallia should not have lowered her guard around him so naturally.
“I want to go over and thank him.”
“Are you coming?”
Her words only confused Kira further.
Sai and Kuzzey clearly did not think as deeply about it.
They immediately followed Miriallia toward Jonathan.
Only Tolle remained beside Kira.
Tolle had little interest in whether Jonathan was a “murderer.”
He cared far more about why the Earth Alliance’s latest weapon had appeared in Orb.
This discovery could bring the flames of war directly to Orb itself.
Tolle had already subconsciously categorized Jonathan as a member of the Earth Alliance.
Consequently, the gaze he directed toward Jonathan now contained unmistakable hostility and disgust.
Miriallia, Sai, and Kuzzey had already reached Jonathan.
All three sincerely thanked him.
Their voices were earnest, and there was no ulterior motive in their eyes.