From a distance, Tolle watched his girlfriend thank Jonathan with such heartfelt sincerity, and an inexplicable pang of jealousy rose within him.
Miriallia had never looked at him that way before.
Time slowly passed.
Several hours later, Murrue finally began to regain consciousness.
Her eyelashes fluttered gently.
When she opened her eyes, her gaze remained unfocused, making it clear that she had not fully come to her senses.
Jonathan noticed immediately.
“You’re awake?”
He walked over and crouched beside her.
“Would you like some water?”
He held out the bottle in his hand.
Murrue had only just awakened, and her memories were still somewhat disordered.
She appeared sluggish as she softly murmured, “Thank you,” and accepted the bottle.
The moment she raised her arm, the movement tugged at the wound in her shoulder, causing her to frown slightly.
Seeing this, Jonathan placed a hand behind her back and helped her lean against his arm.
It made drinking much easier.
The moment Murrue rested against him, however, her body visibly stiffened.
The warmth and strength radiating from the young man’s body unexpectedly caused something to stir within her heart.
Meanwhile, inside the Strike Gundam’s cockpit, Tolle was touching and examining everything around him like a child visiting an amusement park for the first time.
Kuzzey stood outside the cockpit, looking up at the armor that had returned to its original gray color.
“You two, stop touching other people’s things!”
After watching them recklessly fiddle with everything, Sai finally stepped forward to stop them.
Neither of them took his warning seriously.
They remained absorbed in exploring the mobile suit.
The sight struck a raw nerve in Murrue Ramius, an officer of the Earth Alliance.
The GAT-X units—the G-series mobile suits—were among the Earth Alliance’s most highly classified military secrets.
Her expression immediately darkened.
Although her body had yet to recover, she forced herself upright, drew the handgun from her waist, and fired a shot toward the Strike Gundam.
The sudden gunshot thundered through the area.
Everyone jumped in fright.
“You people!”
“Get down from that mobile suit immediately!”
Tolle and Kuzzey instantly covered their heads, completely dumbfounded.
They froze where they stood, uncertain of what to do.
Gritting her teeth, Murrue slowly rose from the bench.
Her face remained pale and her steps were unsteady, but the gun in her hand stayed firmly aimed in their direction.
The moment Kira saw this, he rushed to her side.
“What are you doing?!”
He instinctively tried to stop her.
Unlike in the original storyline, however, Jonathan had already helped steady Murrue earlier.
Although she remained weak, there was no need for Tolle and the others to restrain her together.
Jonathan alone was more than enough to stop her.
Kira opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
Yet in his agitation, he could not think of any particularly convincing argument.
After struggling for several moments, he could only force out one sentence.
“They’re just civilians!”
“You can’t point a gun at them!”
Murrue was already impatient with Kira’s naivety.
Upon hearing this, she immediately turned the gun toward him.
“This mobile suit is one of the Earth Alliance’s highest-level military secrets.”
“Precisely because you’re civilians, you have even less right to touch it.”
When the gun was pointed directly at him, Kira’s expression changed.
He instinctively took a step backward, staring at Murrue with shock and complicated emotions.
Tolle had therefore been able to retort sarcastically, “Wasn’t Kira the one piloting it just now?”
But the situation was different this time.
Jonathan had been the real pilot.
Although Tolle also walked over, he could only stand there and stare at Murrue with a defiant, displeased expression.
Murrue was still the adult in the situation.
She had no intention of arguing with a group of students for long.
Just as in the original storyline, she herded them together and ordered them to stand in one place.
But when it was Jonathan’s turn, the atmosphere changed.
Murrue raised her handgun and aimed it directly at him.
Jonathan glanced down at the weapon before raising his eyes, his tone indifferent.
“Murrue Ramius.”
“Captain, Earth Alliance Forces.”
“Would you mind pointing that gun somewhere else?”
“I’m not particularly fond of having guns aimed at me.”
Murrue had not yet formally introduced herself to the others.
Logically, Jonathan should not have known her name.
That realization made her heart tighten, and her entire body instantly tensed.
Her fingers clenched involuntarily around the handgun, her grip growing so tight that her knuckles turned faintly white.
“Who exactly are you?”
“How do you know my name?”
At a time like this, the last thing Murrue wanted was another unforeseen complication.
Four of the five G-series mobile suits had already fallen into enemy hands.
The remaining Strike Gundam was practically the Earth Alliance’s final lifeline.
She therefore refused to accept any new uncertainty.
Seeing that Murrue continued aiming the gun at him without the slightest intention of lowering it, Jonathan lost all patience with the standoff.