The television light washed the small apartment in shifting shades of blue and white, glowing softly reflected on Hina's eyes as she sat cross-legged on the floor, a blanket loosely draped over her shoulders, beside the makeshift cardboard table. A bowl of rice balanced in her hands, steam curled upward in thin ribbons.
Next to her, Setsuna ate in silence, having just rejected the blanket that Hina brought him. Although his posture seemed unchanged, still composed, chopsticks moving with quiet efficiency, something about him felt dimmer tonight. He must be tired, Hina noted. Not the kind that sleep fixes, but she didn't ask.
On the screen, the footage replayed. A vast structure loomed beneath a harsh desert sky, the Azadistan palace. Smoke lingered faintly from surrounding attacks, yet the unarmed white and blue mobile suit advanced across the entrance. Not charging nor marching, walking, each step measured and deliberated. Almost gentle.
"There it is again..." Hina's chopstick stilled midair.
The Gundam advanced down the palace grounds, its frame catching the sunlight in sharp, luminous edges. No wasted motion or unnecessary force. Even surrounded by tension, it moved as if it was above it.
"... The absolute cutest machine I've ever seen." Her words slipped out unfiltered as her eyes fixed on the screen.
For a fraction of a second Setsuna paused, slightly tilted his head, then resumed eating.
"It doesn't move like a weapon," her explanation continued, voice gaining warmth. "There's no excess force in the joints, no instability in its frame... Even the weight distribution, look! It's optimized not just for combat. Feels like it was designed to end fights quickly, not prolong them."
She gestured lightly toward the screen, eyes sparkling.
"...Or maybe I'm projecting."
"You are." His response was flat and immediate.
Hina blinked, deadpan. "Let me have this."
On the screen, the image shifted. The Gundam reached the palace. Dust curled faintly around its feet as it came to a stop, towering yet strangely unobtrusive.
"Huh, did they get new footage?" Hina leaned in without realizing.
Then, slowly--
The cockpit opened.
A person emerged, face concealed by a helmet, yet his figure was noticeable with the blue pilot bodysuit.
"... That's the pilot?"
Setsuna didn't look up from his bowl. "Yes."
"He looks super short." Hina squinted slightly. "Same height as you, probably."
The sound of Setsuna's chopsticks on ceramic paused abruptly. "I am taller than you." He stated, dryly.
"Irrelevant." Hina waved a hand dismissively. "I just expected the pilot of something like that to be more... intimidating?"
There was the faintest shift in his expression, a frown, a subtle stillness. Yet Hina's eyes remained on the screen, the mysterious pilot helped guide the rescued man forward. Cameras flashed, voices overlapped. The world tried to interpret what it couldn't understand. Celestial Being's actions, the Gundams.
"I wonder what it feels like." Hina's voice softened.
Setsuna's eyes flickered.
"To pilot something beautiful like that," she continued. "The responsiveness, the feedback between movement and intention. It must feel like your body extends beyond itself."
She lifted her hand slightly, as if testing the air.
"Like you're not controlling it." Her fingers curled faintly. "Like you are it."
Setsuna said nothing. Looking down, his hand tightened against the empty bowl.
Only the murmur of the broadcast continued.
Then---
"Hina."
She hummed, still watching.
"... What do you think of them?"
She glanced sideways. "Celestial Being?"
The name itself settled heavier than everything else. Hina didn't answer immediately. She drew her knees closer, resting her chin on them, eyes returning to the screen where the Gundam image stayed still on the corner as the commentarist discussed the recent events.
"They are... strange," she said at last. "But I admire the courage it takes to stand as a contradiction. They're necessary, I think."
"People like to pretend violence is abnormal," she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "Like it appears out of nowhere. But it doesn't. It builds. Things get buried. Ignored."
Setsuna's chest tightened.
"So when something like this appears, something strong enough to force the world to look." Her gaze sharpened, just slightly. "Maybe they deserve it."
Her words were barely above a whisper but they echoed loudly in Setsuna's mind.
"If the world only responds to violence, then violence is the only language it understands," she added.
As he watched her, something uncomfortable threaded through his thoughts. Not a disagreement, he wished it was.
--Recognition.
A reflection too close to his own thoughts.
Yet, the images of the children in Kesh flashed through his eyes. *I can't become Gundam...* was the path this line of thought led onto.
"... Then it won't end." His voice was low.
She blinked, turning to him.
"If conflict answers conflict, it continues. There is no point where it stops." Words left his mouth.
How much did he truly believe them? How much did his actions reflect it? Setsuna wasn't sure himself, only his conversation with Marina Ismail replayed alongside the images in his mind.
Hina studied him, like she was trying to trace where that certainty came from.
"... Maybe," she admitted, softer. "Maybe this is really just an infinite loop."
She looked back at the screen. "But that mobile suit... it doesn't move like something trapped in one."
"It could destroy everything in its path, easily," she continued after a pause. "But it doesn't. It moves forward like it's choosing not to."
Silence settled.
"... Maybe… Like it's trying to change something?"
Change.
The Gundam. Setsuna himself. For a moment, Setsuna didn't know what to do with those thoughts.
"... I see," was all he managed to say.
The broadcast moved on. Analysts. Speculation. Fear dressed up as certainty.
Eventually, Hina stretched, the blanket slipping from her shoulders. "I'll put this away." She stood while gathering the bowls.
Setsuna followed her into the small kitchen, opening the fridge.
Hina turned her attention to the dishes. Water ran softly. Cabinets opened, closed.
Moments passed, the weight of the changing world and Celestial Being's actions pressing on.
"... Setsuna?" Hina's voice broke the stillness as she checked the fridge. "There was milk here this morning, where did it go?"
Setsuna was already at the window.
"I will report back if milk correlates with increased height."
"Correlates with… What?!"
The window shut.
"... Setsuna?"
"Did you really need ALL of it?!"