[Gundam Nova]

 

February 29th, I.C.J. 194, Earth, New Orleans 1:24 P.M.

 

Once they get to the mansion and eat lunch, The Ottoman sends You away, in the guise of giving her the tour of the mansion, while Araya is still sipping away at her Tea.

 

“So, let's talk about the real reason that you’re here,” Stephan spoke out loud, he changed his demeanor once Yoha left with Hemston.

 

“Well…I got spied on, by Them no less…I got no other choice but to go back I suppose.” placing down the tea, Araya slumped back into the seat and groaned in annoyance. 

 

“So you're going to leave your 4-year-old Daughter, who could potentially be assassinated after you go back with us?

 

“Nah, not with you. But with Elysium, I heard they got quite the defense system. Oh and don't worry, Yoha is a smart kid, she wouldn't cause trouble, useless you give her a reason to.”

 

“That is not what I want to hear…but I will let it go. What are you going to do? Go back and return to being a mindless drone?” now that hit her in the heart.

 

“They won't do anything to me, They already have the best chip in the Table, My daughter. So they wouldn't need to worry about me acting against them. But who is to say I can't spice up their drink?”

 

“...How long…do you think before you can rest?”

 

“Maximum is 12 years, I want to see Yoha grow up too, but if push comes to shove I guess 5 will do.”

 

“That short huh, Guess I can stay kicking till your brat grows up. But remember, what you do will leave a scar on her, be it big or small.” Stephan leaves that as his last word as he leaves the room alongside Kylie.

 

Sitting alone, Araya picks up the Teacup and sips it.

 

“Cold already…but a scar huh? I guess someone like me will leave her a scar.”

 

[Gundam Nova]

 

March 1st, I.J.C. 194, Earth, New Orleans.

 

“Since The interview is a week away, Yoha. Let's go sightseeing.”

 

Mama suddenly said when we are having breakfast, and that is how I was completely dressed up, with something comfortable of course, and is now in the car, with sunglasses on while poking my head through the windows and getting some of that fresh air.

 

Mr.Stephan is sitting in the front while I sit on Mrs. Kylie's lap…it seems she really likes it when I sit on her lap. Mama is sitting next to Mrs.Kylie and she is recording everything right now, and occasionally, she would ask me to make a pose for her.

 

So where are we going today? The Zoo, more specifically, New Orga Zoo. It is an attraction that has been in New Orleans for at least a hundred years with visitors worldwide.

 

It contains both land and sea animals so it is very popular with kids. They also have a research team dedicated to discovering the secrets of animals there too, for some reason.

 

But well, who cares! I got to see Sea animals! It has always fascinated me since I was a child! Not just sea animals but even animals in general. 

 

But as I grew up my interest began to change into mobile suits, super robots, real mecha, and hero suits.

 

I mean what kind of boy didn't like a big robot that shoots beams out of its mouth!? Urg just thinking about it makes me want to watch the Zeong arc again!

 

“She really is excited huh?” 

 

“Yeah…I never knew she was interested in fish and such.” mam and Ms. Kylie are talking to each other. Well, I never really expressed interest in them before because I got another thing to be interested in, y’know? Mobile suit and such. 

 

“I mean. They are interesting for sure, Where can you find a creature that can regenerate even when it got its head chopped off and can still function? What's more, there are still many unknown things that could be discovered.” Mh, If I hadn’t discovered Mazinga Z I might actually go to marine biology. It's just that interesting.

 

“Really? What kind of animal is that?” Ms.Kylie asks.

 

“Sea slug. More specifically, the Elysia Sea slug, can depict its own head and grow an entirely new body.” Now that I think about it, it actually didn’t function without a head, but just created a new body instead.

 

“Wow, there really some slug like that, huh?” Ms.Kylie said as she patted my head, it seemed she wasn’t that interested in it and just asked me since I was interested in it.

 

As I and Ms.Kylie talk about the creatures both land and sea, an hour seems to pass by and we already arrived…at one of the biggest zoos I have ever seen, and that includes my previous life.

 

“...Don’t tell me they actually have a living Whale in here?” 

 

“Minke whale, Humpback whale, and Killer whale, it seems they put a lot of effort into Marine creatures, you could say it an aquarium, if not for the zoo above it.” Mama just lists the name of an animal that is actually in here from the web.

 

“Sperm whale seems to be too big to fit in here.” 

 

“They actually have a plan of capturing them but it seems to be too cruel for the animal and causes a lot of backlashes, that's why they don’t have them.” 

 

That makes sense, even the biggest of corpo would be afraid of angry internet people, with how much dirt they could dig out of you, it was actually quite terrifying. And I saw a lot of things that went wrong too…

 

No use thinking about it, we come to have fun! 

 

Taking Mama’s hand, We all walk into the Zoo/Aquarium. Inside I saw the colorful reception, multiple holograms of Animales, sharks flying…no swimming through the air, Eagle and hawk fighting for food, Tiger and Lion sleeping.. All of them are holograms and it was so real.

 

As I was admiring the Hologram, Mr.Stephan already got us the ticket. We walked through the reception room and when we were truly inside the zoo…it was…so overwhelming. The first thing I saw was the large Elephants, eating the thick bamboo. With little of it, children surround it while drinking from the pound, Behind them is a giraffe taller than I remember, chewing on the left as it turns its head toward me, the new visitors.

 

And is that a cow? No, cows aren’t like that…wildebeest? Kangaroos, Caracals, Hippo! Multiple animals both that I know and unknown to me! All living in harmony, I saw the workers are cleaning some of the Rhino too! 

 

They seem so docile, maybe it is because they know that the workers aren’t dangerous.

 

“How is it? Ya like it?” Mama asked, and her smirk already told me she knew the answer.

 

“I love it! There are so many lives here, one I know and the one I don’t know! Is there a board or something? I really want to know all the animals in here!” I said enthusiastically, As I looked for something akin to a board or maybe a sign.

 

“No need for that, We live in the future, y’know,” Mama whispered into my ear, as she took out the tablet from her bag and connected it to something before handing it to me.

I found out what she meant, the tablet she handed me was connected to the zoo app and I could just look up what zone I was in and it would show all the animals to me. And she reminds me too that I live in the future.

 

I should stop thinking like when I was on old Earth. 

 

“Thank you.” I thanked her and began to dive into the endless information. It seems we are in the first zone, the safari zone. Right, let's get on a journey going!

 

[Gundam Nova]

 

Araya's hand is occupied, one hand holding onto her daughter, while the other one is the bag full of plushies that Kylie brought, thinking that Yoha likes something like this. Stephan is yawning behind her, not even offering help.

 

Well, he was really only here to watch his wife, Yoha being absorbed into the zoo right now, eyes shining like diamonds as she watched the animal, and Kylie didn’t help either as she too was getting into the Zoo with Yoha.

 

They walk through almost all the land zones, the last zone before the Aquarium is the tundra zone. Well, They are already there. 

 

“Woah! Penguins, wolves, foxes and bears! What that!...a Dhole? Social animal…” Araya listened as her daughter listed the trait of the Dhole out loud for Kylie to hear too. 

 

They watch the Animals with amazement in their eyes. And it is not even what Yoha is interested in. If she remembers correctly, she seems to be more interested in sea animals. The look in her eyes as she talks about them in the car, the feeling of love and familiarity as she talks about them.

 

It seems to be her old interest from the previous life she talks about. Well, old life new life, what is it? The memory from before? Another person entirely? Or maybe some memory that has been placed inside. 

 

Araya doesn’t know, and she doesn’t care too. All she needs to know is that Yoha is her daughter, a gem that is still unrefined and needs guidance. Yoha…is like an endless pit that immerses everything, but she tends to act first before thinking. 

 

Like with Yohai, or with her credit card. But she learned from her lesson and that was enough. Yoha’s coding skill is already compared to her…maybe it is her skill from her previous life too but the fact that she is already compared to her, the genius hailed by many as the best, is terrifying.

 

What’s more…there seems to be some kind of thing she has hiding in there. But that all left to the future and hopefully she would be able to discover those other talents.

 

“Mama? What’s wrong?” Oh…it seems she is starting to have the same habit as Yoha, getting easily distracted and lost in her own world like this.

 

“Nothing, baby. Now where are we?”  She asked, hand holding Yoha tightened up a bit. Yoha seems to notice something wrong as her expression suddenly changes to worry. “Come on…Let’s go.” Changing the Topic to something else, Yoha finally let go of the worried look on her, at least on the surface. 

 

Walking together with the 4 of them, they arrive at a stair, leading to the underground. Walking down the atmosphere starts to change, the lighting turns to pale blue, with a bit of chill as lowly the wall turns to the glass wall, and slowly marine life comes out swimming. 

 

Yoha is fully absorbed into the atmosphere, eyes shining, watching each fish without even looking away. But it seemed she didn’t know why this place was the most popular. Good thing they already reserve one for themselves.

 

Time passes by slowly as she watches Yoha being entranced by what she saw. Well well well, maybe she could make Yoha turn her focus to marine biology and not anything related to mobile suits or coding after all?

 

Just as she is about to speak, she feels something…akin to disappointment…if Yoha truly turns her interest into something else…what would be lost? The talent that is once in a hundred years? Thousand?  Maybe…just maybe…she should allowed it.

 

Deciding to keep her mouth shut, Araya turns her attention back to Yoha again, watching the little angel holding her hand, Haro rolling alongside her while Kylie walk just a bit behind to watch over the little girl.

 

After a little while of walking, they soon reach the end. Yoha seemed to be disappointed about it but well, she was about to have one of the best experiences ever had.

 

Araya took Yoha into her arms, which surprised the little girl a bit. She tilts her head softly at Araya, and in return, she just smiles. Making Yoha tilt her little head even further.

 

“Yoha, do you notice that little tank there?” Pointing at the tank on their right, Yoha turns her attention there.

 

“What of it? I see a little hatch there but is there something? Oh, I saw some worker there too.” She asks. 

 

“Well, let’s go take a look, shall we? But first, close your eyes.” 

[Gundam Nova]

 

Doing as Mama asks, I close my eyes shut and listen to the sound instead. I could hear the sound of her footsteps, slow and steady, the voice she made when she greeted the worker, and the sound of the hatch opening.

 

It seems we walk inside of the hatch, and it seems to be a bit submerged? I could hear a little sound of waves. I kept my eyes shut as tight as possible, trying to not allow my curious self to open them. But it was hard, very hard. 

 

I heard the sound of something opening, and the air seemed to be warmer once we got inside. Then…a low hum of an engine. I couldn’t contain my curiosity anymore, so I decided to peek a little, only to see absolute darkness. 

 

“I didn’t say you could peek,” Mama said softly, well she knows me enough. After a little bit of the engine sound, I couldn’t hear anything anymore. 

 

“You can look now.” She said, and I slowly opened my eyes.

Waoooooaoooo….

 

The sound of a whale, the low hum that seems to resonate with the water itself, I look at the beautiful blue whale swimming past by as if it didn’t even notice me. The moving sea wave touched the glass, the school of fish swimming alongside the whale. 

 

Group of sharks, cuttlefish, and much more, it was so… overwhelming, truly overwhelming. I feel like something…is coming out of my eyes. Tears? A happy tears…that’s right, it was a happy tears.

 

I didn’t know what happened after, all I knew was that I walked away from Mama's grasp, walking toward the wall that separated me from the truly wonderous sea. Several marine life, live in harmony as they swim across the sea.

 

That time, I wonder, how would I feel? If I could also swim here freely as if there was nothing to limit me. Swimming through the endless sea, flying through the limitless sky? 

 

I want to do it…I want to be free like this, but not like here, not in the aquarium or the zoo, the true freedom…space. How would it feel? To truly fly across the space? 

 

When I come to my senses again, I am already outside, on my way back to the mansion. The feeling I felt from the trip was just a tiny bit of a taste of freedom. I can…taste it again, I can feel it again. 

 

“Hey, Mama?” 

“What is it, Baby?”

 

“Can we…come again? Next year, or maybe even the next next year?” I ask her, my time here, will be a core memory for me, that will surely stick with me into my adulthood. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life for sure. The moment, where I truly feel like I live in this world. 

 

“Of course, whether it be the next day, next month, next year, or even the next next year, let’s come here again,” she said while caressing my head softly. Her voice…is a bit cracked, like she holding onto something, but the next moment it is gone, like nothing. “We still have a lot of time, let’s go to other places, yeah?”

 

She changes the topic, quickly at that…like she is trying to escape from something. I want to ask, I want to know if she is ok, but my mouth…it wasn’t moving like I wanted to.

 

“Umu! Let’s come again.” I was denying the truth, just as she does. I… decided to ignore what was about to happen.