Excerpt

They woke up with the screen shining brightly in their faces. Visibility of the area, however, only improved a little and they could see the figures of the others huddled together on the ground and eating with the mechas surrounding them. 

"It's already lunchtime." Naoko commented somewhat dryly while she got off Tadashi to stretch a little. She did not really like waking up late but she came to peace with it because she felt that Tadashi could use the rest.

"Did you manage to sleep well?" Tadashi, on the other hand, was only concerned that the lack of bed may affect the quality of her rest and sleep.

Naoko smiled reassuringly and nodded.

"Let's go find the rest then." Tadashi said while he stood up.

Although he said it so normally, Naoko could feel Tadashi's reluctance to leave the mecha. "We don't have to join them, I have my own rations here that we can share."

"It's okay, there's something I want to tell them in person anyway." Tadashi explained with a determined look while he opened up the cockpit.

Naoko followed closely behind him without a clue about the sort of announcement he was about to make. Although she could feel his resolve, she could not read his mind. 

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