The voyage was not long, and it did not feel dull because the boy never stopped talking. Once he saw that the route was locked in, he switched to his usual one-handed control and kept only part of his attention on the instruments in case the autopilot failed. Most of his focus went to the girl beside him, and to the strange stories he kept telling without pause.
"You have to admit that Mazinger pilot Koji Kabuto was no pushover," the boy said. "He had a good brother named Tetsuya Tsurugi, and to fight against Good Citizens Trio they formed the Emperor Group together. There was also a girl named Sayaka Yumi, and you know, 3 versus 3 is where the real fun is."
"I remember that Mr. Ryoma Nagare was not that friendly," the girl said, cutting into the stream of words for the first time. It was the first time she had questioned the plot of his story. Her tone was calm, but firm.
"Believe me or believe yourself?" the boy replied at once. "I was right there at that battle, Getter Rays versus Photon Beam, it was wild and almost ended the world." His confidence did not falter, though her doubt seemed to push the story in a stranger direction.
"In the end the two machines tore open a crack to another dimension, and I was unlucky enough to get thrown here while watching," he continued. "When I opened my eyes, you were right in front of me, so now you can tell me your name, right?" He looked at her with open hope, waiting for something useful.
What he got was the same calm gaze as always. For reasons he could not explain, he felt there was something else hiding beneath that calm surface. The feeling made him uneasy, but he kept talking anyway.
"Hey, we already left that awful place," he said. "You can at least tell me your name now, right? If we get separated, how am I supposed to find you?" His voice rose with frustration.
"I will not get lost," the girl replied. Her answer was short and steady.
"That is not the point, is it?" he shot back. "Fine, then at least tell me my name. That is not too much to ask." His patience was thinning fast.
"I do not know," she said. "Before, you did not have a name either." The boy stammered in anger, trying to argue, but a warning on the display pulled his attention back to the controls.
After the short journey, the boy and the girl finally reached their destination, Heliopolis. While waiting for port clearance, the boy looked at the structure ahead, which was completely different from the satellite they had left behind. His eyes followed its shape with open curiosity.
"This looks right," he said with excitement. "Feels like a UC setting, and it looks like a Zeon satellite. I just do not know which SIDE it is, or what year this is. By the way, do you know UC?" He did not turn around as he spoke.
"A little," the girl answered. "It feels familiar, but I cannot remember clearly." Her voice carried no emotion, only uncertainty.
"That is fine," the boy said quickly. "Time travel can mess up memory, I get it. If you have some impression, it means your world is at least close to mine." He sounded relieved by that thought.
There were questions he had chosen not to ask. He knew there were no answers, like why the girl had clearly arrived earlier than him, why her knowledge was so different, and why the strange black steel giant in the ruins had forced him to learn how to pilot it. The machine did not match any MS he knew, yet for three years he had been trained like a proper MS pilot, which once made him think it was all a scheme.
In the end, the girl remembered his nonsense about a Getter battle against Mazinger, and she also reacted to the term UC. After more than three years together, the shared days and faint sense of common ground made him feel their existence had to mean something more. That belief kept him steady as they waited.
Inside the command tower of the Heliopolis spaceport, the duty officer stared at the docking request and rubbed his eyes. After checking again, he opened an internal channel and said, "Leader, this ship came from Mendel. That satellite was abandoned three years ago, right?" His voice carried clear doubt.
Because of the current situation, port checks at Heliopolis had been strict for some time. The report was passed upward quickly, and when clearance still did not come, the boy sensed something was wrong. As he prepared to contact the tower again, a sudden thought froze him in place.
"Hey," he said slowly, looking at the girl. "Are we illegal, with no identity at all?" The idea made his chest tighten as he realized how little he knew about port procedures.
"Forget it, we can leave if it fails," he added, trying to stay calm. "The fixed route is done anyway, and we can set our own coordinates now. This place does not look like it will let us in, so I will check nearby." As usual, he spoke without waiting for a reply and started to turn the pod.
"Fill in your name," the girl said. Before the ship could move, she produced two electronic ID cards as if by magic. The photos on them were their own, and the header read GARMR-D, a name the boy had always thought belonged to a capsule manufacturer.
"You had these and did not show them earlier?" he snapped. "And what do you mean fill in my name? I do not know what my name is. Am I supposed to make one up?" His head felt like it was pounding, and he clenched his teeth in zero gravity.
Before he could continue, two clearly non-civilian ships flew out from the port toward them. Because of earlier delays, traffic was backed up, and the ships could not approach immediately. The sight only made him more nervous.
"What should I call myself?" he muttered, staring at the card. "Red hair, red hair, think fast. Red-haired leads, who are there. Shana? No, that is a girl." His thoughts ran in circles.
"You have three chances," the girl said quietly. The meaning did not register at once.
"Gaara? No, that is a ninja," he said. His voice was rising as the ships drew closer.
"You have two chances," she said again. Her tone did not change.
"What are you saying?" he replied. "Minamino Shuichi, no, that is Kurama." Sweat formed on his brow despite the cold cabin.
"You have one chance," she said. Her words landed hard.
"Do not interrupt me, I almost have it," he said. "Red hair, red hair. Shanks, yes, that is it, I will be called." He reached to enter it, but she calmly took the card from his hand and typed a line of letters.