A.C. 188           "Hey, I heard that a new student is coming today! I wonder which faction he'd join?" The cadets of the Lake Victoria Academy conversed excitingly one morning.           The Lake Victoria Academy was one of the soldier training bases of Oz. Students learned about all kinds of combat skills, strategic planning, and how to become good mobile suit pilots. In order to spur the students, the Academy was divided into two factions: the Dermail faction and the Treize faction. Even though the two factions were located at different sites on campus, cadets from both factions often had classes together. Fierce competition between them occurred constantly, and each was always trying to attract new blood to strengthen their power.           The leader of the Dermail faction was Ramio. Having descended from an aristocratic heritage, he was not very fond of people of common lineage. He liked to boast about the long and grand history and deeds of his family, and he tent to make people agree with him by mean of force.           The leader of the Treize faction was Zechs. He never mentioned about his own family, therefore he was always the centre of Ramio's sarcasm. He had never appeared before anyone without his large silver mask which covered half of his face. Some guessed that he suffered from serious injuries on the face; some thought that he was simply too ugly to show his face; some said he was the heir of a ruined kingdom; some believed that he would only take off the mask if his vow came true, whatever it was.           The two factions used to be equal in power, but for some reason, the new young leader Zechs was very uncomfortable around strangers, thus unable to draw the new students with his usual glamour. The Dermail faction grew in power as a result, and was also dominating.           However, people from the space colonies all joined the Treize faction and had brilliant marks. Zechs' piloting skill was also no match for anyone in the Academy, even though he was the youngest student at only 12 years of age. As a result, people from the Dermail faction tried even harder to get new recruits, in hope of finding someone capable.           Aside from the surprise that someone still enrolled into the Academy two weeks into the term, everyone was discussing how to invite the new student to their side.           Ramio cast a look at Zechs, who was sitting quietly beside the window, and commented. "Well, I don't see any need to discuss this. Prince Zechs will surely get dizzy when the new student shows up, and who would choose the group with such a leader?"           Zechs made no comment about Ramio's insult and continued to stare out the window. This enraged the egoistical Ramio. He yelled. "Zechs! What kind of attitude was that? You really consider yourself a prince? Everyone knows what a lowly impostor you actually are!!"           When he just uttered his last word, the instructor came into the room with a skinny kid. Everyone saluted to the instructor while the kid surveyed the room with deep blue eyes. The instructor nodded to the cadets, and when he was about to speak, Zechs suddenly collapsed and fell off his seat. Two students hurriedly went to him and helped him up. The instructor sighed and signalled them to take Zechs to the medical sector.           The instructor cleared his throat and said. "This is Lucrezia Noin from the L1 Colony Cluster. I am sure you'll work well together." He glanced across the room one more time and left the new kid with the cadets.           As soon as the instructor walked out, several people clustered around the new student, chatting. "How old are you? You look as young as that mask kid. You must be pretty good to be able to get into the Academy at this age." "Hey! Did you know that Lucrezia was the name used by royal members of a certain kingdom? But since you come from the colony, I guess that doesn't apply to you."           "I am 12. Everyone can be called Lucrezia, royalty or not." the kid replied with a smile. "But please call me Noin."           The crowd was gonna ask more questions, but Ramio pushed his way through the wall of people and stood before Noin. "I am Ramio Venar, leader of the Dermail faction, and I welcome you to the Academy. Every new student needs to choose a faction to join, and is free to switch during the first week. The Dermail faction is the number one in power in the Academy, so what do you say? Wanna join us?"           Noin looked at the arrogant boy, asked. "What about the other faction?"           Ramio laughed at the question. "The person that was brought to the medical sector a few minutes ago is the leader of the Treize faction. You do not want to hang around with that kind of wimp."           Noin shrugged. "I heard you calling him a prince, so who is he?"           Ramio answered with a snort. "You mean Zechs? He would never take his mask off and lead some people to believe that he is the heir of a ruined kingdom when in fact he is just a lowly commoner who is trying to play cool and get people's attention."           A cadet from the Dermail faction added. "His head gets dizzy whenever a stranger is near him so he is always alone. Such a pitiful puppy."           Noin looked at the emblem on the cadet's collar. "You're from the Dermail faction?"           "That's right!" the boy looked very proud. "Over 70% of the students belong to the Dermail faction, and you should join us."           Noin glanced over all the students in the room and found out that other than the two boys wearing a lion emblem of the Treize faction, all the others were from the Dermail faction. The two Treize cadets did not dare to speak up amid the dominating Dermailists, and they could only watched in misery as the opposition succeeded in acquiring the new kid.           Noin's glance rested on the two Treize cadets. "Do you have the application form with you?"           This surprised everyone in the room. They stared unbelievably at the kid with short, dark raven hair. The two Treize cadets didn't expect this to happen, and they could only fumbled clumsily through their belongings, only to find out that they didn't have the forms.           "Er, wait here for a minute, we'll get the forms from Zechs." The two rushed out.           Ramio was not pleased. "Hey! What's the big idea?"           "Because of you two." Noin pointed at Ramio and the boy who spoke before. "Your attitudes reflect what you think of others. If you can be so inconsiderate toward the leader of another group, surely you're worse toward other people. I have no desire to become like you." Noin paused a second before continuing. "Just so you know, what the kid experienced is a common symptom. I've cured several people with it before and I don't appreciate people making fun of others because of their appearance or some other defects."           The Dermailists were mute and speechless, knowing that what the new kid lectured them was true. They could only stood and glared at the person whom they tried to appeal to a few seconds ago.           Ramio narrowed his eyes. "You've insulted the Dermail faction, and we intend to defend our honour. We challenge you to a duel. Two students will fight you at the third combat simulation room at four o'clock. If you can't fight, you can kneel down before us and announce your most sincere apology, then we'll let the subject drop."           "I don't think so." Noin looked straight at him. "Duel accepted."           The two Treize cadets returned with the form right after Noin accepted the duel, unsuspecting what was to come. Everyone else in the room kept silent about the event that's about to take place, expecting to be entertained in the new student's expense. * * * * * * * * *           "There, you should be fine now." The nurse pulled off a tube from Zechs' arm.           "Thank you." Zechs replied politely.           The nurse smiled. "The one that caused your dizziness this morning joined the Treize faction, right? I saw those two students running in here for the application form. You better get used to him soon."           Zechs didn't answer her question, but he was wondering why the kid had chosen Treize faction when he, the leader, made such a bad impression.           The nurse led Zechs to the front desk to sign him out when suddenly someone came in to report three injuries in the third combat simulation room. The nurse called three people to help her, and Zechs went along, wondering what happened. When they arrived at the scene, they found two Dermailist and one Treizist lying on the floor, presumably fighting with one another. Zechs was going to help carrying the Treize cadet but he felt nauseous as soon as he neared the kid.           The medical people got the three students to the exam rooms while Zechs stayed in the waiting room for further news. Ramio showed up a few minutes later, obviously not pleased to see Zechs there. Ramio was called into the room where the Dermailists were, and he left after some length of time. Zechs was then called to the room where the Treizist was.           As soon as Zechs walked into the room, he was stunned to see that the person lying on the bed was no other than the kid who just joined that morning. He didn't get a good look at him, but he remembered that he had dark raven hair that somewhat covered his right face, and he was very young. The nurse pulled Zechs to the corner and whispered as not to disturb the patient.           "You've been here all day so you probably have no clue about what happened." The nurse explained. "I asked Ramio about it. He said the kid insulted Dermail faction and accepted the duel of defending their honour."           Zechs snorted. "Defending their honour? They probably took everything the kid said as an insult just so they could beat him up when he decided to join the Treize faction."           The nurse nodded in agreement. "A fight took place at the 3rd combat simulation room. One against two."           "What?!" Zechs couldn't help but yelled out. "Even though the 3rd combat simulation room is only an imitation of combat, the ones taking part would still suffer as if in real battle. How could they fight a new kid with no experience with an odd like that?"           "True. But judging from the wounds of the three, I'd say that if the kid fought one on one, the other one stood no chance at all. I don't see how she has no experience at all."           "She?" Zechs jerked his head toward the kid on the bed at the word. "You mean...."           "Of course! Didn't you know? Didn't anyone? Just look at her!" the nurse exclaimed. "Well, you probably didn't expect a girl to come here, especially one this young. Even though the Academy accepts people from age ten and up, most people get admitted when they are at least fourteen. She is twelve years old, just the same as you are." She put down the clipboard on the table. "Most girls enroll themselves in the private elite school nearby to learn about how to become ladies. On average only one girl come to the Academy in every two years."           "....how are her wounds?" Zechs was still trying to digest the astonishing fact.           "Nothing serious, just scratches and bruises." the nurse replied. "Her main problems are fatigue and wearing out, the other two kids are a lot worse. They were badly beaten."           "Fatigue and wearing out? Is she fit to be trained as a soldier then?"           "I got her file from the department, it says that she arrived here on Earth early this morning, and she headed for the Academy straight after landing. Fighting after such exhaustive travel to an unfamiliar place and a sleepless night, no wonder she wore out during the fight."           "So she just arrived here on Earth this morning..." Zechs pondered at the words. * * * * * * * * *           Zechs patrolled the Treize faction dormitories as usual late in the night. He saw that the window of a room on the second floor of the women's quarters was open and decided to check it out. There was no female cadet in the Treize faction except Noin, but most of the female staff belong to the faction. As he approached the quarter from the garden, he heard voices coming out from the open window.           "You're right, Howard, the moon really is beautiful." a soft voice said.           "Told you so." a coarse voice like that of an older man answered.           "The colony is too close from the moon. The moon looks like a graveyard from such a short distance."           "Hey, one of my little friend said that, too!"           "I heard this from a little brother of mine when I was in L2."           "Oh, right. You moved to L1 later. Do you still keep in touch with the L2 people?"           "No, I was too little when I left. I didn't give it any thought at the time."           "They're probably not there by now anyway. Say, what's with all the bandages?"           "I flopped."           "Yeah, right. Bandages on the forehead when you flop? I know you used to fight the kids in the alley and blamed all your wounds on flopping. Why don't you just admit it?"           "I don't like to fight, but I don't want to run away when troubles come. Why talk about something if it's meaningless?"           "You call such fight meaningless, yet here you are in a military academy." the old man snorted. "Since you're on Earth now, wanna come visit me sometime?"           "Well, I don't know if I'll have enough free time to do that. Besides, I'm still at a lost on Earth."           "You don't have to come now, since you'll be staying on Earth for a long time."           "I'll go visit you when I find the chance."           "No problem, I'll wait for you. Good night, Noin."           "Good night, Howard."           With this the voices diminished, a bandaged hand closed the window as Zechs quietly walked away and returned to his room. ~to be continued~