Buddy Complex

Don't act friendly and stop calling my name.

Even if I look like your Hina, that's not me.

Now there's not a single clue left.

I guess I can't go back.

I have to live here forever.

It's been a long time, Lieutenant General Richardson.

Your arrival is awfully delayed.

My apologies.

We happened to stumble across Zogilia's Imperial Army en route.

I heard we almost lost the new-type mecha.

Well, even if we did lose it, it would've had no impact on the status of the war.

I've also confirmed that you will be participating in the next mission.

Make sure you don't slow us down.

Good morning everybody.

Pro... Professor!

Hold it!

This is a top-level secret communication line. How in the world did you get in?!

Hmm...

You're a nuisance.

Wha—?

Well then, let's try this again.

How are you doing, crew members of the Cygnus?

I see you haven't changed much, Dr. Fermi.

Captain. There's a ship approaching us from the front.

It's the Coupling System Test Ship, Crane.

Welcome to the Cygnus.

Oh, thank you, beautiful young lady.

I'm glad to see you're well, Professor.

Thank you.

You seem to have more wrinkles than before.

You're kidding me, Professor.

Now then, without further ado...

The Coupling System's Demonstration?

That's right.

Dr. Fermi would like to see it.

Nice to meet you.

He came all the way from Hawaii just to see it.

From Hawaii?

Yup. Hawaii, where we'll be arriving soon.

Obviously he can't wait.

But, Luxon is now...

Luckily the cockpit part wasn't damaged. It can still perform Coupling.

That old man is the developer of the Coupling System?

To be precise, we should say he is the leader of the Coupling development team.

What do you mean?

As far as I know, Dr. Fermi was the first to propose the Coupling theory...

His research lab led the development of the system, but...

For it to move onto practical application is due to the cockpit Elvira-san developed.

In other words, the disciple took all the credit from the airhead teacher, right?

P-Professor...

Well, I've no problem being the airhead teacher.

Huh?

You know, I started the underlying research of Coupling with Elvira-kun's grandfather.

So, I knew her from when she was still in diapers.

Oh, I see.

It took longer for her potty training. We were worried about her.

Professor!

But anyway, that little girl,

is now a better researcher than me.

How could I not be happy about this?

That's a nice story you have.

That's enough chatting. Let's begin the test. Second Lieutenant Watase!

Connect with Dio.

Accept.

Emphater level's waveforms are stable.

Isn't it beautiful to see such a high level of enharmonic control completion?

How long does the Coupling's connection last?

The practical limit is 300 seconds.

Perfect!

10 seconds to Decoupling.

5, 4, 3,

2, 1...

Decoupling.

The system and pilot show no abnormalities.

Great work, Aoba-kun, Dio.

Thanks.

What?

You may be able to fool a machine, but you can't fool me.

What do you mean "fool you"?

You met her, didn't you? On that island. That girl named "Hina".

Nope.

Don't make such obvious lies.

It's the truth. That's not the Hina I knew.

What?

Here, in this world 70 years into the future, there's no Hina.

Yumihara Hina, the one who saved me and sent me to the future, no longer exist.

I see.

So that's why you've been feeling depressed.

I'm not depressed.

You're surprisingly sensitive, aren't you?

I already told you I'm not depressed!

To begin with, an enemy pilot knows how to return to the past.

Where did you get that story from?

Even a kid could come up with a better one.

It's not made-up! I thought it was the only possibility .

I won't say it again.

What the hell?!

Are you awake now?

How long are you gonna sulk?

Luxon's almost fully repaired.

Even someone like you, we're better off having you than—

The one who's sulking... is you!

A guy who's been worrying about his little sister,

has no right to preach me!

You...

Leave Fiona out of this!

You damn siscon!

Shut up, you stubborn cow!

Damn you!

Whoa!

You bastard!

What are you guys doing?!

Stop it, Dio!

Let me go! I said let me go!

Let me wake this idiot up!

Shut up!

Man, you guys caused us a lot of trouble.

Both of you went a little overboard.

Captain said to cool your heads down here for a while.

See ya'.

Made me work up a sweat for nothing.

Geez...

Isn't it great being young?

Oh?

Where's Dr. Fermi?

Eh?

Now that you've mentioned it...

Ah, you're here.

You claim to have come from the past?

70 years ago, was it?

You won't believe me anyway.

How much do you know about the Coupling System?

Eh?

To put it simply,

it connects the two pilots' brains in parallel and boosts the original source of power.

I see.

The system's function is to transmit both pilots' thoughts without delay.

If there's a time lag, it would be an obstacle during the battle.

Transmit thoughts without delay?

It's a waste of time explaining details to that idiot.

What did you say?

Oh yeah.

Right now, you guys are only separated by a thin wall so the two of you can communicate like so.

However, that's not the case in a battle.

The larger the distance, the longer the delay.

Even a 7-second delay is enough to prevent Coupling.

So then, how did we manage to perform a Coupling?

Time leap.

What?

If there's a 7-second delay in transmitting thoughts, sending them 7 seconds into the future would solve the problem.

Is that even possible?

Yes, at the elemental particle level.

The elemental particle level?

What's so funny?

In the end, it means the professor doesn't believe your story.

What the hell?

You two look like you get along well.

Very well.

You're implementing the Coupling system into the new plane?

You haven't heard? It'll soon be on the rollout.

Although there's only going to be two of them.

The superiors have softened up a bit.

So does that mean the mass production of Coupling mechas won't be far off?

Unfortunately, we're not at that stage yet.

The Alliance doesn't give the Coupling System any importance.

Yet the enemies are desperate to get their hands on it...

Because that guy is in Zogilia.

That guy?

A researcher, like me,

from the professor's lab defected to Zogilia.

He was a smart one too.

He must've understood the importance of Elvira-kun's cockpit.

That guy's name is?

Hahn, Wilhelm Hahn.

I think it's an interesting plan.

Alright. I'll talk to the Administration Bureau about it.

Thank you very much, Dr. Hahn.

Do your best, Special Service Agent Margaret.

Because this will be your last chance.

I'll pray for your success.

Glory to Zogilia!

That's the outline of this plan.

Any questions?

Lieutenant Colonel.

Who is this Dr. Hahn?

To have such influence on the Administration Bureau even though he's just a scientist.

He must be someone important.

That's not something you need to concern yourselves with.

I'll be the head commander for today.

Is that alright, Lieutenant Colonel?

Let her be.

It's me, Watase Aoba!

I'll pull you out.

I just wanted you to have it.

Watase Aoba.

Hina?

Bizon!

What happened? You look serious.

Hina, how did you transmit that signal?

We arrived shortly after receiving it.