EPISODE.2-D
Girls Just Want To Have Fun ~Even girls like to party~
Shimoda guided GIMM, BALL, and Loretta to the storage space behind his office.
Shimoda invited his three guests in and turned on the lights. The storage room was the size of a small, simple gymnasium, and there were building materials for refurbishment and remodeling, furniture, and other Force Nest items stacked up, nearly reaching the high ceiling.
“What do you want to show us?”
Ball asked Loretta who was walking beside him while looking at Shimoda as he led the three further into the room. She also had no idea and shrugged.
“By the way,” GIMM asked Shimoda, “Since you had a Golden Poly-cap, doesn’t that make you a Legendary Gunpla builder?”
GIMM stopped, swallowed his words, and came to a halt.
BALL and Loretta were also surprised and stopped in their tracks.
An object was sitting in a large rack at the back of the room. It was made of materials that were obviously different from the Force Nest items.
The three were awestruck and looked up at it.
“Is this a weapon for a Gunpla?” GIMM muttered.
Shimoda answered, trying and failing to sound annoyed, “Well, it is still under construction.”
BALL went through his memory.
“I don’t recall any weapon like this. Is it your original design?”
“It is. It's the multi-purpose integrated concept weapon modular ‘GHL-TBA’.”
Despite it still being incomplete, GIMM and BALL gasped at the weapon’s heroic, trusty form.
“Looks awesome!”
“GHL… what does that stand for?”
“It stands for Gun-attack Hyper-velocity Link-up!”
“...And what is that supposed to mean?” GIMM asked Shimoda.
“I have absolutely no idea! It just sounded sort of cool!”
“Whaaat?”
“Then is the TBA part is also gibberish?” Loretta asked.
“That stands for To Be Announced.”
“To Be Announced…?”
“I’m thinking about giving it a proper name later on, so I thought I’d have to at least give it a temporary one...” Shimoda explained.
In that moment, an intense blast from thrusters suddenly hit the storage room like a hurricane and shook the whole building.
“I came here because I heard that there was an exciting Gunpla Battle contest but I seem to be a bit too late,” said an elegant but cute voice of a girl. It seemed to come from a loudspeaker from above.
The four were bewildered and witnessed the ceiling being punctured and torn away by an immense hand. The sharp eyes of a Gunpla looked into the storage room.
“Is that Gunpla a Qubeley?”
The Qubeley forcefully thrust its hand into the storage room,
“Why does it always have to be like this? I’m in a bad mood, so I’ll help myself to a participation prize.”
“Whoa, be careful!”
BALL reflexively began running. GIMM followed.
“What’s her problem?”
They managed to get outside and saw that a beautifully assembled Qubeley-based customized Gunpla was towering over the storage room with its hand sticking in.
The two scurried to their parked Polypod Ball and Gundam Storm Bringer and booted up their Gunplas.
Shimoda embraced a frightened Loretta to protect her. The Qubeley’s hand grabbed the GHL-TBA and tried to run off with it.
“Hey, wait up!” The fully booted Polypod Ball stopped the Gunpla.
“Huh?” The Qubeley turned toward the Polypod Ball.
“What is this… bug?”
Her cute voice changed into a harsh one, showing her true nature.
“Eeeeew… Go away! Don’t you dare come any closer, don’t touch me, disgusting vermin!”
The Qubeley slapped the Polypod Ball, which was trying to stop it, with all its might.
The Polypod Ball dodged the slap, but its 180mm Cannon flew off.
“What are you doing?!”
The Gundam Storm Bringer had finished booting up and closed in. However, the Qubeley used all of its thrusters a moment earlier, flew into the air, and zoomed off. The Gundam Storm Bringer tried to go after it.
“Don’t bother!”
Shimoda and Loretta appeared from the storage room.
GIMM and BALL were confused and looked at Shimoda.
“But…!”
“It’s all right. I still have spare parts for the GHL-TBA and...”
Shimoda watched the Qubeley fly away into the distance.
“I don’t know who that Diver was, but whoever it was… I don’t care as long as something I made makes someone happy.”
Shimoda turned to Loretta with a confident expression,
“I’ll have to fill in an application to transfer it to you, so you can have it via injection molding.”
Loretta also looked at Shimoda with a surprised look.
“And if you don’t mind,” Shimoda looked up at the Gundam Storm Bringer and Polypod Ball.
“I want you to have it, too.”
GIMM and BALL were astonished.
“I want you guys to complete the GHL-TBA.”
“Was that...” BALL came to a conclusion “Why you showed us to your storage room?”
Shimoda looked up at the broken storage space instead of answering.
“I’ll begin fixing this roof. Perfect timing. I was caught up with everyone else’s Force Nest and I forgot to fix the leak in it.”
Shimoda’s line of sight was focused on the sky beyond the broken roof.
Loretta turned toward him with a smile.
GIMM and BALL couldn’t help laughing.
And then asked each other, “...By the way, what was that Qubeley?”
＊
It was the next day that BALL finally made it to the Petit Loup idol band group’s live. He was a fan of Nozomin, the ‘eldest daughter guitar player’ (lead guitar). The venue was filled with hot, sweaty air and BALL was enjoying himself.
It was later when he would learn that the MG Qubeley that he encountered in GBN, as well as a bunch of other Gunplas, were displayed in their dressing room.
