By Stella plays on a beach on the outskirts of Diocuia. Durandal concludes his business and takes off in a VTOL craft. Athrun wakes up and is shocked to find Meer asleep beside him. Just then, Lunamaria knocks on the door and asks Athrun if he’d like to join her for breakfast. As Athrun scrambles to put on his pants, Meer answers the door wearing only her nightie and tells Lunamaria that Athrun will be coming down later with her. Meer then slams the door on Lunamaria, and Athrun asks her what she’s doing. She says she came into his room because that’s what a fiancé would do, but he says Lacus would never do that. In the dining room, Lunamaria tells Shinn that he must feel lucky to have been praised by Durandal yesterday and now have the day off. Heine greets them and asks where Athrun is, but just then Athrun arrives with Meer in tow. Heine thanks Meer for her performance yesterday, and she leaves when her aides inform her of a meeting she must attend. Heine asks everyone about their mobile suits and says that the Minerva is an impressive ship. He wonders why Durandal would assign him to the Minerva and have three members of FAITH in the same place. Regardless of his plans, Heine says that Durandal has high expectations for the ship and that he hopes to fulfill them. Lunamaria wonders what she should do and doesn’t want to go into town alone, so Athrun suggests going with Shinn. As the three crowd into an elevator, Lunamaria fumes over Athrun’s statements. He offers to go back to the ship, and Lunamaria says he’s probably very well rested after Lacus relaxed him. Athrun takes Lunamaria aside, and she asks him if he slaps women too. He tells her she misunderstood the situation and that her attitude isn’t helping anything. Lunamaria doesn’t believe she misunderstood anything at all and thinks everything is perfectly clear. Later, Shinn takes a motorcycle ride out of Diocuia. He thinks about his discussion with Durandal, along with things that happened at Orb and afterwards.
Shinn stops by a seaside cliff to look at the scenery and get some fresh air. He sees Stella dancing on a nearby cliff, and when she vanishes he runs over and sees that she fell into the water. After removing his jacket and shoes, he dives off the cliff and swims down to where Stella is. Shinn grabs onto Stella and attempts to pull her to the surface, but she panics and struggles with him. When they reach the surface, Stella fights with Shinn and scratches his face. When she finally stops, Shinn drags her to a secluded rocky shore. He asks her if she wants to die after doing such a stupid thing. At the mention of her block word, Stella begins to panic and stumbles back into the water. She yells that she doesn’t want to die, and Shinn grabs her and says he’ll protect her. After a moment, Stella finally calms down. Shinn examines the area and sees they can’t get out, so he activates his emergency beacon. He then builds a fire to dry his shirt and Stella’s dress. He asks her where she’s from, but she answers that she doesn’t know. He then asks whom she spends her time with, and she answers that she’s usually with Neo, Sting and Auel. Stella asks Shinn if he’s going to protect her, and he says he certainly will. She stands up and gives Shinn a small shell, but he’s embarrassed around her because she’s topless. After nightfall, Athrun pulls up in small boat and asks Shinn how he could possibly have an emergency on his day off. After coming aboard the boat, Shinn explains what happened and says Stella seems confused about a lot of things. Sting and Auel search for Stella on the cliff, and their car passes the ZAFT jeep on the road. Sting asks what happened, and Shinn tells him that Stella fell into the ocean. Athrun tells Shinn they have to go, and Stella asks Shinn if he’s leaving. He says he has to go, but he vows that he will see her again in the future.
The Minerva‘s stay in Diocuia continues with the ship’s pilots having some shore leave. The scene with Athrun, Meer and Lunamaria at the start of the episode is quite amusing, along with all the awkwardness that follows. We find out that FAITH member Heine is set to join the ship’s crew, for reasons unknown. Shinn goes off on his own to see the ocean and ends up saving clumsy Stella from drowning. And so continues their fated relationship, much like that of Kamille Bidan and Four Murasame from Zeta Gundam. Now that Shinn and Stella have had contact outside of combat, tradition dictates that the next time they meet will be in battle. Aside from that development, there’s not much else going on in this episode.
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