Saya's ingenious idea of exploring and eating became slightly less brilliant as she walked for an entire hour without spotting a single restaurant. After a while of wandering the streets and seeing nothing but automotive part stores, she guessed that store areas must be segregated. As a result, it took her a while to find the restaurant district, but it was interesting seeing the kinds of vehicles they had in Midgar. Contrary to the cars found virtually everywhere else in the world, Midgar's automobiles had a decidedly old appearance. They reminded her of 50's North American motors, though with a few extra pipes here and there. She never saw them traveling very fast, but there was a certain charm to their leisurely stroll.

The place Saya eventually found had an interesting name, but she'd honestly been more focused on getting to a booth and ordering her meal by that point. The restaurant- really more of a diner –had a nice homely look to it with old-chrome metal walls and maroon-colored leather booth seats. There was a small bar that looked like it had originally been part of another restaurant because of the contrasting style, but it added a quirky element to the place. Saya ordered a steak, pancakes, two egg whites, a side of vegetables, and "potato hexes"; the restaurant's version of waffle fries. The entire meal was only about a hundred gil; Midgar's form of currency. It was quite tasty, and she had to wait just a few minutes for everything. With her stomach full, Saya had hurried back to her dormitory in Sector 6 to call David.

Her dorms were actually somewhat spacious since there weren't hundreds and hundreds of SOLDIERs. It really felt more like an apartment building once you got inside than the borderline barracks that it functioned as. It even had a more accommodating elevator than the one in Shinra Tower. She'd heard that there were plans to implement a new elevator system at Shinra since it was really too tall and too busy to have people going up and down in pairs. Unfortunately for the SOLDIERs- whose designated floor was 49 stories up –they would have to take the stairs for a while once that project started.

"Maybe they'll leave one side active at a time."

Saya pulled the SOLDIER sword free from its resting place as she entered her domicile and set it in a wall stand. The girl's boots followed, and she sat down on the couch in the living room area to pull out her phone. It was still fairly early in the afternoon, so she hoped the delay wouldn't bother David too much. Calling his number, she gazed about her apartment, eventually settling on the framed, diamond-shaped Shinra logo hanging on a wall. Saya didn't know why, but it reminded her of how German homes had to have pictures of Hitler on their walls during the rule of Nazi Germany. That morbid train of thought ended as David answered on the other end. The middle-aged man's tone was as stoic as ever, and he immediately asked if she was alright.

"I'm fine. I had my evaluation today, and your call came right before I had to start taking part of the exam. I would have told you more in the text, but there were people watching over us and I didn't want to get in trouble for using my phone."

"I see. Sorry if I caused you any trouble. How are things going?"

Saya tried to think back to the last time she talked with David, and realized all she'd told him so far was that she'd met most of the 1sts and that there hadn't been any sign of bats; their code word for chiropterans.

"I've been doing pretty well. I think I aced my evaluation, so I'll hopefully get a promotion of some kind. I met someone from another branch of Shinra today who I think will help me find my way around. I know so little about what goes on in Midgar, it'll be nice having someone to call on with more intelligence than me. Haha. She was really friendly with me, as well."

David was sharp enough to pick up on her hint. And though it was unlikely he would have any knowledge of the Turks, he could gather that Shinra would have an intelligence division.

"I haven't seen any monsters yet that weren't in my guidebook, so no heart attacks. But they do seem more hostile than most people remember. Almost like something is irritating them."

Beyond that, there wasn't much for her to tell him that would interest the man. In the end, their mission had virtually nothing to do with Midgar or its culture beyond saving them from being overrun by chiropterans. Materia, mako, the strength of the 1sts and other facts would be interesting things to tell him once she was back home, but it wasn't relevant to her objectives. Not to mention certain things- like mako energy and materia –were restricted aspects of Midgar's culture.

"I see, is there anything else?"

"Not that you would probably be interested in. I am studying and working really hard, though. I'm sure I'll have something worth telling you soon."

"Good job, Saya. We're proud of what you're doing in Midgar. Do you want to talk to Kai?"

"If he's not busy."

"Not at all. You can save me from his next hand in poker."

Saya smiled as he prepared to hand the phone over to her stepbrother. He had been in the fight against the chiropterans for years, ever since their father died following an attack from one back in Okinawa. Their little brother Riku traveled with them as well, but they tried to keep him as far from harm's way as possible.

"Hey, Saya, how's it going?"

"Pretty good, how about you guys?"

"You know us; we're keeping busy. I've got David with his back against the wall in cards. Riku was sick a couple weeks ago, but none of us caught it, and he's doing better now. Sounds like you made a new friend there."

"I did. Just today, actually. Her name's Cissnei."

"Interesting name. Is she in the company?"

"Yeah; she's not a SOLDIER, but she gets to wear a cool suit like those secret service guys back in the states."

"Maybe we should have sent David to get a job there, too; he's already got the attire."

She could hear David telling Kai to leave him out of whatever they were talking about, and the siblings laughed. She went on to tell Kai that she hadn't seen any of the 1sts for quite a while, and that it was getting a bit lonely without them.

"Did that guy take you out to dinner again?" Kai slyly questioned.

"Uh- no! I told you to let that go!"

"Come on, Saya, you said he was some big-time 1st, right? Couldn't hurt to go to some fancy restaurant and let him pay for one of your huge meals. Might even help you get promotions."

"You're so sleazy!"

Kai laughed alone this time as Saya tried to change the topic, asking him how their trip was going. He told her that they'd already found a great private island to rent out and that they would be settled in within a week. That meant they would soon be in the general area of Midgar's territory. It was unlikely she would ever see any of them, but knowing that they were closer was a bit comforting.

"Well, I should probably get back to work. There's still a lot of studying to do."

"Already? I thought I heard you say you'd already taken all your tests."

"This is for the big test. The one I'll have to take later on."

Kai gathered what she meant, and they settled back into "mission mode". He asked her to call more often, which Saya assured she would. With that they said their goodbyes and hung up. Saya wished she could have talked longer, but with so much free time away from her usual responsibilities as a SOLDIER, this would be the best opportunity to look into any odd monster reports. Of course, the greater importance of researching didn't stop Saya from chomping down on a quick snack before getting her gear and heading out the door. It wasn't until she was riding the elevator down that Saya started missing doing research from the comfort of a laptop at home.

Arriving at Sector 0, Saya was as amazed as ever at the massive sight of Shinra Tower. As imposing as it was, the young employee was starting to feel a sense of pride knowing she was part of the huge operation. With a skip in her step, she walked into the lobby and up to the help desk. Asking one of the nice ladies at the desk which floor she would go to for research, the receptionists asked what kind of research she wanted to do.

"I have to look into some monster reports for an assignment."

"You'll want to head to floor forty-five, then. Some of the documents there are classified, but you should be able to find whatever you need without any trouble."

Saya thanked them for their help and then headed towards the elevators. There weren't any on her floor, but she called for one and waited until the familiar whooshing sound came descending from the ceiling.

"Alright, floor forty-five. I guess I can start with an index of some kind and maybe work backwards from the most recent reports. I hope you can order food up there."

As the elevator arrived at her level, Saya's gaze followed a pair of black pants up to a black suit and met the occupant at eye level. The girl didn't hide her surprise as she recognized Cissnei's gentle face.

"Hey, I didn't think I would see you in the building again today." The Turk remarked while stepping out of the elevator.

"I wasn't planning on coming back, but I wanted to check out some reports up on floor forty-five."

"You sure are a hard worker, aren't you?"

Saya felt herself getting embarrassed and simply offered that she tried to do her best. Cissnei looked at her for a moment before coming in to whisper something in her ear again.

"You know, I may have seen the test scores from the evaluation today at some point."

"You did?!"

"Mhm. Let's just say you won't be the SOLDIER librarian for much longer."

Saya drew back, and looked at her.

"You mean, I'm being promoted?"

Cissnei nodded, and showed her two fingers.

"To 2nd?!"

Saya was so excited she was having a hard time staying quiet; she'd planned on getting a few "brownie points" towards the next evaluation, but hadn't expected such a significant promotion.

"Apparently you got a near-perfect score during both parts of the evaluation. Your non-lethal bonus from the physical portion even got you raised to second grade."

Dumbfounded that her distaste for killing had actually helped the overall evaluation, it took a few moments for her to realize she didn't know what a "grade" was within the SOLDIER classes.

"Hey, are you busy? If your assignment isn't too pressing, maybe we could go get something to eat together. I'm on my break." Cissnei offered.

Saya's reason for being in the building flashed through her mind, and she was about to apologize to Cissnei before realizing that it was beyond her. The girl obviously didn't have to check on such a thing for her, and would likely get into some form of trouble if their superiors found out about it. Even if she couldn't help investigate the chiropterans, Saya would feel bad for turning down her new friend.

"Sure, it'll be nice to hang out with someone for a change. But you're in charge of directions." She said with a smile. Cissnei hid another small laugh behind her glove and then led the way.