After several days of recovering from her recent panic attack, it was declared that Yua could begin her training with Hoshiguma. During that time, she had been taking the stimulants and sleeping pills provided to her by Doctor Gavial; they had been doing wonders for her sleep, as the nightmares had not been bothering her.

Yua found herself being put through her paces in the training room by Hoshiguma, the green-haired oni not taking it easy on the girl. "Come on Yua! You have to be quicker than that! The enemy won't give you a chance to bring your sword up to defend yourself! Be faster!" Hoshiguma was shouting at the top of her lungs. Despite the training being tough, she was happy to be with Hoshiguma. Although this was different than in the future, as in the future she was mostly trained by her mother Ch'en. She never got much of a chance to train with Hoshiguma.

Satisfied that Yua's training was going well, Hoshiguma called for the two of them to take a break. Both participants were sweating, Yua more than Hoshiguma. They took a seat on a bench and took a drink from their water bottles. During their break, Hoshiguma thought to herself, "Yua is no amateur; she definitely has fighting experience, and some of those scars tell me she's been in some nasty fights." The two of them wore training shirts and trousers, so Hoshiguma got a good look at Yua's scars.

Meanwhile, while Yua was having her drink, she was thinking, "I knew Hoshiguma was good with a shield, but I didn't know she was also just as good with a sword." The training swords they were using both had dents and scratches from the way the two of them were sparring; thankfully, they weren't sharp, so no one would get severely injured – at most, a few bruises.

Deciding that she wanted to find out where the lung learned how to use a sword, Hoshiguma asked, "Yua, if you don't mind me asking, where and how did you learn to use a sword?" Knowing that she had to word this carefully as to not raise suspicion, Yua replied, "Remember that I lived in Lungman with my mother?" Hoshiguma nodded. "Well, we lived in the slums together. She knew it was dangerous because of all the crime that was happening there, so she taught me how to use a sword."

This answer raised a few questions in Hoshiguma's mind. "So that's how she knows how to use a sword, but she actually has really good technique and it looks really familiar." She continued her train of thought. "Also, she said she was raised in the slums, which could explain the scars, but didn't she say her mother died of oripathy? How come Yua didn't get infected?" Hosiguma carried on thinking."And in the slums as well, was it because of really good luck? Or something else?"

Deciding that it was best to take a mental note of all this information for future reference, Hoshiguma said they should finish their drinks and then get back to training. Swapping her sword for a shield, Hoshiguma wanted to see how Yua could deal with a more heavily-armored enemy than one with just a sword.

"Yua try to get round me! Hitting me from the front is doing nothing! The enemy won't just stand there and take it! They will hit back! Come on!" Yua was trying to find a way to break Hoshiguma's defense, but was having no luck; every time she tried to find an opening, Hoshiguma changed position, so she was hitting the shield, which was starting to get the girl frustrated.

As they were caught up in their training, two individuals entered the training room. "So how are things going on with your protégé Hoshiguma?" Hearing the voice, Yua thought, "That's another voice I know!" This distraction caused Yua to not realize she was about to be hit by a shield until it connected. When it did, Yua was sent to the floor; thinking that she had done more damage than she actually did, Hoshiguma dropped her shield and went to check on her student.

"Are you okay, Yua?" Hoshiguma asked. Yua replied, "I'm fine, Hoshiguma; it was nothing serious." Seeing that Yua was okay, she helped her to her feet and then they walked up to the two new individuals. Seeing who it was put a huge smile on Yua's face; she wasn't as emotional as when she saw her father, but nonetheless, she had to keep her emotions in check. One of them was a blonde-haired feline whom Yua saw as an aunt much like Hoshiguma. The person next to Swire, however, was the main reason Yua had to keep her emotions in check.

Her guardian...

Her teacher...

Her pillar of support...

Her mother...

Ch'en Hui-Chieh...

Being around all three of these people made Yua feel like she had her family back, which had been taken away by the Seaborn. Even though they weren't the exact people she knew from the future, their presence still served as a powerful reminder to Yua of what she was fighting for and what she needed to prevent; it gave her even more motivation to change the future.

Deciding to ask what they were doing here, Hoshiguma spoke up, "Good to see the two of you; what are you both doing here?" Ch'en responded, "We heard from Doctor Kal'tsit that you had a student, so we wanted to see who they were and how the training was going." Hoshiguma replied, "The training is going well, thank you, and my student is this girl here, Yua." Swire then spoke, "Well, nice to meet you, Yua. My name is Swire, former senior superintendent of the LGD." Swire then extended her hand out for a handshake.

Yua accepted her handshake and thought, "I've missed you, aunt Swire." Turning her head to her fellow lung, Yua introduced herself to the younger version of her mother. "My name is Yua; Pleased to meet you, mo-madam Ch'en." Yua silently cursed herself when she realized her blunder; she nearly called her mother and said her name. Ch'en found this odd but nonetheless introduced herself. "Well, pleased to meet you as well, Yua. I am Ch'en, the former superintendent of the LGD, much like my friend here, but how did you know my name?"

Yua was not happy with how much she screwed up, this version of Ch'en would have found it really strange if Yua had called her mother, she wasn't even born yet. Thinking of an excuse, Yua replied "Well I am from Lungman madam Ch'en and I heard about you from my mother, she was a lung like me and she described you in great detail." Hearing her answer, Chen asked Yua "Well good to see a fellow lung in Rhodes Island, who is your mother? I might know her."

"Goddammit mother, why are you putting me on the spot like this?" Yua was really starting to panic internally. Remembering the name she had told Doctor Kal'tsit she hoped it would be enough to stop her mother's questioning. "My mother's name was Hei, madam Ch'en, me and my mother lived in the slums, she died not too long ago from oripathy." Hoping that that was enough Yua waited for Ch'en to respond. She responded by saying "I'm sorry to hear that miss Yua, and unfortunately I do not know another lung by that name."

Feeling relieved that her mother's questioning was going to stop, Yua began to relax in front of the two. After a short silence, Swire spoke up "I am sorry to hear that as well, Yua; know that you are not alone on Rhodes Island, if you need help, realize you don't just have Hoshiguma here, you have me and Ch'en here as well." Feeling comforted by Swire's words, Yua smiled and nodded. Swire and Ch'en then gave their farewells and left Yua and Hoshiguma to get back to training.

After this conversation, Hoshiguma was left with more questions. "How did Yua know who Ch'en was?, I never told Yua her name, If she grew up in the slums with her mother would her mother have known who Ch'en was? Especially if her mother was infected?" She also remembered something else from the conversation. "What did she nearly call Ch'en? Mother? Mom? This doesn't make any sense."

Hoshiguma then had a realization about why Kal'tsit wanted her to be Yua's mentor. "Now I know why Doctor Kal'tsit wanted me to train the girl," Hoshiguma thought. "She doesn't trust her; she wants eyes on her at all times, and I can see why. Parts of her story don't add up." Keeping this to herself, she decided that she would continue training Yua as normal. If she pressed her for information, Yua might become suspicious, which could put Rhodes Island in even more danger.

"Don't worry, Doctor Kal'tsit," Hoshiguma declared internally. "I'll find out what I can, if this girl is a danger, I'll stop her." Hoshiguma then told Yua that training would continue, and from there Hoshiguma began putting Yua through her paces again.

As Ch'en and Swire were walking towards the cafeteria, Ch'en had her own suspicions about Hoshiguma's student. "Something was really odd with that girl," Ch'en thought. "Hoshiguma didn't mention she told her my name, and how would someone from the slums know me? The infected stayed in the slums thanks to my damn uncle; did her mother know who I was before she was infected? Yua also nearly called me something but I couldn't quite catch it."

This girl was a strange one in Chen's eyes; she was someone who she would watch in the future. For now, she would let Hoshiguma carry on training the girl. She looked forward to the results.