For the last few days, Yua had been feeling claustrophobic. She had hardly been able to get any time to herself, Hoshiguma was rarely leaving her side, nearly always with her. While normally Yua would love the green-haired oni being around her, being near her this much was starting to get on her nerves, and even the few times she did manage to get away from Hoshiguma she always felt like she was being watched from somewhere but could not see anyone anywhere.
As of now, Yua was walking towards the cafeteria, having just finished another training session with Hoshiguma. "Hopefully, Hoshiguma isn't there; she won't give me any personal space." Yua thought to herself, but then a voice was heard behind her. "Yo! Yua, wait up." "Speak of the devil. " Yua turned around and saw Hoshiguma catching up to her. When the green-haired oni reached her, she asked the lung a question. "You heading to the cafeteria, Yua?" Yua replied with a nod, and there the two of them headed to get food.
As Yua thought long and hard to herself, she said, "She just isn't leaving me alone, this is starting to get too much, it's nearly as bad as my mother in the future." The future version of Ch'en was incredibly protective of Yua until she became an operator herself. Ch'en was nearly always nearby, and even when she wasn't, she was never apart from Yua for long. Ch'en also forbade the younger version of herself from leaving the landship unless they were together. Yua could understand why she couldn't leave on her own, given the seaborn threat.
Speaking of her mother, when Yua and Hoshiguma arrived at the cafeteria, Yua caught sight of her along with Swire; the two of them looked as if they were having a conversation. Out of the corner of her eye, Swire noticed the two of them at the entrance. With a smile on her face, Swire waved at them to come join them. Yua joined them at the table, while Hoshiguma went to collect them some food. While Hoshiguma was gone, Swire spoke: "So, Yua, how is the training coming along?" Yua replied, "Really well, I've learned a lot from Hoshiguma—she's an incredible teacher." Yua left out the part about how difficult it had been; Hoshiguma hadn't taken it easy on her.
Ch'en then stated, "Well, she is a formidable warrior; I have fought along her many times, and there are few people I would gladly charge into battle with. She is one of them." Agreeing with this, Swire nodded. Hoshiguma then returned with two bowls of ursus stew - one for herself and Yua, Yua realized Gummy must have been on cooking duty, so this would be good. The four of them then started talking while having their meals, mostly about trivial things. The white-haired was getting a comfortable feeling of nostalgia being around them. Even just doing something so small and simple was putting a huge smile on her face.
Noticing the smile on her face, Swire asked, "What's put you in such a good mood, Yua? You look really happy." The lung replied, "I was just thinking about better times, Swire, before everything went to hell." The three others at the table didn't understand what she meant by that. Before they could ask her for clarification, another operator approached their table and said, "Yua, the doctor has requested your presence in his office immediately."
Yua looked at the operator and realized who it was; a red-haired Sarkaz named Vigna. She asked Vigna, "What does the Doctor need?" Vigna simply replied, "He didn't say, he just said to tell you to head to his office as I bumped into him; might not want to keep him waiting." Thanking Vigna for delivering the message, Yua hurried up and finished her meal. After she finished, she realized she couldn't just walk up to the doctor's office; she hadn't been shown where it was, and just turning up there would be suspicious. Yua knew she had to play dumb, so she asked the three occupants at the table, "Would someone show me where the Doctor's office is, please? I haven't been shown where it is."
Hoshiguma immediately volunteered, and Yua simply thought, "Of course she would volunteer. She really doesn't want me on my own." Saying goodbye to the others, Hoshiguma and Yua headed to see her father. On the way there, Yua was questioning why her father wanted to see her. "It's odd that he has requested me; I haven't done anything wrong." She then glanced at the green-haired oni next to her,"I haven't had the chance to do anything wrong; Hoshiguma has been with me nearly the whole time." Deciding it was best to wait until she saw the doctor herself, she stopped her train of thought.
After fifteen minutes of walking, they eventually reached the doctor's office. Taking a moment to compose herself before entering, Yua took a few deep breaths. She didn't want to raise suspicion by acting odd around her father, seeing that the girl was hesitant, Hoshiguma said, "It should be fine, Yua; you shouldn't have anything to worry about, you will be fine." Looking at Hoshiguma, Yua nodded, then gathering her courage, she entered the office. The oni waited outside just in case something happened.
When Yua entered the office, she was met by two people, Doctor Kal'tsit and her father. The two of them looked like they were having a conversation, but when they saw who entered the room, the two of them stopped and approached Yua. "Hello Yua, hope you are well." The doctor asked the lung. "Me and Doctor Kal'tsit were just talking about you." Yua was nervous; she hoped it was nothing negative about her. The doctor immediately calmed her fears. "It is nothing terrible, I assure you, if anything, it is actually good news." The white-haired lung was relieved. Kal'tsit then started speaking. "I have heard good news from Hoshiguma regarding your training with her; both me and her believe you are ready to take part in operations on behalf of Rhodes Island."
Yua was ecstatic about this. Finally, she could truly start to carry out what she had come to the past to do, save the future, and prevent the seaborn from taking over the world. Her father then spoke up: "I agree with the assessment of both of them; the reason I called you up here is because we have a situation. Rim Billiton has requested our help. As you may know, we are primarily a pharmaceutical company, but we also perform various operations." The doctor continued: "These can range from relief missions, such as what happened in Kazimierz, to all-out warfare." Yua knew all about this from the future, even before the seaborn destroyed nearly all of Terra.
"In short, what Rim Billiton has requested is a security detail; they have been experiencing attacks on their originium mines by Sarkaz mercenaries, and their own security is unable to deal with them. So, we are dispatching several operators to protect their mines, and I want you to be one of those operators," the Doctor finished. Yua was more than happy to go; she told both doctors present, "I am more than ready to go. When do we start?"
Kal'tsit answered, "We should arrive in Rim Billiton within two days, so sort out your equipment and be ready for any orders from Amiya who will be team leader on the ground, do you understand?" Yua nodded enthusiastically; not just because she was finally being deployed, but also because she would see Amiya again. Her father took this as confirmation and said "Right, before you are deployed, you will need a codename. What do you wish to be called?"
She had given this a long and hard thought; she could go with her real name, but if the wrong person found out her name, it could cause problems. She then thought about the situation she was in, and realized that she was putting up a smokescreen in front of everybody, preventing them from finding out the truth. Settling on this name, she simply said one word in front of the two doctors.
"Smokescreen"