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[chidori]

Kaname Chidori, age 16, has been living on her own ever since her father and younger sister moved back to New York sixteen months ago. Part of her figured she'd live alone in her apartment until she got married or something. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine that she'd be forced to live on a military base.

Say goodbye to sleepovers with Kyoko. This whole moving business was something that she didn't even want to begin to explain to her best friend. She didn't bother to even try and explain it to her father. Instead, she just told him that there were problems with packages being stolen at her apartment complex and provided him with a PO Box to send letters to instead.

It was probably better if he and her young sister, Ayame didn't know what was going on, anyway. If they knew she was in sort of danger, they'd only worry. Her dad would probably move back to the US, and moving to this base was bad enough. She was still trying to come to terms with all of this, herself.

Goodbye, perfectly normal high school life.

Kaname shifts the box in her hands. Most of her things she had shipped off; they should already be in her room. But this box is filled with things that are special to her. Old family photographs -- especially ones of her mom. A few photo albums. Her childhood blanket. The Bonta-kun plush toy she's had ever since she was a baby. The box isn't exactly heavy, perse, but it's certainly large and unwieldy. That's part of the reason why she's having such a rough time carrying it.

Still, she's been walking around this base for ten minutes now, and she's still completely lost. And unfortunately for Kaname, her usual shadow, Sousuke Sagara, wasn't around. Thankfully, though, there's a figure up ahead.

"Hey!" Kaname calls out, as she quickens her pace. "Do you know where the dorms are?"

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[majestic_keiki]

[The figure turned out to be a tall, rather lanky teenage girl. One who seemed a bit at a loss for how to deal with the rather direct approach taken.]

Ah, no, I was just looking around the other bases myself.

[chidori]

Well, this was great! The one person she finds in this place is the only other person who has about as much of a clue where to go as she does.

Still, that response leaves Kaname with some other questions.

"Are you not from this base?"

[majestic_keiki]

No. I'm stationed at the Star Rose, but I only just arrived from the academy myself, so I'm not sure I could help guide you around up there either.

[chidori]

"Star Rose?" Kaname's clueless about all this military base talk. "Where is that base located? Okinawa?"

The American military base at Okinawa is just about the only military base location Kaname knows off the top of her head.

[majestic_keiki]

No, it's the big space station.

[chidori]

"Wait, so you're from space?!"

Kaname's mouth drops at that.

"What are you doing here, then?"

[majestic_keiki]

I've only lived up there for a few days. I was studying at the Grandseale Academy on the Earth itself.

And I'm just looking around the other bases, I might have to evacuate to them or defend them in case of an attack.

[chidori]

"Grandseale Academy? Is that some sort of military academy or something?" Kaname's never heard of it -- but then again, she wasn't familiar with anything military-related until she was assigned to live at this weird base of theirs.

[majestic_keiki]

It's the academy for the students of the MJP program for space exploration...Or it was, until the Wulgaru attacked.

[chidori]

"Oh," Kaname breathes. "So were you part of the MJP Program, then?" She didn't know much about the program, but her father did mention it on one of their obligatory biweekly phone calls. If she remembered correctly, it had something to do with raising clones for space exploration.

Or something like that, anyway.

[majestic_keiki]

Yes. I'm still part of it, actually. We've been assigned to active duty before formally graduating. I'm not entirely sure whether we will join the ordinary military, purely serve under the Unity Group or in some way still be part of the program after graduation. [Not that she really liked thinking about it, it was a reminder of how little control she'd had over her life up until that point.]

[chidori]

"Oh." Kaname's not really sure what to say to that. "Well," she proclaims. "At least you don't have to worry about what you're going to do after graduation, anyway. I don't have the slightest clue what university entrance exams I'm going to take."

Sure, it's a year and a half away, but some of the kids in her class were already gung-ho about it. At least one of them had enrolled in this super-elite cram school and was already bragging that he was going to have the top spot on the class rankings come exam time.

[majestic_keiki]

Right, I guess that's true. It's not really something I've ever considered myself. Good luck with whatever you pick, though.

[chidori]

"Yeah, thanks." Hopefully all this will be sorted way before entrance exams start and she can focus on living a perfectly normal adult life.

"I should go find my room, though," Kaname says, shifting the box in her arms. "What is your name, anyway? I don't know how long I'm going to be here, but I'm sure if I'm here long enough, the two of us will inevitably meet up again."

[majestic_keiki]

Oh, right. I'm Kei Kugimiya. Good luck finding your room.