September 17, 2201, 19:22 KYT, 1st Infantry Battalion Headquarters Kagayama returned to his seat at the control room, and shortly after, a visitor arrived. It was Lieutenant Retsu Jabami, the squad leader of Squad 1112. He was a man of average build and height, with slanted eyes and an ever-present artificial smile. Like Koizumi and Kagayama, Jabami was also a biologically-born human from our officer academy class. Kagayama couldn't bring himself to like Jabami, though of course, he never showed any sign of this outwardly. The reason for his dislike was Jabami's excessive competitive spirit towards Koizumi, which Kagayama found exasperating. Jabami thought no one noticed his rivalry with Koizumi, but it was obvious to everyone. He wasn't unintelligent, but he wasn't particularly brilliant either. In short, he was what you'd call a small-minded person. Jabami's own actions made his forced smile, intended to hide his true feelings, entirely pointless. Incidentally, Koizumi didn't even see Jabami as a rival. He treated him as just another colleague. Koizumi never disliked people; his criteria for judgment were whether someone was useful to him or on his side. He would become friendly with those who could be his hands, feet, or ears. Everyone else was treated equally – with a pleasant demeanor but kept at arm's length. "Captain Kagayama, may I have a moment?" Jabami asked. "What is it, Lieutenant Jabami?" "I'd like to review the combat footage from the recent battle. Could I have your permission, sir?" "Lieutenant, state your purpose and reason." "Yes, sir. In this recent battle, Squad 1114's sector nearly collapsed but managed to recover. I've already checked the written battle report, but I came to request permission to view the footage as well. I'd like to apply any lessons learned to my own squad's future operations." "I see. There's no reason to deny your request. You may use that terminal over there." "Thank you, Captain. I appreciate it." Kagayama pointed to a desk. Jabami immediately sat down, put on the single-ear headset used by operators, and began working the terminal. Jabami's identification tag only allowed him to view combat footage. He didn't have access rights to command post strategies, formations, or timelines.

Kagayama operated his own terminal, mirroring the content of Jabami's screen onto his. As expected, Jabami was watching the combat footage of Koizumi's squad. Jabami claimed that Koizumi was a friend from the same year, but in truth, he one-sidedly viewed him as a rival. Even at times like these, he was clearly demonstrating this attitude. However, Kagayama couldn't understand why Jabami held such animosity towards Koizumi. Even going back to their military academy days, there was hardly any interaction between them. This had been confirmed by the personal information he had gathered so far. Jabami's grades at the academy were among the excellent, while Koizumi's were average and unremarkable. So academic jealousy wasn't the cause. What could have triggered Jabami's antagonism? The thoughts of small-minded people were beyond him. Thus he simply decided to wait and gather more information. As for Koizumi himself, he didn't give Jabami a second thought. No, he probably didn't even remember they were from the same year. To him, Jabami was likely just one of the many squad leaders in the same battalion. Previously, Kagayama had been concerned that Jabami might become an obstacle to Koizumi when he was appointed as a squad leader. However, Jabami quickly revealed his shallowness. He was a small-minded person who sucked up to those of higher rank and treated those below him as mere tools, blindly adhering to the military hierarchy. If that was the case, he would never be able to catch up to someone like Kagayama who was quickly rising through the ranks. In other words, he wouldn't become his enemy. And if he wasn't his enemy, he wasn't an enemy to Koizumi, in whom he had placed his faith for the future. Having made this assessment, Kagayama stopped actively monitoring Jabami's actions while still remaining cautious. After all, significant issues can arise from seemingly trivial matters. If Jabami didn't view Koizumi as a rival, he wouldn't have come all the way to headquarters to watch the combat footage without resting his battle-weary body. Even though it was a brief respite, a squad leader leaving the front lines was permissible by military law. Anyone with common sense would know thought that it would be best to rest at their assigned position on the front. While Koizumi was also on a short break and thus had no real restrictions on his movements, he was quietly waiting in his assigned trench. The other squad leaders were similarly stationed at their posts. Checking the battle zone monitor, Kagayama confirmed that Jabami was the only officer who had left his position. His evaluation of him dropped even further. He realized that his own recent actions, like deleting the footage of Koizumi's antics from the server, were unthinkable from a military standpoint. He couldn't help but indulge in a bit of self-deprecating humor, thinking he wasn't really in a position to judge others. By the way, even without any bias, he judged Koizumi to be more capable than Jabami. Still, Kagayama was glad he had deleted the footage immediately. If Jabami had seen it, Koizumi might have faced another court-martial. Outwardly he maintained his poker face, but inwardly he sighed in relief.