"Stop fidgeting."

"I’m not fidgeting."

"Yes you are. Now stop it!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You’re fidgeting again."

"I am not!"

"You’re fiddling with your hair! That’s fidgeting!"

"I’m not fiddling with it! I’m fixing it! It’s getting all frizzy…"

"Oh, for…It looks fine! Your hair looks just fine! Now stop playing with it. It makes you look vapid."

"Okay! Okay! You didn’t have to snap at me…"

"Look, I’m sorry, okay?"

"…"

"Fine then, be that way…"

"…"

"…"

"Are you sure it looks fine?"

"…"

"Okay, okay…you don’t have to give me that look…forget it."

"Sorry…yeah, it looks fine. I’m sorry I’m being this way…I’m just nervous."

"It’s okay…I know how you feel. I mean, here we are, getting our first assignments for the 3WA!"

"Yeah…now, stop fidgeting before I bash you."

"Jerk."

"God, I hope we don’t end up having to do desk work or something…"

"I know. Well, don’t sweat it. The odds of that are pretty slim, actually. We’ll probably end up doing basic patrols or something…pretty tame stuff, most likely…"

"Do you think this thing is too tight?"

"Natsumi, that’s your academy uniform. They wouldn’t have let you wear it for two years if it was in any way indecent."

"I know that, but I still think this blouse is a little tight. Hmmm…Maybe they grew. Do you think they grew?"

"I can’t believe I’m having this conversation…"

"Okay…here we are…stay cool, girl…are you cool?"

"I am cool."

"Right. Well…here we go then. What we’ve been waiting for…"

"Yeah…are you ready?"

"As I’ll ever be. Let’s go then."

Cycle One

The elevator doors slid open on a silent puff of air, and two very pretty girls stepped out. They exited the elevator car into a bustling office, filled with busy-looking people rushing back and forth from room to room carrying documents, computer readouts, palm-computers, or just a panicked expression. A number of these people paused to look at the newcomers, the women with curiosity, and the men with admiration. And their admiring glances were justified.

The girl on the left was a very shapely five-foot-eight, with bubble-gum pink hair that swept down to mid-back before curling daintily at the ends. A paler pink streak ran through the middle of her glossy hair. She was fair-skinned and very pretty in a preoccupied, slightly distracted way. Behind wide, machine-gunner style glasses a pair of intelligent green eyes watched the hustle and bustle of the office with frank curiosity. When her eyes met those of one of the watching men, she flicked her eyes over them as if trying to decide what to make of them, and then darted off disinterestedly.