"Kim."

Kim felt Conan tap her shoulder, bringing her senses back into the Control Room.

"Captain Kim, are you okay?" asked Commander In.

"Yes, Commander."

"Good. I'll leave this now to you. Assemble your team and you'll depart in thirty minutes."

"Thank you, Commander." All of Troop C gave a salute as Commander In leaves the room.

"So, what's the plan, Cap?" asked Zee.

"The four of us will go there," said Kim, looking at everyone. "Zee, Conan, you'll be the Chainers. I'll be the Finisher. Yam, you do love kids, right?"

"I do, Captain! What should I do then?" asked Yam.

"Babysit. You handle the kid while we handle the Evens."

"Truly heroic, Yam," said Zee, teasing. Yam just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

There was a knock on the door and an AEF personnel stepped in. "Uh... Captain Kim...?"

"Yes?"

"Pie Denman is here in headquarters. Commander In asked me to tell you to talk to her."

Kim, who's unsure of what to react, looked at Conan for help. "Please take her to the Interview Room. We'll meet her there," said Conan.

"Roger that. Thank you."

After the AEF personnel left, Kim animatedly asked Conan what should she do. Conan just shrugged. "We have to talk to her, Cap."

"Hey, what's up?" asked Zee, sensing something's wrong. "Why are you two acting weird about this?"

Conan turned to Zee. "Well, the thing is --"

"We have plenty of time to talk about that later," said Kim, sighing. "Zee and Yam, prepare for our departure now. Make sure to bring extra bullets and boosters. We don't know what's waiting for us there. Conan, check the weather report, we want to know if we're expecting another rain in the next two hours. Let's rendezvous in Gate A in 15 minutes. Copy that?"

"Roger, Captain!" Everyone said.

"Now let's get started so we can go over with this as soon as we can."

---

The Interview Room is a plain room with few furnitures bolted on the floor: one rectangle table and 4 chairs. There's a curtained window on one side of the wall and a large two-way mirror opposite of it. The mirror's treated side is facing the Interview Room, while the untreated side gives view to another room next to it. The Interview Room has bright lights, this is to make sure that the interviewee won't be able to see that someone from the other room is looking and listening to the conversation.

Kim is currently in that dark room, looking at the two-way mirror, waiting for that someone to come in. She knows it, any minute now, someone will come through that door and will sit on one of the chairs. Kim's job is to talk to that person and assure her that everything will be alright. Kim has done this many times now. She knows exactly what she needs to do and what she needs to say.

It's really that simple.

The problem is, for whatever reason, she's freaking nervous right now. The idea of being with Pie face to face after so many years is driving her nuts. She's already tried rehearsing the scene on her mind, memorizing the order of her dialogue, imagining how Pie would react and planning a solution to it.

But in the end, she came up with nothing. She knows she's gonna lose it.

"C'mon, Kim. It's just her. You've got to pull yourself together," she told herself.

Kim's body stiffened when the Interview Room door opened. Someone stepped in, someone that Kim couldn't see yet because the door is blocking the view. Based on the light-blue sweater the person standing by the door is wearing, Kim knows that it's not an AEF personnel.

She watched the person in the Interview Room, who's still talking animatedly to someone on the other side of the door. Kim is already anticipating that the conversation will end any second now. She can feel her heart beating louder.

Any second now she can see that person's face again.

The person inside finally closed the door behind her and walked inside the room. She elegantly walked towards the table, her shoulder-length hair bouncing slightly. She's just wearing a simple coat and jeans, her heeled boots making muffled noise on the carpeted floor.

Tok... tok... tok... tok... tok...

The woman sat down on one of the chairs. She brushed her hand through her hair, showing more of her pretty face and fair skin.

Kim touched the mirror with her fingertips, wondering how this woman can still affect her in that way even after all these years.

---

School auditorium: 15 years ago.

Kim is starting to feel cold. She's been sitting in that cinema-like auditorium for thirty minutes now, but the program hasn't started yet. She glanced at the backdrop on the stage that says, "Welcome to Freshmen Orientation!" to check the event time.

"It's supposed to have started now," Kim told herself. She glanced around and noticed that few people have arrived so far. There were already groups in the middle and left part of the auditorium, but none has seated beside Kim yet.

One of the advice she got from her doctor before enrolling in that university is to make friends. She's suffered child depression for years and now is the first time she's going out to the world on her own. She's determined to make friends and open herself up, and she would start by talking to the people who would sit beside her.

Since Kim's sitting by the aisle, she's looking up at people who are passing by back and forth, hoping that one of her seatmates would finally arrive.

Getting bored, she started reading the student's handbook that was handed to her at the entrance. Slowly, people are coming in. The noise is starting to build up from the different group of students from afar. Observing the other people around, Kim felt envious because some of these kids have friends already.

Tok... tok... tok... tok... tok...

Out of nowhere, Kim heard a distinct sound of heeled shoes tapping on the tiled floor. She didn't mind looking. It could be one of those students who is already acquainted with the others.

Tok... tok... tok... tok... tok...

But the sound of the heeled-shoes didn't stop. Instead, the sound keeps on getting louder with each step. Not long after that, a girl about her age emerged from Kim's right side. The girl is wearing a simple blue dress and has a long-salon-like wavy hair.

The girl stood up on the aisle, stretching out her neck to check the chair number beside Kim.

"Excuse me," said the girl, squeezing herself in, trying to avoid Kim's feet.

Kim moved her feet back to give way to the girl. She smelled the girl's perfume during the process, making her knees feel a bit weaker.

At age of 18, Kim is already aware that she's not into boys. However, she hasn't built the image of what a "beautiful woman" is to her – at least not until today. This girl has a sense of elegance that hangs around her. She looked simple and sophisticated at the same time. Kim couldn't point a finger at it, but this girl has something different compared to the majority of the girls she'd seen so far in that auditorium.

It turns out that the girl's chair is the one next to Kim's. After the girl had settled, Kim is contemplating whether to introduce herself or not. It's the perfect opportunity for her to step out of her comfort zone and make friends. But being the socially awkward person she is, especially if the target person is this beautiful, Kim couldn't help but cower on her chair instead.

Sooner, kids started appearing. Kim had totally abandoned the idea of introducing herself to her seatmates, afraid that these people would find her annoying.

The program finally started. In the middle of the program, Kim noticed that the girl's arms were folded across her chest the whole time. Kim's arms were comfortably situated on the armrests on her right and left sides. She moved her arm away from the left armrest so the girl could rest her arms too.

At this point, Kim still keeps on battling the thought of introducing herself to the girl. One second she'll feel that it's just right to be positive and confident, then another second she'll feel afraid again.

As the program was about to end, the host announced that the students who are seated in the right wing of the auditorium (which is where Kim's at) are the ones occupying the school dormitories.

"And in case you're wondering, you're already sitting beside your roommate! Go ahead, introduce yourselves. You'll be rooming with each other for this whole year," said the host.

Kim swallowed a lump in . Since she's situated on the aisle (no one's on her right), it only means that her roommate will be the one to her left. She felt nervous at the idea that she'll be spending the whole year with this pretty girl in the same room.

The girl, on the other hand, who thought that she's rooming with the girl to her left, finally realized her mistake. She hesitantly looked at Kim.

Kim took all the courage left in her to finally introduce herself. "Hi... I-I'm Kim..."

The girl shook Kim's hand softly, "I... I'm... Pie..."

---

"Just as I thought, you'll be waiting here instead of the Interview Room," a voice said.

Kim saw Conan standing by the door. "I'm just preparing myself, Nan..."

"You think you can do it?"

"It's part of my job."

Conan chuckled. She stood beside Kim, looking at the other person in the Interview Room. "Mmm. Still pretty as ever, huh?"

Kim didn't say anything, but she silently agreed to what Conan said.

"Would you like me to take it from here?" asked Conan. "We haven't seen each other for a while, maybe I can say hi for you?"

Kim was silent for a moment until she finally gave a nod. "Yeah. I think it's best that you do it. Just please assure her that we'll save her kid."

"I will, Cap." Conan patted Kim's shoulder before walking out of the area. After a few seconds, the door in the Interview Room opened. The woman inside stood up.

"C-Conan...?"

"Hi, Pie."

Without hesitation, Pie ran to Conan and hugged her tightly. Conan hugged her back. Few seconds after that, Pie started sobbing loudly, as if she's been trying to keep herself from crying for a while now.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be fine," said Conan, rubbing her palm on Pie's back. "I know you're worried, but we're here to get her, okay?"

"I'm... I'm scared, Conan. What if something happens...?"

Kim clenched her fist, feeling broken at what she's seeing.

"Shhh... please calm down, Pie. Let's sit over there." Conan guided Pie to sit on one of the chairs. She sat down as well.

"She's only five, Conan. I don't know what's going to happen to me if I lose her," said Pie, crying more this time.

Conan held both Pie's hands. "We're leaving as soon as this talk's over. You'll be with her in about an hour or two. I want you to trust us, okay?"

"Can I come with you?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Pie..."

"But I want to see what's happening. I'll go crazy if I just wait here not knowing what exactly is happening there."

"I understand your point, Pie. But we can't let you come with us because we're trying to minimize the number of civilians that we need to look after in this operation. Rest assured that there's nothing to be worried about. We are dispatching four people to get your kid. That includes me."

Knowing that it's hopeless to insist, Pie covered her face with her palms.

Conan felt nothing but sympathy for Pie. "Okay. Here's what I can do: I can request to give you pass in the Control Room. In that way, you'll be able to see the operation. Will that be enough?"

Pie's face lit up. "Yes! I just want to see her. I want to see how you'll rescue her."

"Okay. I will have to excuse myself now as I still need to arrange that for you."

"Thank you, Conan. This means a lot to me."

"Anything for you," said Conan, smiling. "We shared a lot way back college, remember?"

That made Pie smile. But the smile faded instantly. "Is... Kim... here...?"

Kim felt her heart move after hearing Pie mention her name.

Conan nodded. "She's part of the retrieval operation. She's assembling the team as we speak."

Pie looked away, sniffing.

"You know how she is during operations like this right? You've seen her on TV?" asked Conan, getting a nod from Pie. "Your daughter is in good hands, Pie."

"I know. But please do take care."

"We will. Don't worry. We'll get your daughter back."

After that, Conan excused herself and went out of the room. She went back to the other room and saw Kim still standing on the same spot.

"Take your time, Cap. We'll be waiting for you in Gate A."

"Thank you, Nan."

Conan smiled and stepped out of the room after that.

Kim sighed. She closed her eyes, remembering every single way Pie had called her name before.

"Kim!"

"Kim..."

"Kiiim!"

"Kim."

The Interview Room's door opened again. Kim opened her eyes and saw Jane emerging from the door.

"Pie... I came here as soon as I heard..."

Before Jane could even sit on one of the chairs, Pie stood up to hug her.

"Hey, Pie, it's gonna be alright. Katie will be fine..."

"I know... I know... Conan talked to me just now and said the same thing. But I can't help it, Jane..."

Jane pulled away from the hug. "Conan? You mean it's their troop who's going to handle this operation?"

Pie nodded.

"Which means that you don't need to worry, right?" asked Jane, holding Pie's shoulders. "You know how Kim jumps into danger without hesitation just to save someone. Katie is in safe hands."

"Do you think she knows?" asked Pie, still sniffing.

"That Katie is your daughter? I think she does. But worry not, Pie." Jane pulled Pie for another hug. She stared at the mirror on the side, as if knowing that someone is standing behind that.

"If Kim could risk her life for other people, what more for your daughter, right?"