Downstairs just in time for the pickup, they were able to avoid getting reprimanded by their commanding officer. He had come with a large white bus to collect all of them and bring them to the briefing room. The ride was just right. It was quick enough to not be boring, but long enough to justify using the bus. The facility was further from the briefing room than the barracks were. When they got there, they were given a sheet of paper. On it had their new partner and team number. "These pairings were determined after analyzing your performance here. Of course, you will be able to change partners if it just isn't working out for you in 6 months." the scientist said. As that was the case, there was really nothing to be done for those first 6 months. Kazuki would have to do his best to get along with his partner. The head pilot instructor clear his throat and began to talk. "As you know, we get the Shines through the Radiant Ones and their technology. They can make them as easily was can make a fighter jet or tank. The problem is that they are pretty stingy. They will only give us 4 for the base."
That was unfortunate. Because of that, there would be a sliding shift rotation on the base for the various teams. Starting tomorrow, there would be 4 teams on call. Their job would be to respond if there was an alien attack. It was easy to understand once explained to the boys. Teams 1-4 would all be waiting on base all day around the briefing room for such an event. The day after would be Teams 5-8. Teams 9 and 1-3 would be on call the third day. The fourth day would see Teams 4-7. Basically, each team would have a moment in time where they got 2 days off in a row to do with as they please. For the most part, it would be every other day. They still all of had their on base responsibilities and training to do. Once that was done with, they could go off and do whatever they wanted. Whether it was go into town or spend time with their comfort woman. Kazuki would probably do a bit of both with his time off. Now that he was a member of the U.N.'s military, the people off base would be less likely to give him shit for being half Japanese. Looking at his sheet of paper, he was now in Team 5.
Reading more, he could see the breakdown of all the other teams as well. Team 1 was comprised of Aoi and Minato. Haruki and Haruto were the members of Team 2. In this base, there were 2 sets of twins. For some reason or another, it seemed that twins really were the best and synchronizing with each other. That made intuitive sense to Kazuki. Team 3 had Isamu and Kageya in it. They had the most synchronizations together compared to any other. While a diversity of partners raised your stocks as an individual pilot, this was an assessment on who made the best teams. Miyabi and Genji were the members of Team 4 with their 5 successes together. Kazuki could see that his partner was Kiseki. Team 6 was comprised of Eiji and Akio. Ryuga and Kenji were in Team 7. Kazuki liked it. They were both nice guys in his book. Rentaro and Aito made up Team 8. Team 9 was the last team. It made sense that it had both Jiro and Kaito in it to round off the base. Kazuki was fine with being in Team 5. It had not mattered one bit what his rank would be as long as he was taken in. He made it in.
It was important for him to know his schedule as a military man. However, that was not all that he was getting. Their uniforms had all come in. Not only did he get 3 of the nice military outfits for day to day living on base, he also had his formal uniform and his pilot suit. Because he was part of the U.N.'s military, it was a different design from the ones the Japanese soldiers wore. He had already apparently been awarded medals to be worn on his formal uniform. There was a medal for being injured on base. If confused him until he had gotten the answer from his commanding officer. That stemmed from his stint in the infirmary for exhaustion. He had also received one for 10 successful synchronizations. Another was for synchronizing with 5 different partners during his time as a pilot. That was nice. He also had been awarded a medal for his pistol proficiency during the boot camp. He had taken the exam for fun, not expecting anything to come from it. This had placed him among the most decorated pilots of the bunch. Aoi and Minato had more than him, but that was all to be expected by now.
