"I am telling you, nothing happened!" Xerox replied to Duncan. "Quit being so insistent." They continued in this manner for a while, before moving onto other topics. Rue had dropped by as well, but was dragged off again by other people. Before they knew it, the ball had finished and the night wound down to a close.

----

Taking an early morning shower and then having breakfast, Rue and Xerox had quiet the attention. Stories of Xerox taking on a what was essentially a base of soldiers and mechas single-handedly and Rue saving the ex-instructor Duncan had spread amongst some of the SeeD candidates. Rue was making some signals, and Xerox replied, "Yeah, I know, they are getting over-excited. But let them be. We gotta get to the debriefing for the next mission." Finishing off his orange juice at the same time as Rue, they quickly headed for the debriefing.

Reaching the room the debriefing was being held, he could see a still hung-over Duncan. Sighing a little, he sat down and noticed the others who came in. He noticed someone he briefly saw during the test and a bald woman as well as a few other SeeD. Most of the SeeD were the newly qualified SeeD, on their first big mission, including himself. Adjusting some of the bolts in his giant spanner, Xerox noticed the bald woman, who had sat further in front of him, look across at the SeeD who helped with the test, before turning back. He was curious as to what that was about, but then continued his work, while listening to Duncan.

Once the debriefing finished, the bald woman had ended up asking a question about snacks. Curious as to why she asked about snacks first thing, Xerox waited for an answer to be returned before asking his question. "How do we not know that this is not some sort of elaborate set up? Considering they are part of the Galbadian Army, this could all be a ploy." After asking his more seriously concerning question, he playfully added "Also, how much more did you drink last night after the ball? You still smell of booze."