Daigo's eyes moved quickly from his plate to the speaker as the announcement played itself a second time over for anyone who missed it the first time. "Daigo Tanaka, Kaori Yamada, and Jun Saotome, report to the Marshall's office immediately." Just as well, he figured, as he left his table and dumped the remainder of the food on his tray into the trash. The Rangers were being fed very well nowadays, with the tastiest and most nutritious cuisine that military funding could afford its heroes, but he would take traditional Okinawan cuisine or even the lukewarm rations of the JASDF mess hall any day. Yet he couldn't deny what a great honor it was to be here at all, to be chosen from among the hundreds of candidates to become his country's greatest line of defense, along with Kaori. Every day, he grew more convinced that it was fate that allowed both of them to survive that day in Tokyo where almost their entire squadron died. He never would have thought back then that they had it in them to fight Kaiju on equal footing, let alone be Drift compatible with each other, yet here they were.<br/><br/>With the loss of Tacit Ronin a month ago, it was on their shoulders even more to uphold Japan's defense and pride alongside Echo Saber, to make sure the Kaiju and the rest of the world knew they would not fall easily. Of course, Daigo was no fool, and he knew others within the Shatterdome were not in it for nearly the same reasons as he and Kaori were. That arrogant LOCCENT officer, for one, who they would be seeing in a few minutes, who seemed to worry about his own status more than that of his country's. And the Marshall himself, who was a disgrace to the entire armed forces, yet who was too good at his job to be removed. Daigo recalled that they had both been police officers once (the older man having become a chief), yet he couldn't imagine what that particular type of man would want from such an "unfulfilling" career. Nor did he concern himself to ask.<br/><br/>Cutting through Echo Saber's hanger, which was oddly empty for some reason, the former pilot proceeded to his CO's office, mostly out of desire to get this visit out of the way. He hadn't checked his schedule, but he and Kaori probably had a training session set up today, unless more important matters took over. He was the better of the pair at hand-to-hand combat, but she was still the superior master of the blade, which, despite Bushido Dawn's success in previous drops, was still holding them back as much as the martial arts thing was. The Kaiju were getting stronger with every event, and they had to be sure they were up to the task, or they would end up repeating their own history.<br/><br/>With a knock, Daigo was granted entry to the Marshall's office, where he simply bowed to the man before waiting to hear why he and the others were called.