I got lectured by the instructors at the Training Room. Kroos kept staring at me the whole time after I messed up, and she called for me come with her after we wrapped up. I thought she was going to chew me out too, but instead she gave me some cake. She must've seen how down I was feeling. But I did mess up, that's a fact. I saw a teammate ahead to my left who hadn't noticed the danger behind him, so I went to go help him. I acted without warning, and didn't expect to get hit by a training bolt. I caused the mission to fail right then and there. The instructors said no one should be making such a basic mistake. I was so embarrassed. 'Shh. This is from my secret stash~' I nodded and gave a bite. It was sweet and creamy, with roasted apple slices on top, and—wrapped chocolates inside?! 'I was gonna put something in there that'd break your teeth right off, but seeing how you were on the verge of tears, I switched it for chocolate, see?' Kroos unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth, then unwrapped another for me. We sat on the bench next to the door to the Training Room, and she told me all sorts of things. How she'd made her own mistakes—ones just like mine today—how she'd gotten into massive arguments with her teammates over a disagreement in the field, how she had all these pranks of hers, and how she'd remodeled her crossbow. And at the very end, I'd finished the cake, and put the chocolate in my bag. Kroos patted me on the head and said, 'You're going to remember today's lesson, aren't you?' 'I just thought, if I'd seen it but didn't help, I'd regret it...' She gave me a serious look. 'If something does happen for real, regret'll just be part and parcel. Training helps us not make the same mistakes in real combat.' She tossed a toy at me, some kind of prank thing again. 'Use this to give that other operator of yours a fright!' 'But don't tell anyone I've been stashing the sweet stuff again!' A long while later, I'd finally become a formal operator, and I made the correct decision in a crisis. Nobody was even hurt. In a rush of glee, I couldn't help but think of that day, of Kroos's cake and the things she told me. I sought her out after I returned to the landship, and once she'd finished taking in my combat report, she showed me something. It was a thick, dense file, with line after line of planned adjustments for the training equipment's trigger timing, and how every Reserve Operator would respond. All in her handwriting. 'Less regrets this way,' she laughed. 'You did great.'