Ryoko ran as fast as her legs could carry her through the busy streets. Of course the day that she had things to do was the day she had to stay late after school. She had planned on being maybe thirty minutes late, not hours! She grunted in a mix of frustration and determination. "This is launch day. I've got to get there before there aren't any pods left," she thought. She snapped out of her thoughts just in time to realize she had sprinted right past the center she was looking for. She quickly turned around and ran back to the door, gasping for breath. She looked around to see that no one was in pods, and instead, were just starting to head into the system room. She somehow managed to summon another burst of energy to quickly use her pass to enter the building and rush to the end of the quickly growing line. Still breathing heavily, she silently cheered to herself when she was guided to a pod by a girl that looked only about a year older than her. Even so, she still had to look slightly upward to make eye contact. Oh, the girl had said something and looked like she was waiting for a response. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening."
