"What the hell are you doing Kaleb?" asked Mitsuhiro as he awakened grumpily. Kaleb sat on the ground on a small carpet, his legs crossed, his eyes closed, his hands were raised directly in front of him, palms were together, out flat. The tips of his fingers and the palms of his hands met, and he didn't reply. Mitsuhiro glanced at him, got out of bed, and walked over to Kaleb slowly, yawning.
"Are you meditating or something? Trying to become a monk? You know those guys have to shave their heads, can't talk, and aren't allowed to go the bathroom, or something?" Mitsuhiro said, Kaleb didn't respond. Mitsuhiro gave him a blank look, blinked twice and waited. He seemed to see the tips of Kaleb's fingers glow, or was that just the sunlight which flowed through the tan-colored curtains? Finally Kaleb opened his eyes. He pulled his hands apart and stood up. Mitsuhiro again gave him a blank look.
"More television facts? You really need to read books. A wise man once said that meditation takes you into pure serenity, and that is the only true peace in this world." he yawned slightly as he shoved the carpet under his bed carefully as not to damage it.
"Who said that, you?" Mitsuhiro asked with a goofy grin. Kaleb shook his head slowly, then he turned towards a window.
"Want to see true peace?" Kaleb turned back to Mitsuhiro, and raised an eyebrow at Mitsuhiro questioning him, challenging him.
"What divine item do you have for me? A crystal ball perhaps? A single rose, still in it's beauty? Oh wait, right, I forgot, I'm talking to you. A television?" Kaleb laughed. Mitsuhiro gave a slight grin.

"Close, but no cigar." mumbled Mitsuhiro as he pulled a box out from under his bed. He pulled out a game system.
"We just hook this little baby up to the television, and we'll be playing games like The Samurai's Sword and Pyromaniac's Revenge in no time!" and with that he began connecting the thing to the television. Kaleb glanced at the thing in horror! This wasn't right!
"Wait! We're not allowed to do that! They never said anything about us being allowed to do this!" cried Kaleb, knowing that they were going to end up in trouble, as always. He was sick and tired of always being in trouble! He did not want to loose this job either!
"No worry, they never said not to. Besides, how often does someone come in here?" it seemed like that was cued, because at that very instant there was a sharp rapping at the door. The two frantically flung their bodies around the room, trying to move quickly.
"Oh great! Hide it! Quick!" hissed Kaleb, as he walked towards the door, Mitsuhiro stuffed the entire thing back under his bed hastily.
"Shit! It won't fit!" whispered Mitsuhiro, he kicked the thing fully under the bed, just as Kaleb opened the door, he stood there, shirtless, with his roommate on the ground, crawling away from the bed, and standing up. There in front of them stood the general.
"Hello boys. I want to see each of you in my office, right now! And get a shirt on!" he snapped, a sick, twisted grin across his face. It was a look of pure evil. Kaleb knew something terrible was about to happen, and didn't like it one bit.

"Y-yes S-sir!" he stuttered, closing the door, nearly slamming it in the general's face. Kaleb grabbed a shirt and a new pair of jeans, he had forgotten to change into anything else from his old jeans from the day before, and ran into the bathroom, he quickly locked the door, changed, and ran out of the room like a hurricane. Mitsuhiro dashed after him. By the time the two were in the general's office they were panting heavily. The general invited Mitsuhiro in first, and made Kaleb sit outside.

"Now, Mr. Sugimori, I must admit, you have a very good resume, and you are an amazingly skilled pilot, but it's just that I know you can do so well, but you're not living up to your full potential!" the general said in a monotone voice. Why did the general care about him? Wondered the boy. Mitsuhiro looked around the room, at the shelves of books behind the general's desk, at the walls.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. The general stared at him, he stared right back. He didn't like that look in the general's eyes.
"Well, you see, you're not the best, and I think you could improve. You see, that boy, Kaleb Brentwood, he's better than you. You've got to work harder than him to beat him! I know he's your roommate, but I think you have allot to learn from him yet. I think that you should strive to be the better one."

What? He was second the Kaleb? Sure, the American was his friend, but first the highest graded pilot in the Learning Institute, now this? He should learn from Kaleb? How absurd. He got out of the chair feeling angry and defeated, and stood up and walked back into the waiting room. He sat down. Kaleb was then called in. The general motioned for him to sit down, after he closed the door behind him. The general was shuffling through some papers. He looked up at Kaleb. Kaleb glanced away slightly for a moment.
"Now, I've been looking over your experience, and it's excellent, you did an amazing job on the training yesterday, but I'm afraid that you're not the best pilot. You could be better, you could use some more training." the general said sounding disappointed in the boy.
"I never said I wanted to be the best pilot. Of course I want better training, that's why I'm here Sir." he brushed some of his hair out of his eyes. The general continued.

"If you only worked harder you could become a general like myself one of these days, but there's someone holding you back. That's right, it's your roommate, Mitsuhiro. He has the highest mark, and it's just disgusting. You should have the highest mark, you're much smarter than him, but he seems to have better skills. I guess you're just not giving enough effort into it." sighed the general, pretending to sound wistful. It may have worked on Mitsuhiro, but it wasn't going to work on the American. He could tell.
"Excuse me Sir, if I may say so, I don't care about being the best pilot, all I ever wanted was to be a pilot. It doesn't matter what rank I get. Besides, everyone comes from different backgrounds, different pasts, everyone is skilled at different things. You can't just become better than someone immediately. It takes a long time, lots of training and practice." Kaleb said quietly. He didn't really care.
"But if you became general think about all the money you could make!" coaxed the General trying to make himself sound friendly. Money was just a material.