On the day after Tatsuya paid his visit to Kyuuchouji Temple, he left Miyuki at home to head to the JSDF 101 Brigade Base situated in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki to pay a visit. The destination was the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion Headquarters. It was not for training but rather to greet Kazama. Although Tatsuya was in a normal suit, the ID card he held was no less different than that held by a regular soldier. He only needed to pass through a card scanner and a bio-scanner before Tatsuya easily passed through the gate, after which he walked towards the building that the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion was in. Tatsuya initially planned to go straight to where Kazama was, but in the sturdy plaza spanning three floors both above and below ground, he saw a familiar figure, so he walked towards it. "Happy New Year, Special Lieutenant Ooguro." "Happy New Year and congratulations, First Lieutenant Fujibayashi." As they saluted one another, Tatsuya and Fujibayashi exchanged New Year's greetings. Tatsuya, though, appended his congratulations not only for the New Year's well wishes. "Thank you, Special Lieutenant. The increase in salary at this point really sincerely makes me happy." Fujibayashi replied in a joking manner. Tatsuya felt that her words contained some complex undercurrents, but did not point them out right then. "I also wish to give my New Year’s greetings to the Lieutenant Colonel." "Of course, the Commander is waiting for us as well. Let's go." Fujibayashi gave a bright smile before turning around. Tatsuya followed behind her.
"It’s Fujibayashi." "Come in." Kazama gave his permission to enter the room, in response to Fujibayashi's knock on his door. There was only one person in the Commander's Office. "Excuse me. I brought Special Lieutenant Ooguro along." "The two of you, stand there and wait a moment." As he was speaking, Kazama operated the end of the desk. At the wall near the entrance, a part came down to the height of his hand, and stopped as it became parallel to the ground to form the seat of a chair. Tatsuya and Fujibayashi sat down on the chairs that were prepared. There were cushions placed on the seats, so it didn't feel uncomfortable sitting on them. Kazama continued repeating movements using his stylus on the monitor reclined at a 15-degree angle, as if signing documents, before raising his head. Fujibayashi and Tatsuya stood up together in front of the table where the monitor was stowed away. Tatsuya moved forward half a step before saluting Kazama. "Commander, New Year's greetings to you. Also, congratulations on your promotion this time." "Well. Special Lieutenant, I'm looking forward to your being active this year as well." "Yes. Thank you very much." Kazama loosened his expression, then stood up. Behind Tatsuya and Fujibayashi's backs, appeared a sofa that came up from underneath the floor. "Well, sit down."
While saying this, Kazama sat down on a simple inflatable sofa. Tatsuya then sat down on the sofa by the door as well. The ceiling descended between the two, forming a suspended coffee table. A teapot, teacups and saucers had already been prepared on the table. Fujibayashi, still standing, picked up a kettle, filled the teapot up with hot water, then poured the tea into the teacups after a while. She then placed the two teacups, on saucers, and teapot in front of Kazama and Tatsuya. Smiling in response to Tatsuya who thanked her, Fujibayashi started moving to the left of Kazama. "Although I don't think you have any matters which you specifically need help with, you didn't come here today just for New Year’s greetings did you?" Kazama asked Tatsuya as he picked up the teacup. Although the cup was not filled with boiling hot water, the teacup made of thin celadon should still have been pretty hot, Kazama however did not reveal any reaction to it. "I heard the Commander received a promotion, so of course I can't pretend I didn't know about it." In response to Kazama's direct question, Tatsuya answered while smiling. Although it was just to be civil, the smile was not accompanied by any emotions. Instead of a sincere expression, a smile was chosen instead. "Although it's called a promotion." Kazama responded to Tatsuya's faked smile with a smile of his own. However, Kazama's was a forced smile. "My salary hardly increased and compared to my contemporaries, I'm already one of the last. Well, even though I feel better that I was promoted, it's a good thing that situations where my subordinates will be put under pressure will disappear."
Just as Kazama had said, in the official routine orders sent out on January 1st, the promotion list wasn’t limited to just Kazama. As Tatsuya pointed out, Fujibayashi was promoted from a Second Lieutenant to a First Lieutenant, Sanada and Yanagi were both promoted from Captains to Majors, their military ranks increased. When Kazama was younger, in carrying out some of his missions, he once displeased the Central higher-ups