"Duelist of Rose! Ms. Rousseau! I didn't think you'd come!"
"Why wouldn't I?" Sylvie glanced at the woman who greeted her. "I was asked to."
Someone approached Sylvie the moment she entered the building, but she didn't return the enthusiasm and merely looked around the lobby with quiet curiosity.
"This place is… unrecognizable," she whispered.
"Oh, you've been to the U-IBAA before?" the woman asked, lightly gasping as she carefully gestured for Sylvie to follow beside her.
"Once," Sylvie answered. "It wasn't the United IBAA building back then."
America had always possessed the largest and most sophisticated IBAA in the world. Years ago, however, it still carried hesitation. The organization was important, certainly—but not yet the country's highest priority.
That changed sometime within the last thirty years.
