His shoulders relax a little as the topic shifts off the Completely Embarrassing to the task at-hand; Manabu's head tilts to look upward into the seemingly-endless trunk and distant canopy. His brow furrows at some of the terms the woman uses - Plagues Author? - but her cadence reminds him a little of some of the officers of Spica Platoon, the women who excelled in data collection and analysis. Calm, focused, confident.

"Before that dream? Or...before that. Because I remember being asked to make a choice...but it wasn't really much of a choice from where I'm standing."