(INTRO 1): “Porridge.”

A week has gone, and as the alarm goes off her phone is cut off which causes her to smash it to break it into pieces as she continues to snooze. While she sleeps, Yoann kicks the door open fully dressed in a standard Firukawa soldier black and gray outfit. Riyama grumbles to herself, turns to the other side, and attempts to go back to sleep.

"Good morning, Riyama," Yoann said. "It's morning procedure time!" Riyama responds with a loud snore. All Riyama wants to do is sleep the day off and be in peace but unfortunately, the whole world loves to want to test her patience every day. Riyama Tetsushōri or "The Iron Lady" is what she is called and is known to be the last member of her clan who all passed away. Her being one of the 1st Ranked Beta Soldiers of Firukawa City means her life essentially is busy or as Riyama calls it, a job of nothing but idiots training even idiotic idiots. Though lazy at first glance, she's a veteran and a famous one at that, many times she was given the chance to be promoted to Alpha Rank but she denied it every time, she wanted a life with nothing but Yoann.

"Get up Riyama! It is time to meet my new team! I'm ready too! I got promoted last week so I can't miss this!"

"Give me – What time is it?"

"6:10 A.M."

"Give me… Five more minutes…"

"C'mon. What if you don't get up within those five minutes?"

Riyama shrugged. "I dunno. An extra five more minutes wouldn't hurt," she said before slowly snoozing off and having to catch Yoann's punch while she was snoozing. Yoann continues with his attacks, all failing to land on Riyama as she groans and casually gets up off the bed. She gets on her slippers and goes through a basic morning routine of fixing her red, short curly hair, brushing her half-cleaned teeth, and putting on a basic white long crop-top with a long black jacket that reaches to her knees to cover her huge silver tattoo, and black gym pants with white stripes each to the side while effortlessly avoiding Yoann's attacks. As they continue, she begins trying to make coffee while blocking off all of Yoann's attempts to land a hit. After a while, Yoann is exhausted while Riyama is reading today's newspaper and sipping instant coffee.

"Don't tell me you're already exhausted before we see your new team, Yo-Yo? I taught you better than that," Riyama says, casually flipping through the newspaper and checking on the food section. Yoann scoffs at Riyama calling him 'Yo-Yo' and gains newfound stamina to continue his assault, failing each time. While Riyama is evading his attacks, she can't help but smile. As she stares into his determined dark-red eyes as she gets a glimpse flashback of a younger him that was full of fear or desperation. "You know, you're very handsome. Even though you're the size of an ant still surprises me you don't have a girlfriend yet Yo-Yo," Riyama says, causing Yoann to get red in the face while having a vein pop out of his head, making him stop his assault and take a seat.

"Well how about you?"

"What about me? You ain't callin' me ugly, aren't ya," Riyama said, starting daggers at Yoann which causes him to sweat. Yoann snorts and says, "Oh no! The opposite actually, why don't you go out and get a date?" Riyama freezes up once he said that and sways her head, hiding behind her newspaper. "I think I'll pass on that advice, Yo-Yo," Riyama said. "Sides, I don't need anyone but my little Yo-Yo."

Yoann narrows his eyes and crosses his arms across his chest. Riyama snorts as she rolls her newspaper up and playfully wacks Yoann in the head. Riyama then yawns and throws her newspaper in the trash. "Aii, you're ready," Riyama asked.

"Are you serious? I've been ready," Yoann says. He jumps out of his chair and begins running to grab his pistol to put it in his holster.

"Aye, Riyama, are you getting your gun?"

"Yo-Yo. You know I don't need one. I got two guns right here," Riyama says, cracking her knuckles and giving off a smile as Yoann snorts and runs out the door with Riyama closing the door behind him.

While driving in her rusty old truck, Riyama finds herself constantly frowning and smiling. She keeps staring at Yoann and back at the road. Riyama was happy for Yoann growing up and trying to become a soldier at the young age of 17, she trained and adopted this kid for ten years after he annoyed her enough to do so but at the same time, she couldn't help but to think the worst could happen to him and with how weak he was born, she couldn't stop shaking her hands while ringing came to her ears. She started around the road as if she was looking for threats and tightening the grip of her steering wheel as she released a cold sweat, breathing more heavily. "So… Y-Yo-Yo. Can't believe it… You made it," Riyama says, constantly giving glances to Yoann but not diverting her attention to the road. "You're happy to meet your new team ain't ya?"

Yoann is a bit shaken from meeting his new team and his new teacher. He can feel a boiling point in his stomach rapidly increasing throughout his body as doubts in his head try to convince him but he sways his head. "Are you serious? I'm as happy as I can ever be," he says with a nervous smile.

"N-Now you know we can turn back at any time Yo-Yo."

"No. I want to see my team."

"You don't have to be a soldier–"

"All of the efforts you put in to make me a soldier would be pointless. No, I'm not going back on the promise I made to him."

Riyama sways her head and sighs. She opens her mouth and it's as if she is going to reply but just makes confused noises before sighing again. "Yeah… You're right. I'm sorry Yo-Yo," she says. "As your guardian, I will have to support your goals even until the end of time."

"What if my goal was to kill a person?"

"It depends on the person, dum-dum."

Riyama and Yoann laugh before they park at their destination in a huge building named the "Omega Training Grounds" (OTG for short). Both step out of the vehicle as Riyama waits for Yoann to walk in front and scout her surroundings as much as she can, closely following Yoann while balling her hands into a fist. They enter the cafeteria and find many people dwarfing Yoann in size causing him to pout as Riyama snickered and helped him move through the crowd.

"They told you Team 8 right," Riyama asked while grabbing Yoann's shoulders and checking her surroundings. Yoann starts grunting in slight pain and trying to push her hands off his shoulders. He says, "Yeah. Team 8. You ok?"

"I'm aii."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm aii. Quit asking so many questions and help me find your team Yo-Yo."

Yoann sighed and continued onwards. He finds his table with a "Team 8" sign already spotting three individuals looking to be around his age. He first spots a pale-skinned girl with a longsword sheathed on her waist while fidgeting with her long, silky white hair, glancing around the room aimlessly with her glittery, sapphire eyes, has the 'Chikōri' Clan's sapphire tattoo birthmark on the right side of her neck, and having her salate open-toed sandals away pointing straight at the exit as her toes are curled. Red in the face, Yoan then realized she was at least three inches taller than him and she was the shortest out of the three on the table, crossing his arms and scoffing. The final two were males, one of the two is a bit stocky and had more muscle mass. He has his hands balled up into a fist wearing wrist tapes, his dim-lighted indigo eye barely trying to stay awake, as the man let out a huge yawn, he has a black man-bun, and a part of his 'Arāshiyo' indigo tattoo birthmark revealed on his left forearm. The last young man is a dark-skinned tall, long statued man. Having hands in his black jacket pockets and his legs on the table while leaning against his chair a bit. Though the bottom half of his face is covered by his mask, his red eyes stare at the ceiling, having earbuds on as he is rocking his head back and forth with his black nappy dreads cut, wearing a belt of knives inside their hostlers.

Yoann still scoffs at how every one of them is significantly taller than him, bulging a vein on his head. Riyama pats him on the back. "It's aii Yo-Yo. Being a late bloomer is nothing to be mad about," she says. "Though it's crazy how even she is taller than you." Yoann rolls his eyes and hugs Riyama goodbye — Riyama doesn't let go of the hug and gives Yoann a death stare.

"You think you're leaving without a kiss on the cheek?"

"Riyama… Please no. I'm 17. I thought we grew past that stage."

"Four more years and maybe I'll think about it. You're still my little Yo-Yo," Riyama says before picking up a struggling Yoann and giving a big motherly kiss on the cheek before dropping him down with a laugh. Yoann groans more so in annoyance and pain. The masked man snorts under his mask, the Chikōri girl frowns at Yoann, while the Arāshiyo man lifts an eyebrow.

Yoann facepalms to hide his red face and tries to look away from the three. "You're embarrassing me," he whispers as Riyama smacks on the back and chortles, "Fuck them. Let them stare."

Yoann sighs, putting his hands in his pockets, and waves goodbye to Riyama. Riyama struggles if she wants to smile or frown as she gives a small wave back before losing sight of Yoann due to the crowd. She begins walking out the door before shedding a single teardrop off her eye without her noticing.

Heart accelerating, Yoann slowly walks to the table and takes a seat before the girl scoots herself farther away from the group and puts her head down on the table. Yoann makes a disappointed expression on his face. "Jeez. Am I that ugly," Yoann says with a slight chuckle. The taller let out a small, genuine chuckle, "How can we find you ugly? You're adorable," he says. "How old are you for real? Twelve? Thirteen?"

Yoann and the tall guy snicker together as the tall guy lets out his hand. He says, "Colt Kanōchi. You?" Yoann gets wide-eyed before shaking his hand. "Yoann Bokio… And Kanōchi? You're in a clan," Yoann asks before Colt laughs, swaying his head before pulling up his right pants leg with all the hair on his legs, there is the 'Kanōchi' red tattoo birthmark. Yoann looks in awe before getting a dazed look on his face. Yoann puts a finger under his chin. "Kanōchi… That's a clan from Eisterstien ain't it? How did you get to Firukawa," he asks before Colt sighs, rolling down his pants leg.

"I — I got exiled from my clan and the country as a whole."

"Oh… Why?"

Colt starts to stand up straight on his chair and sighs. Yoann cusses at himself in thought. "Sorry. Ignore my question," Yoann says with a nervous smile before Colt snorts. "No need. You're my teammate so I'll eventually have to tell you my upbringing sooner or later," Colt says. "I was exiled because I broke my clan's law. Apparently, we can't use our clan bloodline abilities given to us for offensive uses, we were only trained to be medics. I told them we could be combat medics but they said I reminded them too much about her. About 'Iruza The Vampire Samurai' or whoever that is and kicked me out of the country as a whole." Yoann tilts his head and scratches his head. Colt nods and says, "Just as confused. History will never be my best subject and I doubt they teach Eisterstien history in Firukawa so I couldn't tell you who this Iruza is even if I wanted to but I remember them teaching her in classes and taking it too seriously. I never paid attention though."

Yoann continues to think to himself before he and Colt shrug at each other. "She sounds strong with a nickname like that," Yoann says. "Right? And they are going to have the audacity to kick ME out? I ain't no damn samurai."

Yoann laughs at Colt as they continue to interact before the man with wrist tapes sighs before he taps on the table to get their attention, staring directly at Yoann. "I will be completely honest with you. Why are you here," the man says. Yoann and Colt gave each other a dazed look, not sure what this guy is talking about.

"Yoann, right? You're not even in a clan and you're like half my size."

"Bro. What are you talking about?" Colt says.

"I'm just asking. He's the only one here clanless and he is the smallest one here. Shouldn't we worry if he will be dead weight or better yet, a liability if we have to keep saving him?"

"Huh?" Yoann says, jumping back a bit from his seat. Feeling the heart racing inside his chest, he lends forward and asks, "What – What are you trying to say? That I'm a liability and that's how you start every conversation? Not even a name?" The man just sighs again and sways his head. "Right, my name is Hiroto and well, for starters, your mother kisses you on the cheek like being a soldier is like a birthday which is already a red flag. You're at least half my size which isn't all that bad because of magic spells but suddenly it hits me, you're the only one clanless here. Three weaknesses, is there any other hindrance you have we should worry about?"

Yoann begins chewing on his lips and tapping on his right foot. "I – Was born with a lower average Chi than usual," Yoann says under his breath but enough for Hiroto to hear him and glance at Colt. Colt sighs and sways his head. Yoann shakes his head and stands off his seat, saying, "Well everyone has weaknesses. I don't get why you're getting onto me?"

Hiroto slowly shakes his head, "Everyone has weaknesses but it's expected to be put in a team where others check those weaknesses with their talents. Colt has his Blood specialty to heal and the girl is from the Clan of Chikōri that specializes in ice. You on the other hand," he says. "You're just… Here to be saved and watch us it seems."

"Hold on. His spirit animal might be useful," Colt says.

"My spirit animal is well, humans."

"See? A unique spirit animal. Didn't even know humans could be —"

"It's not useful though… Not in combat. It's called 'Indomitable Will' and… I'm not sure what it does yet."

Hiroto sways his head and sighs like a disappointed father. "Yoann. I don't want to see you hurt or even worse, dead. I know you might be trained by the best but still doesn't convince me that you're useful in any way. For you, mine, and her sake. Please resign from this," he says as Yoann looks at the ground before balling his hands into a fist and slamming it on the table to shake it.

"I didn't come this far to get pitied. You haven't seen what I am capable of yet."

"I don't have to. From what I am hearing, you essentially have zero talent relating to being a soldier. I don't want to see you end up dead."

"I worked way too damn hard to not fall off now," Yoann says. "So, you can shove that talent-talk up your ass."

"The 'talent-talk' is true. You can work as hard as you can but as soon as the talented train, you're essentially getting replaced and left in the dirt. Talent overcomes hard work."

"I mean, he's not half wrong. Talent is how you start to do hard work but depends on the person," Colt says.

"I supposed you're partially right but a lazy talented person can beat a lazy non-talented person so my point still stands."

Yoann sways his head and stares towards the girl as he moves to her, bitterly asking, "Do you think I'm dead weight?" The girl lifts her head, looking at Colt and Hiroto then back at Yoann. "Uhm, Y-You — Uhm, I – I don't know," she says, trying to put her head back down but Hiroto lifts an eyebrow and approaches forward to her as well.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"She means she hasn't seen what I am capable of so she won't judge. Like you should be doing."

"You're just adding words to her mouth. We both know she is not saying that."

The girl starts stuttering, staring at the ground. The girl stops once she realizes she can't form a concessive sentence so she shrugs instead and begins to scoot away. Yoann watches her scoot over and thinks he scared her away as he looks at the ground and then at Hiroto before shifting his attention to the girl. "Wait," Yoann says, following her. "I'm sorry for opening a conversation like that. What's your name?"

"M-My name?"

"Yes. Your name."

"We're in a team so might as well," Colt says while Hiroto rolls his eyes in the background.

"R-Right. My name is — My name is Usana."

"Usana? Pretty name. Are you from the Chikōri Clan?"

Usana simply nods and goes to put her head back down to the ground. Speechless, Yoann sighs. "Good conversation," Yoann says before scooting back to the boys.

"Well, she doesn't agree with you."

"She didn't disagree either but I will leave this argument before we get unneeded attention."

Yoann stares daggers at Hiroto though Hiroto ignores his attempts at intimidation and looks to the other side. Time passes before the lunch lady comes out and serves every team boring porridge and water bottles. Yoann scratches the back of his head, wondering why they are feeding them porridge. He thought since they would get promoted, they would've at least given us congratulatory food but they just gave them porridge.

Colt eats it with no hesitation or questions, though he didn't like how bland it tasted it seemed as if to everyone he loved it. Hiroto looks over to Colt with a weird expression. Usana gave the same look but mixed with disgust. Yoann looks at his group then at everyone else and thinks if he should eat this porridge. He didn't have time to eat breakfast since he was distracted to attempt to land a hit on Riyama and despite how much he loved her, her cooking skills isn't the best. Hell, even she knows her cooking is terrible after she accidentally set the kitchen on fire twice in one day. Yoann starts playing with his porridge, putting a finger under his chin.

Usana pushes the bowl away from her while her face is full of cringe. She asked, "They expect us to eat this?" The boys stare at Usana with a dazed look, surprised she spoke so clearly. "I am not eating this. I refuse to digest this sad excuse of a meal," she says while shaking her head, repeatedly saying 'I won't' to herself while pushing the bowl farther.

"It's not that big of a deal," Colt says.

"I–I know… But I don't want to eat something so bland."

"We're soldiers. We are supposed to eat anything that fuels us even if it tastes like shit."

"Why would I want to eat feces for breakfast? Food is supposed to be a wonderful feeling in your stomach. It is supposed to make you comfortable and feel warm, not turn us into machines… L-Like ice cream."

"What the fuck– Usana. You do realize where you are at, right? We're soldiers like I said before. We are meant to be machines so we can't live comfortably if we wanted to," Colt says. "Sides, we can't afford to be comfortable. Not even for a moment. Hard times create strong men."

Usana starts cringing more at Colt's comment, shaking her head again while her eyes are closed. "How can't they expect to be loyal if they feed us such waste? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It shouldn't be wasted on… This."

Colt raises an eyebrow, lending forward to Usana, asking, "And ice cream should?"

"N-No… I — I – I - In my opinion I think we shouldn't be fed rubbish like this. It's disrespectful. People are out here having to eat trash to survive and we're here eating trash ourselves when we have the money to buy better and buy them better."

"What the fuck are you on? Do you have a weird imaginative world living inside your mind?"

"Enough," Hiroto says, getting between them to force Colt back.

"Who are you saying enough to?"

"Both of you. Enough. You're causing a scene and if you didn't realize, we certainly are the youngest one here."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying they might think it would be a mistake to put a bunch of soldiers not older than the age of 21 to be drafted but suit yourself and be kicked out before you start."

Colt squints before sighing and goes back to eating his porridge as Usana puts her head to the ground. Hiroto conflicts if he should eat the porridge or not, staring at Usana and Colt back to back. Yoann tilts his head at the group before he stares back at his porridge, slamming a hand to the table and raising it.

"Hello? Lunch ladies. Right here," Yoann shouts as the three stare at Yoann in pure confusion. The three teammates turn to the entire room now locking their sights on Yoann. Yoann's eyes grow wide as he starts stuttering a bit before shaking his head and staring directly at the lunch ladies. "Uhm– Do you perchance have any… Berries? Walnuts? Any bananas would be nice as well please," he says. The lunch ladies become unresponsive to Yoann's question. Yoann continues to ask the same question which further increases his team's nerves, specifically Hiroto's.

"We have almonds but we usually don't give out–"

"We'll take that."

"You eat almonds?" Lunch lady #2 says.

"Eh. It's for my team specifically but doesn't hurt to have some too I guess."

The lunch ladies stare at each other as each soldier begins to stand and ask for almonds as well. The lunch ladies get overwhelmed and quickly escape to the back where the kitchen is at. Yoann frowns before getting yanked down by Hiroto.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"She didn't seem to like it bland so I offered to add some flavor to it even if it ain't much."

"You're completely embarrassing us. Did you not hear me explain our current situation?"

"Yeah yeah. Youngest one and all that but everyone should eat."

"We'll eat what we are given."

"Really? You seemed to be challenged by the food you were given."

Hiroto gave each an intimidating glare at Yoann causing Yoann to release a cold sweat but Yoann stood his ground and gave his glare back albeit not as intimidating. "Thank you but… I'm not sure I'll eat this with almonds too," Usana said. "B-But I-I thank you… Yo-Yo right?"

Colt bursts out laughing as Yoann frowns, bulging a vein on his head. "It's Yoann. Yoann Bokio… Please don't start calling me Yo-Yo."

"P-Please? It's a cute name and easier to remember," Usana said, Yoann's eye twitched but he can't help himself get red in the face as he gives a nod instead to have Usana spark up a little smile.

"Ayo? Can I call you Yo-Yo too?" Colt says in a mocking voice.

"You can forget it."

"Aw c'mon! I thought we were – Oooh. Oh, I see," Colt says, finger-gunning Yoann and giving him a wink.

Frustrated, Yoann grabs Colt by the shoulders and rocks him back and forth in anger as Colt continues to chuckle. Hiroto sighs as he goes back to his porridge, wishing they had almonds on it – Luckily his wish comes true as the lunch ladies come out giving each table their fair share of almonds to put in their porridge as Hiroto checks his surroundings and puts some in his porridge in lightning speeds and scarfs his entire bowl. Colt shrugs and puts some in his bowl as Usana continues to have a disgusted face but hears her stomach say otherwise before she reluctantly puts almonds on her porridge.

Yoann smiles as he puts almonds in his and begins eating his porridge with his new, half-dysfunctional team of idiots.