Happy Canada Day everybody! :D

Sorry for the wait, I thought I could get this out sooner but June was a very busy month for me, so one day late on my once a month chapter schedule. Oh well. Also, I cut the second intro chapter in two, since I wanted to update but right now I feel like I'm not writing as decently as I could, so I'm waiting for me to be a bit less tired and hot (It's like, 40 degrees celsius outside and I'm dying, usually it's just in the early 20 degrees around here in full summer) to be able to write some better intros than the one I was doing, which I felt were a bit half-assed. I'm just having some hard time with intros, especially since I have to get used to your characters as well. I hope to be able to pick up some speed soon too... One other reason it took long is that whenever I lose some part of what I wrote by accident, I also go in deep writer's block, which happened here and absolutely didn't help. I hope it won't happen again. Anyway! enough of me rambling, unto review replies!

Pretty Palutena: I'm glad you already like Yurika with only one line! :P Most importantly, I'm glad I was able to portray Whitney correctly and that you enjoyed her intro. Thank you for your review! :D

TheRoseShadow21: Toru is indeed the protag, and I'm glad you think the characters are interesting so far. Thank you for revewing! :)

Blue Tanaka: Uni is hell, but it's over for now at least! Until September. I'm glad you like the cast so far! :D Thank you for reviewing! :D

Hexcav-Lio: I'm really glad you like the cast and how I portrayed Oni! :D Always happy to know I wasn't off on portraying a character. Thanks for you review! :)

FairyBookworm: No need to feel bad about reviewing at a later point, I just appreciate that you reviewed at all! :) i'm so happy I portrayed Queen Suji right! She's such a fun character to write for since she's so eccentric and I'm really happy you liked her introduction and interactiosn so far! I'm also quite glad you enjoy Toru, after all, we're kinda gonna follow her around. :P I'm really glad you liked the characters so far, and I want to thank you for writing this long-ish review, I really appreciate it! :D

Thanks again to eveybody who reviewed, seriously, those gives me lots of motivation to write so I appreciate them a lot!

Now, unto the chapter!

"I'm Yurika Konoe, The Ultimate Cheerleader, and the pleasure is all yours."

YURIKA KONOE - ULTIMATE CHEERLEADER - 14th DIVISION

The woman stood up straight, full of confidence as she introduced herself. Her shoulder-length fair hair were tied in a ponytail. Yurika had green eyes, as well as heart-shaped face and lightly tanned skin. Her fairly athletic build was a testament to her Ultimate. She wore a white off-the-shoulder, long-sleeved top along with black trousers clinched with a black and silver belt.

"Uh, Toru Akuji, Ultimate Nothing, Armament R&D, nice to meet you I guess." Toru's forced smile almost left her face as Yurkia proceeded to look her up and down with disdain at the mention of her lack of an Ultimate.

"I hope there aren't too much of you.." muttered Yurika as she turned around to face one of her convoys companion who was walking toward them.

The woman had a caucasian complexion, with a slight tan. Her face was slightly round and doll-like, with freckles scattered acros her cheeks. Her dark-brown eyes were oval-shaped and almost appeared black. Her straight, shoulder-length black hair contained naturl dark brown highlights. Her metallic blue painted nails glinted in the light as the woman clipped back her side-swept fringe with plain white hair slides, repositioning her black framed glasses, which had large rectangular lenses, atop her head afterward. She wore a long white button-down shirt that reached slighty above her mid-tigh under a pale blue cropped blazer patterned with star shapes in multiple shades of blues and greens, left unbottoned, with its sleeves rolled up to the elbows. A large, light blue neck ribbon was slightly loosely wrapped around her neck, along with a velvety burgundy choker, which had a an abstract leaf-and-vine pattern made with silver and gold colored thread and a daisy pendant. On her right wrist, she sported five silver, black and white beaded bracelets while on her right wrist she wore a simple wristwatch with a brown leather strap and a simple black hairtie. Her deep burgundy slacks were rolled up to her kness, the folds held up by a small buttoned strap. Simple black ankle boots, sporting zips on their sides, adorned her feet. Finishing her outfit was a old, medium-sized pink shoulder bag, decorated with multiple anime-looking bunnies, and one being from a Dutch children's cartoon, Miffy.

"Rio Ishi, from the 10th Division-you can just call me Rio. Good to meet you." said the woman, her voice having a slight husky and rough edge.

RIO ISHI - ULTIMATE ANOMALISTIC PSYCHOLOGIST - 10th DIVISION

"It would be nice to meet her if she was an actual Ultimate, but she's just a loser." replied Yurika, pouting.

"Being only good at one thing and sucking at everything else must be so much fun after all." counter-attacked Toru with a teasing tone. "'Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one' is the full saying after all."

Yurika simply huffed, before responding. "I'm sure the last part is just an added one losers added to make themselves feel better."

"Let's not fight, everybody has their own strengths, may it be one or more." replied Rio in a calming voice. "Everybody is here for a reason and we should focus on making Iruyama the best place we can for the future, regardless of Ultimates. It is far more important to work together right now."

"It would be better, and go faster, if we had actual qualified people to do so." said Yurika, turning around sharply as she headed toward one of the buildings.

"She's going to be fun to be around.." muttered Toru, sighing as she turned to Rio. "Sucks to have such a meeting. I'm Toru Akuji, 9th Division. It's nice to meet you too."

"Yeah.. Hopefully, she will calm down and learn that we aren't so different." sighed Rio as they shook hands. "We just went to different schools, after all. Well, I'll be moving on now, I need to move in my new house."

"Gotcha. I'll go meet the others. See ya around!"

Toru waved as Rio left, then heading toward another of the trucks, where a young man stood.

He had short, spiky black hair that feathered up with pink bright, ombre colors near the tips. He had lightly tanned skin, as well as rosy red cheeks and button nose adorning his slightly soft facial features. He had an androgynous, skinny male physique and hairless arms and legs. He wore a dark red long-sleeved sweater, which pictured a white heart pierced by an arrow and spilling black blood, along with a cashmere magenta scarf with a black heart pattern on the frilly ends around his neck. A silver wristwatch was wrapped around his left wrist while a ruby red studded bracelet was on his right wrist. Completing his outfit was baggy black short pants with lots of pocket, which allowed to see a heart birthmark on his left leg, and a pair of red and black designer high tops shoes, decorated with stripes on their sides, andblack socks.

His round, scarlet red eyes focused on a notepad, on which he was writing . When he finished, he turned the notepad toward Toru, who read: "Nice to meet you, I'm Kokoro Omoiyari, but call me Joker Valentine." As the girl finished reading, the boy quickly wiped the pad, writing some more. "I'm in the 3th Division."

KOKORO OMOIYARI, a.k.a. JOKER VALENTINE - ULTIMATE MATCHMAKER - 3rd DIVISION

After introducing herself, Toru continued. "So, Joker Valentine, you're really into the heart motifs, aren't you?"

"I'm the Ultimate Matchmaker, it's all thematic."

"Matchmaker, uh? Will you be matching people left and right?" joked the girl, as Joker quickly scibbled on his notepad as he smiled widely.

"Of course! I can't wait to start! Love is truly important, and I'm sure some people will find it here!"

Toru laughed as she saw the determination emanating from the matchmaker. "Well, let me know of any possible match with me then."

"Sure! Now, I just need to meet everybody and see possible matches, even though it make take some time to really see the potential of some relationships!"

"Of course, opinions changes and all. Anyway, good luck in your quest, Joker, can't wait to see what comes of it."

"I'll keep you updated! See ya!"

Toru yet again waved as Joker departed, going to the community center as well, where most people seems to have gathered after unloading the trucks. As the young woman turned around to head to look for other people, something crashed into her, effectively sending her to the ground.

"Oh, my bad! I didn't see you there!" slowly said a voice, which sounded straight out of an audiobook, that Toru easily recognized.

Before her stood a thin, pale woman, with her dark brown hair fading to black tied in two loose braids behind her ears, laying over her shoulders. Her thin almond eyes had chocolate brown pupils, while her round face gave her a baby face, making her appear younger than 19. She wore a white shirtunder a dark marron jumper covering most of her hands, on which rested a white tied ribbon. Black skinny jeans and plain white trainers completed her outfit.

AOI AYAMA - ULTIMATE STORYTELLER - 3rd DIVISION

"Aren't you supposed to in scouting? Whatcha even doing here?" wondered Toru, obviously suprised at seeing the girl.

"Well, listen carefully! It is a short tale, but one worth hearing." began Aoi, smiling widely.

"I don't have time for your tales dude, can't you just say things without having to make it a audiobook?" sighed Toru as she stood up.

"Ah, you're no fun when you don't listen." pouted the storyteller, crossing her arms.

Toru simply rolled her eyes, clearly remembering everytime the girl had gone on a story tangent while the dual-haired girl had tried to ask about the new recruits she had scouted for the Armament R&D department. It could go for hours, even if it was prefaced with 'it'd a short tale' and it was something she wished to avoid.

"Just say it already, no need to make two thousands detours."

"Scouting is a serious task and as such it is needed that scouts now where the scouted will go, to be able scout them properly."

"That's a lot of uses of the word scouts in one sentence, but okay." responded Toru as Aoi got distracted, beaming as she saw something on their left.

"Hi Reiga! I didn't know you'd be here!" exclaimed the girl as she headed toward a boy, who was unloading boxes to bring them into the clinic.

The boy had an athletic body build along with an olive skin tone. His messy and wavy hair reached his shoulders. Strangely enough, he wore a black blindfold along with a black half-mask, which didn't stop him from having precise movements. He also wore a black and yellow striped button-up shirt under a grey vest, itself partially covered by a white hooded coat decorated with a large number of zippers. He had finger gloves on his left pinkie, index and middle fingers and a leather gauntlet on his right hand. A belt held multiples masks, all plainly white, and a pair of brown slacks. Black loafers completed his outfit.

"Oh hi there Aoi! Who's accompanying you?" asked the boy as he turned toward the duo, smiling widely.

"Toru Akuji, 9th Division. Who're you?" replied the girl as she eyed the strange boy.

"I'm Reiga Mugahito, from the 4th Division. And this is Roberta!" responed the masked boy, as he threw a skull at Toru.

REIGA MUGAHITO - ULTIMATE FORENSIC BIOLOGIST - 4th DIVISION

"Oh fuck!" shouted the girl as she caught it, quickly throwing 'her' back at the Reiga, who was laughing along Aoi as he reached to retrieve Roberta.

"Don't worry buddy! That skull is a replica!"

"You should still probably not throw that at people dude, especially in those times." replied Toru, slightly uncomfortable. The Tragedy had made lots of victims and it wasn't improbable that it would have been one to her.

"Oh Toru, lighten up! It was a simple joke! One of the many stories Roberta has lived through her lives. I should tell you some one day." continued Aoi, still smiling widely as Toru simply sighed, wanting nothing more than to change the subjecy.

"Yeah yeah.. How do you two know each other, anyway? Did ya scout him or something?"

"Yes, in fact, I did! It was quite the entertaining event-"

"Oh do you remember-"

As both Reiga and Aoi went on a memory trip, Toru silently walked away, not in a mood to deal with a story full of inside jokes and the likes. Seeing a convenience store, she quickly walked toward it, entering it. Upon entering, the only thing Toru could see was fresh products lined up on the left walls, along with a smaller shelves next to one of the cash register filled with candies and chocolate. How was that even possible? As the girl slowly advanced in the store, she saw an alley filled with bread and jams, one even including cereals and cookies. On one side of the last alley, there was numerous dairy products, and otherwise frozen or cool foods lining up behind glass doors. Toru looked at the food bewildered, opening one of the doors to take an ice cream buckets, looking at the expiration date, which was set in a few months. She repeated the process with various food in the alley, such as cheese and milk, and none of them were passed the date. Toru's thoughts whirred as she tried to understand how that much food could have been stocked there when only a few people had been living in the empty town, focusing on rebuilding the damaged buildings. There were maybe two agricultural guys sent, and it was quite an impossible feat for them to pull off, especially due to the vast amount of products in the store. And it wasn't like the food could be a relic from before the Tragedy, as much of the food would have passed their expiration date a long time ago. Puzzled, Toru took one of the chips bag and opened it, gingerly eating one. Surprising her slightly, it was quite good, showing no sign of being expired in its taste or texture.

Suddenly, a crash resonated in the quiet convenience store, startling Toru. A string of curses resonated as a faint conversation could be heard as the girl approached the sound. Biting the interior of her cheeks, she couldn't help but hope that the perpetrators would have a few answers for the suprising state of the convenience store.