I've been getting some PM's from confused readers about the characters included in this story and who some of them are. I've since edited this story's summary to include the fact that it is indeed a sequel to a first story that came before it.

I warned some of y'all! A lot of these characters are oldies from a story written years ago! However, I will try to be a bit more specific about the characters for the sake of newer readers regardless.

Also, I'm not sure if I should put this here, but I feel obligated to say that this is mostly a filler chapter. I'll explain why at the end.


Back at the Hero Barracks…

It had been about an hour since Leanne had stormed off from the Barracks back at the horse stables, and the Alphas that were present during the young squire's outburst were still thinking about what to do. It wasn't just the Alphas that were worried, though. The sixteen-year-old ginger trainee that had watched her best friend throw a tantrum, Amybeth, was still sitting anxiously, half wishing that the school day would end already, so that she could ask for permission to leave the campus grounds for a bit to go check on Leanne. But her other half was still extremely excited to be working with the Alphas still. At the current moment, Amybeth was sitting at a table across from Commander Cindra, older sister of Commander Cinder, going over her new schedules and how things would vary from the rest of her classmates.

She had been brought to the study hall that was found within the academic building of the Barracks in order to get settled in. It was quite cozy, with furniture, tables, and plenty of lanterns and chandeliers around to provide light. The hall doubled as a library, and had shelves upon shelves of books set up neatly in lanes that one could walk through, along with shelves pressed up against the walls of the place. It had windows that looked outside, too, where some of the outdoor benches and picnic tables could be seen for outdoor studying or eating, since no food was allowed indoors in almost any place within the academic building, aside from the cafeteria and dining hall.

As she sat there with her hands on the table, her eyes scanning over her new class schedules and some of the supplies she'd need to get checked out from both the study hall and the dormitories, she couldn't help but feel distracted, even if she had Cindra there blabbering her mouth off about her classes and teachers. At another table, the rest of the Alphas were all lounging about. She could see Cyrus, Apollo, and Elea all chuckling to themselves about something as they stood near a window, which wasn't exactly what bothered her. What did bother her is that at another table over Cindra's shoulder, she could see Emora, Katsue, and Cinder all discussing something at a low volume with Airi and Alban both looming over the table side by side with concerned expressions on their faces. Amybeth was willing to bet that they were all talking about what had gone down at the horse stables.

"So! That means that you'll still be attending your normal classes every day of the week, except Fridays, which remember, are Armory Days. This goes for all Fridays, okay? Armory Days start at noon, though, so you've got some free time. Or you would, if you weren't training with us, that is!" Cindra's voice rang out as Amybeth finally tuned back into what she was saying. The ginger turned her head back around and stared with a confused expression. Cindra sat there with a polite, earnest smile on her face, her silver eyes sparkling with excitement. It was very clear that Cindra enjoyed school back when she was still in it. After all, she's a Commander of the Fort, and along with her brother, is very, very smart. If anything, she was likely a bookworm back in the day. Amybeth could probably safely assume that about the Commander.

"S-So… I'm gonna be with you guys Friday mornings, for training?" Amybeth inquired, a small smile coming onto her face as she hoped the answer was yes. Her wish came true as Cindra nodded her head in response, making Amybeth grin widely and kick her legs beneath the table in excitement, accidentally bopping Cindra's shin while she did so. Amy put a hand out, her other over her mouth in apology.

"Oop—oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I just got excited, I—"

"It's alright, don't worry! Being excited is totally fine, and I'm happy that you are! Every Friday about an hour after dawn, you'll be with us until Armory Day starts." Cindra replied with a smile. She turned down to look at the schedule, briefly looking it over, before setting it down on the table for Amy to look at again. "But, Alpha stuff aside, the type of day changes every other day. So, Mondays and Wednesdays are your A-Days, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are your B-Days. Your classes change depending on the letter, so pay attention to that. It means that you'll usually have a day to complete homework for that class instead of having to complete it all the day of in order to turn it in the next morning."

Amybeth looked down to her class schedule, nodding her head to Cindra's words in understanding. On her A-Days, she had English for first period, Mathematics for second, Latin for third, then came lunch, before History for fourth, a study hall free period for fifth, and then Hero Training for the sixth and final period of the day. Her face lit up as she pointed at the words on the paper with excitement. "Hero Training?! What's this, am I gonna be with you guys for this?" She asked, her green eyes twinkling with hope.

Cindra looked at Amybeth for a moment, before closing her eyes and shaking her head. Amybeth's expression slowly lost its vitality as she looked back down to her schedule with a tiny frown of disappointment. "Oh…" She mumbled, in a pitifully quiet voice. Cindra then placed a hand out onto schedule paper so that it was visible under Amybeth's downcast vision. The trainee looked up with a blink, seeing Cindra's smiling face after doing so.

"But, some of us will be there to watch the class and see what you could use more help with. Hero Training is essentially your daily workouts. You are training to be a Warden, correct…?" She asked, tracking Amybeth, who nodded in response. Cindra nodded back, continuing her explanation. "Well, my brother and I are both Wardens, along with Cyrus and Emora." She added, motioning over her shoulder. Amybeth's eyes grew dreamy as she looked at the handsome Cyrus, standing there in his golden armor, before darting to look at Emora, who she knew to be the more famous fighter. Regardless, any of the four would be amazing to train with.

"So, one of us four will try to watch your Hero Training class every day at the end of your school day, and then comes the Alpha training, which is afterschool every day for two or so hours, and then on Friday mornings. You also have the option of dropping by to train with us on the weekends, but that'll require you to let us know beforehand, so that we can make space on our schedules." Cindra went on, a warm smile on her face all throughout as she spoke. Amybeth was ecstatic. She'd get to see an Alpha everyday after school, and every Friday morning?! That was awesome! She figured she'd love to spend the weekends with them, too.

"O-Okay! I understand! So, Hero Training is just with everybody else, right? The other trainees?" She asked, watching as Cindra nodded.

"Yes, that'll be with all of your other peers, but only the ones that are training to be Wardens alongside you. So, that's what's curious about the last period. Throughout the day, your same class of ten will stick with you for all classes, which means your classmates will all be the same as your homeroom. All nine of them."

Amybeth slowly nodded her head, her mouth opening up as she let out a small: "Ooooh," to show she understood. She then tilted her head to the side with a brow quirked. "But let me guess, for the last period, we finally break apart and separate into our Hero classes with different instructors, right?"

Cindra snapped her fingers, nodding her head with a small chuckle. "Precisely! So, for example, you could have a classmate that's an aspiring Orochi. They'll be right next to you for all your classes, until the last period, where you'll only be with other aspiring Wardens in training, while they go train with other Orochi's. Of course, they'll still be nearby. But you won't be speaking with them much. After all, it wouldn't make sense for instructors to teach mixed classes."

"Right, that makes sense." Amybeth spoke up, peering down to her B-Day, which varied drastically from her A-Day. Elective for first, which could be an art, music, or astrology class, and then Japanese for second, Horse training for third, then lunch again, followed up by Icelandic for fourth, and the same two classes at the end for fifth and sixth, with study hall and Hero Training being repeated for both A and B days.

"So, I've got study hall and Hero Training all week, regardless of what letter day I'm having." Amybeth said, looking up to Cindra for confirmation. The Commander merely nodded, looking over to a supply list that she was gonna have to go over. Amybeth just sighed, taking all of this in. "I'm just really glad to have the opportunity to train with one of you guys every day after school, and on Fridays. I-Isn't that a lot, considering how busy you guys can be?"

"Well, that's why there's an entire team of us. Usually at least one or two of us are free to help others around the Fort, so if things go to plan, we hope to always have somebody there to give you the training we promised you." Cindra reassured with a confident gaze. Amybeth smiled at the Commander, before turning back down to the schedule. "Eeeh—I'm still stuck having to learn Japanese and Icelandic." She complained playfully, looking up to Cindra, who let out a small laugh.

"Oh, yes. But you had to do the same back in the Hero Academies, no? This is just another step further." She said with a small shrug, to which Amybeth could only agree.

"I can bear with learning to speak Japanese, but… Icelandic is so hard…" She mumbled, putting her hands together on the table. Cindra let out a small sigh, nodding her head in agreement. "I definitely feel you on that. But if it makes you feel any better, you only really need to know the basics of speaking for Japanese and Icelandic. So long as your English and Latin are strong, you should be okay."

"I learned Latin already from my parents. My mom can only speak Latin, so… yeah. But I don't get it, I guess. That's all. Like—why do we bother learning the other languages, or whatever…" Amy mumbled with a shrug, looking away and over to the other Alphas behind Cindra. They were all discussing still, from the looks of it. But things were a bit less intense looking, since she watched Airi lean over and kiss her wife on the cheek, with Alban, Katsue, and Cinder both continuing the talk as Emora just sighed in what looked like to be a somber mood.

"Well, we don't expect anyone to be fluent in them. But in order to be a Hero, we figured that having at least some understanding of the language of our enemies could serve to be useful. Our alliance with the Emperor of the Myre doesn't mean that rogue clans won't continue to harass our borders. And the Vikings and their raids, well—you know how unpredictable they can be." Cindra replied, her expression calm and understanding of Amybeth's doubt. She could totally see where the trainee was coming from, after all. The ginger just looked back and shrugged again.

"I suppose you're right, Commander Alphus." She said with a heavy exhale. Cindra gave Amybeth a comforting look, before shaking her head. "You don't have to call me 'Commander Alphus,' dear, there's no need for such formality. After all, you and I are going to be working together from here on out, for two years until you turn eighteen and are knighted as a Warden! You still have much to learn, so we might as well get on friendlier terms, no?"

Amybeth just looked on with a blank expression for a moment, genuinely surprised to be hearing what she was hearing. Becoming friends with the Alphas? She figured she was naturally going to be able to grow closer with them, since she was going to be training under them. She just couldn't believe that it was actually going to happen, and was starting so soon, too. She took a moment to just stare at Cindra, before gulping and nodding her head at a quick pace.

Cindra's lips pressed together as she stifled a laugh, but her shoulders betrayed her as they came up a bit, showing that she had already begun to laugh silently. The ginger sat there with an anxious look on her face, thinking she had done something wrong at first. But when Cindra began to silently laugh, she began to smile along with the Commander, bringing a hand up to her mouth to try and cover her own laughter. Cindra eventually quit on holding back her laugh, and just gave Amybeth a pleased grin. "Here, let's start! Instead of Commander Alphus, reduce the whole 'commander' bit into just a simple miss, alright? Ms. Cindra, as if I was one of your teachers! Or just call me Cindra, that works just as well." Exclaimed the Commander, putting her hand out across the table, offering a fresh start for introductions.

Amybeth turned down to look at Cindra's hand, before looking back to meet her gaze. She had paused in order to gather herself. She cleared her throat and reached out, grasping onto Cindra's hand and shaking it. "Alright, Ms. Cindra! I am Amybeth, it's nice to meet you!" She giggled back, already preferring the new title a lot more. She still wished to show Cindra some respect, so adding the 'miss' part helped with that. The two shared another laugh, before Cindra pulled her hand back and stood from the table, giving Amybeth a reassuring nod. She turned about, Amybeth taking a moment to stand up as well, looking on from behind the Commander and watching as she watched her put her arms out, prompting the other Alphas to look over.

"Alright! I've got Amybeth all settled in and ready to go! We should all be set to go for now, I'd say." Cindra announced, giving a smile to her friends before looking over her shoulder to look at Amybeth, who was just standing there modestly with her hands together in front of herself. "You'll be seeing all of us again after your classes end at the end of the day for a basic rundown of what you're going to be doing with all of us."

Amybeth was staring at all the other Alphas, who were literally all looking right at her with smiles on their faces. She still struggled to grasp onto what was happening to her, and how lucky she really was. She was going to get so much attention from each of them! She turned to Cindra and nodded her head eagerly. "Y-Yes, I'm really, really excited, Ms. Cindra!" She let out, before turning to the rest of the Alphas and bowing her head down. "And I'm so very thankful to all of you for giving me this wonderful opportunity! I can't express that enough, Alphas!" Thanked Amy, her head still down as she spoke. Her head came up with the rest of her body as she stood straight again with a gleeful smile plastered on her face. A smile that looked like it would never fade.

"Of course, Amybeth. You've earned it." Cinder said with a small smile, his arms folded across his chest.

"We're excited to get ta' know ya', Amy!" Cyrus grinned, sticking a thumb up to hype the trainee up.

"For sure, redhead. I'll teach ya' everything I know." Apollo said in a cocky manner, smashing his fist into the palm of his other hand.

Elea rolled her eyes, silently motioning to her two best friends with a finger and shaking her head at Amy, one of her eyes shut and her tongue sticking out to imply that they were both huge dorks. Amybeth let out a small giggle, her hand coming up to her lips to hide them as Cyrus and Apollo both slapped Elea's hand away from them, before the three all began to jokingly bicker amongst themselves. Katsue and Alban both watched with small smiles on their faces.

Amy panicked for a moment, though, when the Nobushi that she knew to be the bride of Emora Ryon came walking up to her. Her eyes widened as the gorgeous Japanese woman stepped up to her, her own gaze resting upon royalty. She seemed to freeze up, her mouth struggling to close on command, since it wanted to drop, but she didn't want to seem like an idiot. Her teeth chattered a bit as she did her best to keep herself from trembling out of pure nervousness.

"I don't believe we've formally met, Amybeth." Airi spoke, in a voice that was leagues softer than anything Amybeth thought was possible. She sounded so fragile and polite, yet something about it still seemed firm and confident. The aura that the Nobushi gave off chilled Amybeth to her core, only because it was so… prominent. She truly was a princess.

"H-Hi—or… erm—yes, uh—" Amy began, stuttering terribly, which made her cheeks flare up with a red blush, her hands coming up to her face to cover it as she tried to recover. She cringed both internally and externally as she let out a series of whimpers, before finally inhaling sharply with her eyes closed to compose herself. Airi just watched with a quaint smile, a giggle tempting to break her formal demeanor.

"Fuck!" Amybeth yelled to herself in her head, before finally looking up and meeting Airi's gaze. She stared into a pair of clear, deep brown eyes that looked like they could pierce through any heart and render it enamored. The young redhead's own emerald eyes dilated at the sight of them. Her lips opened up, quivering slightly as she forced a smile. "Allow me to restart, Princess Hakushi! I'm Amybeth! A-Amybeth Lorina, and I uh… it's—it's such a pleasure to meet you! I'm honored, truly!" She stammered nervously, her voice quavering as she bowed her head down to the Nobushi. All of the other Alphas watched in amusement as the two interacted. Cyrus, Elea, and Apollo all nudged each other playfully, quiet snickers coming from each as they stood there. Cinder turned to them and gave them a smug smirk, prompting them to snicker even more.

Meeting either Emora or Airi was always so fun to watch for everybody else. Their names had grown well known in the past month since the Hakushi Province had been fully restored, and news of the Azure Legion Alphas and their deeds became more widespread throughout Ashfeld and the Myre, before beginning to spill into Valkenheim through Warborn-related gossip. But those two were the biggest names on the streets, since at the heart of every tale was one of them.

Emora watched on with an elated smile that went from ear to ear. She was trying her very hardest to not look like a complete dweeb about her wife, and was failing terribly at it. Although she didn't care much for reputation, Emora still wanted to act somewhat tough in front of Amybeth. She didn't exactly know why she felt like that, either. It had something to do with that Knightly pride though, she figured.

Airi watched as Amybeth slowly stood back up from her bow, her lips gradually curving up into a smile, before her teeth began to show in a happy grin. "You are so precious, Amybeth, my gosh!" Exclaimed the Nobushi, before looking over her shoulder to eye Emora. "Are you sure you didn't purposely let her hit your breasts just so we could get to know her because you thought she was cute?" Teased Airi, making everyone else around laugh, including Amybeth. Emora, meanwhile, had wide eyes and a slack-jawed expression of playful betrayal.

"W-What?! Of course not—no! I… s-she won fair and square! Airi, cut it out!" Emora laughed, her face reddening as she turned to her other friends and began to shush them. Amybeth's entire body was tingling with delight as she watched Airi turn back to her. The Nobushi leaned forward a bit with a smirk. "You see? She's not that tough, so don't be too scared of her." She whispered to Amy before flashing her a wink. Amy just let out a giggle, nodding in understanding. Airi stepped back and cleared her throat.

"But back to introductions, yes, I am Airi Hakushi, former princess of the Dawn Empire. Emphasis on the former part, puh-lease." She paused, raising a finger, to which everybody else rolled their eyes to. Airi placed a hand to her heart as she looked to Amybeth. "I am no longer their princess, as my family's name is no longer the head of the royal monarchy. That technically means that I'm not royalty anymore. So please, save the fancy title, okay? All of that fancy stuff belongs to the Kaneko family, now." Airi said casually, waving her hand about at the end of her sentence when it came to the 'fancy stuff.'

Amybeth just stared with awe, listening to just how different the Alphas could be when they're being more friendly. She supposed that everyone was different when they had unwound more and weren't in public anymore trying to look and act all important and elite. Sure, the Alphas were respected and needed to act differently in some situations in order to be seen as proper and formal, but underneath it all, they were still regular people. For quite some time, Amybeth had forgotten that. But now, she was seeing it first-hand. They were such… genuine people!

"She's just being humble, by the way. Whether she likes it or not, the Hakushi family is a royal name that has ties back to the original royal bloodlines of the Dawn Empire back before the cataclysm, well over a thousand years ago." Cinder butt in, Airi turning her head over with a sharp glare. Cinder looked back to the Nobushi with a nervous smirk, before just shrugging. "S-Sorry! It's just… y-you know, the truth."

"It is. My brother and I are both scholars, we kept studying after we became Wardens in order to live up to the expectations of our dear father in order to become proper, knowledgeable Legion commanders." Cindra added on, turning her head over to look at Amybeth. "Who knows, you might see the Hakushi name be mentioned in some of your history books. After the cataclysm and the millennia-long war that followed, the histories of all three factions merged. Whether we like it or not, that's just the way the world is now." She said with a shrug, before turning over to look at Airi with a teasing smirk. "And that goes for you too, Airi. The blood that flows through your veins that of royalty, so for as long as you live, you are indeed a princess."

Airi was about to retort, before she got interrupted by a warm hug from behind. She felt herself melt as she leaned back against the person that had hugged her, who was none other than Emora. She reached up with her hands and placed them onto the arms that the Warden had around her neck. "Yeah, she's my princess!"

"I think the correct term is queen, dear Emoraaaa." Cyrus said in a purposefully flamboyant tone, causing the others to laugh. Emora looked over to the golden Warden and jokingly scowled. "Nyehh—shut up! Don't get all technical!"

Amybeth just watched as the Alphas all laughed amongst themselves. She turned her gaze up to look at Airi, whose face was redder than a perfectly ripe Cherrytown tomato as she was hugged and nuzzled by the golden-eyed Warden. She couldn't help but giggle as she watched, Airi having to nudge her elbow into Emora's side in order to get her to let go. The Nobushi playfully shoved her wife back, gleeful giggles still escaping her lips as she fixed her hair up and adjusted the white and scarlet covered robes she was wearing.

"Gosh—please ignore our unprofessionalism, we can be quite uh… b-boisterous, at times, so—"

Amybeth cut Airi off when she raised her hand up and waved it. "It's okay! It's honestly a breath of fresh air knowing that you guys can be so easygoing. Seeing you all like this is honestly so relaxing and refreshing. You're all such good friends! The Alphas are truly tightly knit, huh?"

The group of nine friends all exchanged glances, before just nodding their heads in unison. Amybeth brought her hands to her cheeks and laughed. "I love this!" She cried out, causing the room to once again break out into a fit of laughter. It was interrupted, however, by the jingle of a bell that began to ring from behind the study hall's doors. It was resonating from the hall, where a hall monitor was ringing a bell to signal the start of a new class period.

Cindra turned her head over to face Amybeth, giving her a nod upon making eye contact. "First period has passed, so you've gotta get going to your second! This is your first day, so you won't be getting any classwork or homework, probably just a rundown of what the class is gonna be. If anything, you won't be getting any work until next week, at the very least." Cindra reassured, to which Amybeth silently celebrated internally. She made her way to the table and gathered up the papers that she was going to need to keep with her, keeping them together before sliding them into her satchel, which was off to the side on the table. She slung it over her shoulder, her hand grasping onto its strap as she stood with a smile.

"Eee—crap, hold on…" She squeaked, realizing that… she didn't know where she was going. She quickly yanked out the schedule paper, and checked the room where her second period was. "Room 201!"

Cindra made her way over, scribbling something on a small piece of paper that she had yanked out from a small journal she had. She used her palm as a support for her pencil as she completed a note for Amybeth, stating that she was arriving from a meeting with the Alphas, her signature written at the bottom for verification. Amybeth promptly took it with a bow.

Emora stepped in front of everyone else, tilting her head to the side as she smiled at Amybeth. "We'll all be seeing you at the end of the day, Amy. Until then, have fun!" She said, with a cheerful wave following her goodbye. The other Alphas all shouted their own goodbyes, their hands all coming up in waves. Amybeth let out a laugh as she waved to all of them, before rushing on out of the study hall and down the hall to get to her class.

When Amy opened the door, the bustle of other students moving about outside could be heard for a brief moment, before the door closed again. Emora turned about and exchanged glances with her fellow Alphas for a moment, a small smile on her face. She had that look of: "well, what do you think?!"

Apollo let out a laugh in the form of an exhale from his nose. "She looks like she's got gusto, so I can work with it.

"She's earnest, and she's from the same place you're from, Emora. I'm sure she's got a lot to offer." Alban said, with nods of agreement coming from everybody else.

"But… Emora, what about what went down back at the stables. We can't just act like that didn't happen…" Katsue mumbled, with Cinder frowning as he stood next to her.

Emora nodded her head, looking right at the floor for a moment as she thought. After a few moments, she merely shrugged, looking up to Katsue. "I'll talk to her about it after the day ends. In the meantime, is anyone up for brunch? I don't know why, but I'm feeling hungry." She whined, placing a hand on her stomach.

"Fuck yeah, let's get it! Let's eat at Tony's, that dude's pasta is GAS." Cyrus cheered, leaping off the table that he was sitting on and egging his friends on to follow as he made his way out of the study hall. Everybody else just laughed at the golden Warden's enthusiasm, before promptly following along.


Meanwhile, in the halls…

Amybeth adjusted her armor as she walked along the halls, her eyes all darting around at everyone else's armor and the colors they had picked. The Azure Legion's colors were an indigo-like dark blue, white, and azure, which was a shade of blue that matched the color of the sky on a clear day. Upon becoming a Hero, everyone had to don those colors. But in the Barracks, the trainees were allowed to wear whatever colors they wanted to, and any type of colored plating they wanted, if their battle armor contained steel components.

Normally, uniform would be worn by the students, which consisted of a white or blue colored tunic depending on gender, a belt around the waist, with black pants and any kind of footwear. The tunic reached down past the waist and covered about half of the thigh. Armor varied depending on the Hero class that each and every student wanted to become. Lawbringers wore more armor than Peacekeepers, for example. Heroes of other factions had entirely different armor. Amybeth always found the armor of the Vikings quite odd, as they barely even wore any. Most of the time, it was crafted by hand and without any actual blacksmithing. Viking families knew how to make their armor themselves, which was honestly very, very respectable.

She made her way past her peers as she walked in the halls, her eyes darting around. Shades of blue, purple, red, some green and orange here and there. There were people wearing copper-plated, or bronze-plated armor, with some of the wealthier folks donning silver-plated steel, like herself. Her father and her mother both worked, and since her father was a Warden, she was able to have such decoration on her armor.

Amybeth's training outfit consisted of a white gambeson that covered her entire top half, and a brigandine of the same color over her chest and black. The gambeson covering the arms had steel pauldrons on her shoulders, spaulders beneath the pauldrons to protect the upper arms, elbow pads, and vambraces on the forearms all strapped over it. A belt held the brigandine and gambeson together at her waist, the gambeson itself reaching down past the belt to cover the top of the beige pants she wore, which were tucked into a pair of brown leather boots that reached up to right below the knee. A pair of steel shin guards were strapped over the front of the boots, also plated with silver.

All in all, it was lightweight while also functional in real combat. She essentially had a lighter and cheaper form of full-on Warden armor, lacking things like full greaves, chainmail, kneepads, a helmet, articulated finger gauntlets, etcetera. A pair of gloves covered her hands to help with gripping weaponry and a white and purple surcoat that was tucked into her belt served as a final touch of color and decoration. The surcoat covered her front and back, overlapping any armor. It kind of meant she had a cape, like actual Wardens did.

Her father had helped her with assembling her armor for the Barracks and she couldn't have asked for anything better for her first ever suit of proper armor. She could already see people looking in her direction as she walked past, though she wasn't completely sure if that was because of her armor, or because she was the one that had won the privilege of getting to train with the Alphas. That inspired thought within the young ginger's mind. Would that make her popular, or would that make people jealous? Jealousy almost always leads to hate, too. That was when Amybeth was reminded of Leanne.

A frown came over her as she walked along, her eyes anxiously searching for room 201 as she thought about how Leanne was feeling right now. She began to think of where she could've been, what she was doing, how she was feeling, all of that. The image of Leanne's face giving her that dirty look back in the stables flashed through her consciousness, making her heart drop as she began to fear that Leanne may've been jealous about what had happened, and that was why she had given her that hurtful stare. Amybeth just closed her eyes for a moment, stopping in the hall and leaning against the wall with her shoulder, her hand coming up to cover her eyes.

"N-No, she… she wouldn't be jealous, right?! She would've been happy for me, why wouldn't she be? This is our dream, and—" Amybeth's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a realization. She was lying to herself. Becoming a Hero was their dream, and here she was, living that dream firsthand. Meanwhile, Leanne was elsewhere, doing who knew what. The last thing Amy had seen her do was run away in a fit of tears and yells from the Alphas. The ginger-haired trainee's eyes opened up, and they looked wracked with worry.

"I've GOT to find her as soon as I can, oh my gosh—who knows how she could be feeling right now…" She thought to herself, before she felt a hand shake her shoulder from behind. She let out a yelp as she turned around, her back up against the wall as she stared at who had done it.

It was that Asian boy from before, the tallest of the triplets, with the wavy hair and a confident demeanor. Amy looked up to him with an anxious stare, before just clearing her throat and fixing her posture, since she had put her head down into her hands without even knowing it. "Uhm—hey! It's you again, hello! You're…" She paused, pointing a finger at him for a moment, trying to remember his name. The brother just stared with a small smirk as he watched Amybeth try her hardest to remember. Amy began to let out a light: "Eeee…" sound as she stood there with her finger pointed.

She didn't remember.

The brother's eyes looked to the ceiling for a moment, his chest rising with an inhale as his head shook a bit. He was rolling his eyes, and Amybeth knew it. She put her hands together and bowed her head down. "I'm so sorry, I forgot! S-Something happened after I met you and your siblings, and it's all I can think of right now, I'm super-duper-ultra sorry, p-please forgive me—"

"It's fine, Amybeth. I bet you've got a lot on your mind right now, so it's totally cool." Interrupted the brother, running a hand through his wavy hair. "It's Yoshio. What were you doing just now, you looked like you were gonna… cry, or something?" He questioned, crossing his arms across his chest. He was wearing some sort of wooden chestplate that had leather faulds attached that hung down over his waist at the sides of his legs, wooden tassets overlapping the faulds on his thighs, with one down covering his crotch, too. His belt was a rope, his shoulder pauldrons and vambraces were also made of wood. His pants were baggy and green-colored, wooden shin guards covering his lower legs. Running beneath the lightweight wooden armor was a padded black colored long-sleeve shirt of sorts, like a gambeson.

Yoshio was training to become an Orochi.

After taking a few brief moments to inspect the boy's armor some more, admiring its black and green paint and designs, she looked up to meet his gaze. "Uh—I was just… t-thinking about something, that's all. Uh—where's…" She shifted, taking out the piece of paper that had her schedule on it. She raised it up, pointing to her second period. "R-Room 201!" She asked, hoping to change the topic quickly so that she wouldn't have to make it obvious that she was worried sick over her best friend. She hoped to keep that entire incident a secret. But it was difficult to keep secrets when you're so easy to read.

Yoshio's brow quirked as he looked at the schedule, before he looked down to eye Amy with a small smirk. "I was just about to get to that part. I was headin' to room 201 myself. Back in first period, we only had a class of nine, so one was missing. I figured it was gonna be you. You're in my class, come on, follow me. It's literally just a couple more doors down." He chuckled, making his way forward. Amybeth let out a nervous laugh as she followed along, feeling like a complete idiot.

The brother made his way to the door, reaching down to the knob and giving it a twist, before pushing the door in. He stepped in and held it open, Amybeth promptly stepping in afterwards, but not before bowing as a thank-you to Yoshio for his manners. She looked around the classroom, which was fairly small, and had a total of 6 tables in it, each able to seat two people for a total of twelve seats. One table in the back corner was completely empty, and had books and such stacked on top of it. Each class only had 10 students, so she guessed the extra table was for holding class materials.

The other eight students turned their heads over, Amybeth's heart instantly beginning to beat faster. Though, she recognized two other familiar faces, them being Yoshio's two other siblings. The teacher was at the front of the room sitting at his desk with a book. Class hadn't started yet, so everybody was just mingling. But since it was the first day and nobody knew each other, it was pretty quiet. Amybeth just awkwardly raised a hand to wave at everybody else. Yoshio just slid by and went over to the table where his brother was sitting at. He leaned against it and pointed at another, where Kaede was. "Go sit with Kaede, she looks like she misses you."

Kaede turned her head over, giving her brother a glare. Tomohiro looked back up and shook his head. "No way, why the hell do I have to move?" He asked with a frown. Yoshio motioned with his head over his shoulder, where Amybeth was awkwardly standing. Tomohiro looked over and squinted, before shifting his gaze back to his brother. "You're tryna' sit with her, aren't you?" He asked, with a look that screamed: 'not this again.'

Yoshio just let out a laugh and nodded. Tomohiro let out a sigh as he picked up his papers and made his way over to sit with his sister. He slumped down into the seat and turned over to look at Kaede, who only looked back for a moment, before sticking her tongue out. Tomohiro scoffed, looking away and watching as Amybeth made her way over to sit with Yoshio, since he had his hand up and was signaling her to come over.

The redhead sat down quietly, waving to both Tomohiro and Kaede. Only Tomohiro waved back, since Kaede had her face dug into a book. She turned to Yoshio and giggled. "I'm seriously the luckiest person on earth, having you three as my classmates! This is gonna be great." She said excitedly, bringing her hands up below her chin and squeezing them into tight fists.

Yoshio merely nodded with a confident grin, before his attention was caught by the teacher standing up to close the classroom's door. Everyone watched as the teacher clapped his hands together a single time, and bowed to the class. "I am Mr. Baudry, your mathematics teacher. It is a pleasure to meet you all, and I'm glad to see that each and every single one of you had made it this far in your journey to become a Hero of the mighty Azure Legion. For that, I'd like to take a moment to celebrate! Give yourselves a round of applause!"

The class of ten all smiled as they clapped their hands together, filling the room with a brief session of applause, before falling silent again. The teacher spoke up again, raising a finger into the air. "However, simply because you are training to become warriors does not mean that the art of combat is the only thing you will learn. Being a Hero means being clever, too, you know." He said, to which to the class all just rolled their eyes at. "Hence why you are all here, continuing to expand your knowledge on things like mathematics! Math is everywhere! For example, calculating catapult trajectory or seeing how much a piece of armor weighs." He continued, turning about and writing his name onto the chalkboard, before spinning back around.

"So, in this class, you'll further be expanding your knowledge of arithmetics. Back in the Hero Academies you learned of multiplication and division, so here we'll be continuing that, taking things further, along with new topics such as square roots, percentages, weight and time, and other things of that sort. As a secondary note, you'll be learning physics, too! So, this class should certainly be quite the challenge for you all. But fear not! I'm sure you're all capable enough of completing the work." He said in a cheerful and hopeful tone. Meanwhile, everyone could already tell that they were going to despise this class.

Yoshio watched as the teacher turned about and began to sort out some math textbooks that were on his desk. He took a moment to lean over to Amy, his eyes still tracking the front of the room. "So, how much have you talked with the Alphas, huh?" He said in a whisper.

Amy turned over, her head briefly looking back at the teacher. She took a moment to make sure he wouldn't turn back around, before bringing a hand over the side of her mouth. "A ton! They're all super nice and friendly, I love it!" She replied, putting her hand down as the teacher stood and walked to the other end of the room to begin to pass out the books. Since Yoshio and Amy were seated a further distance away, Amy went on in a hushed tone. "I honestly can't wait to spend more time with them."

Yoshio just looked at Amy with a grin. He shook his head briefly, turning over to look at his siblings, who were both just sitting silently. Tomohiro looked bored, slouching back in his chair, while Kaede was kicking her feet back and forth under the table in carelessness, her face resting in her hand, which was supported by her elbow on the table. He sighed, turning back to Amy and tucking his head in so that his shoulder was near his mouth. "Like I said, you're mad freakin' lucky, Amybeth." He whispered back.

Amy just let out a giggle, before quickly going straight-faced as the teacher slid a book over to her, before placing the last one down in front of Yoshio, and making his way back to his desk at the front of room. Yoshio and Amybeth exchanged a quick look, both holding back laughter. The teacher now just talked to himself as he began to look around his papers. "Where the hell did I put my syllabuses…" He mumbled to himself.

The redhead blinked, before turning over to Yoshio and smiling. "I think lucky is an understatement."

With that, Amybeth turned away, and so did Yoshio. The teacher began to pass out a syllabus that included the units and basic outlines of the class and how it would be taught, along with explanations on grading, homework, how to reach out for help or tutoring, and bunch of other schoolwork related things. The school day continued as normal for Amybeth and the three siblings, though for the redhead, the thoughts of her blonde best friend still lingered in the back of her head.

It irked her all day long.


So, I ended up writing a very long chapter over the weekend, which I eventually decided to split up into two chapters instead of one long one. So, expect an upload fairly quickly after this here filler chapter. I reckon this chapter's quite boring compared to other more eventful ones, but hey, every story needs its filler once in a while.