After cutting tithes with Aria and her parents, Flare had returned back to the recruiting office the next day. A few people stood around filling out applications in the barracks. Flare met the man named Chad who worked at the desk. To him, the man looked gloomy as usual.

"So, you finally decided to come back, eh?" Chad at the desk asked as he recognized Flare and took his wrist off under his chin.

"Yeah? Did something happen when I was away?" Flare asked the man.

"Yeah. You didn't show up for orientation, yesterday. That's what happened." Chad said.

"Orientation? That was yesterday?" Flare's senses were spiked as he realized what it meant.

"Yeah, buddy."

"Is that a problem, uh..." Flare paused as he did not know the person's name. "What was your name?" he asked curiously.

"My name is Chad-and yes. It is a problem. Because you missed being called, you have to start your application all over again."

"Who ever came up with that rule?" Flare asked.

"Many of these youngsters always fill out our applications and end up missing orientation, because they either refuse to show up or they're busy doing other things." Chad explained.

"So, can I get a new application?" Flare asked.

Chad sighed. "Sure." He handed Flare another application. "Make sure to show up to orientation this time."

One Minute Later

"Done. Again." Flare handed Chad back the completed application.

"It's been filled out. Good." Chad said as he looked at it. "Don't you have a last name?"

"Last name? Guess I never thought about it. Later." Flare had nearly turned away from Chad.

"Hold on a second." Chad said as he had holt Flare.

"But didn't you say it would take a few days to process?"

"Yeah, well... your uniform came in yesterday and since you have completed your application..." Chad handed Flare his Imperial Police uniform.

"This is my uniform?" Flare asked as he opened the bag and glanced at it.

"Yes. I didn't design it, buddy. It's the higher ups doing. You will continue to wear that on missions, unless you get promoted to an upper rank job." Chad explained. He than pointed towards the bathroom at one corner of the office. "There's a bathroom you can change, if you want to try it out."

"O… kay?" Flare stared at the bathroom door.

Five Minutes Later

Flare changed his clothing and wore his new Imperial Army uniform. It came along with a sword.

"How do you feel?" Chad asked.

"I can barely move my shoulders around..." Flare tried to adjust his shoulders by moving his arms. "Are the shoulder pads and breast plate really necessary?" Flare asked as he looked at the armored plate on his chest.

"The breast plates are meant to stop bullets from piercing your heart. And the shoulder pads are supposed to protect your shoulders from danger." Chad explained. "But I guess you can try to take it off."

"Good." Flare had immediately removed the metal shoulder pads and breast plate from his upper body and dropped them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Chad asked.

"I can barely reach upwards with the shoulder pads on. So I want to move freely as I can." Flare said.

Suddenly, a girl dressed in an Imperial uniform had opened the front barracks door with a strange dog. Flare looked and saw The girl had long auburn hair that was placed in a ponytail and auburn eyes. Her name was Seryu Ubiquitous.

"Hello, Chad!" Seryu chanted out Charles' name while standing at the front door.

Flare stood by and watched Seryu walk towards the front desk where Chad was working. As she walked pass by, Flare couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. 'She's cute.'

Chad sighed and rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Seryu?"

"I came to see if a person that goes by the name Flare was here, today." Seryu said in an optimistic tone.

"You're here to recruit Flare?" Chad asked Seryu.

Seryu nodded.

"You're in luck, because he's right behind you." Chad pointed behind Seryu and directly towards Flare.

"Hm?" Seryu turned around to see where Chad was pointing. She noticed Flare who was standing behind her. "Oh, hi!"

"Hi." Flare responded.

"So you must be the new recruit, Flare?" Seryu asked.

"Uh, yeah. I am." Flare rubbed the back of his head. Chad just sat and watched Flare and Seryu open their conversation.

"Nice to meet you! Proud member of the Imperial Police, Seryu at your service!" She said with a salute.

"Oh, likewise." Flare salute back to Seryu.

Soon, Flare and Seryu along with with Koro had exited the barracks and roamed the streets of the capital. Seryu had begun explaining what Flare will be doing as an Imperial Guard. People around them were roaming through the streets as usual.

"Starting today, we'll be working together as Imperial Guards. We have a large board where assignments are placed on. It's for anybody to take by the way." Seryu said.

"That sounds nice." Flare said as he followed behind Seryu while walking.

Seryu stopped waking for a moment, then turned to Flare. "But first, I'm going to take you to where we get our assignments. Then, I'll introduce you to Captain Ogre."

"Captain Ogre?"

"Mm-hmm." Seryu nodded. "He's my mentor and a captain of my-I mean, "our" Imperial Squad. He started trained me not too long ago after I got this little cutie." Seryu smiled and bent down towards Koro's level.

Koro started whimpering.

"Koro, are you hungry? We'll eat, soon." Seryu promised.

Flare stared at Koro a bit. "Come to think about it, what kind of dog is that?"

"Oh, this isn't an ordinary dog, he's actually my Teigu. He is called Hekatonkheires. Don't worry, he only bites bad people." Seryu explained as she picked him up in her arms.

"Oh. A Teigu... it must be an Organic-Type." Flare assumed.

"You know about Teigu and what types there are?" Seryu asked Flare.

"I know someone who knows about Teigu and how they worked." Flare simply answered.

"Yes, you're right. Kor-well that's the name I've given him... is an Organic-Type. He won't cooperate with anyone who doesn't have a high affinity with him." Seryu began telling a long story on how she met Koro. "None of the top ranked officers weren't able to bond with Koro. So they decided to test with grunts like me. Koro must've bonded with me. I was told that he responded with my optimism and righteous heart. and he's been my companion ever since!" Seryu explained.

'I can probably see why Koro rejected those high ranking officers... They must've been corrupted. Instead, he probably wanted a partner to have fun with.' Flare thought.

"I hope you don't mind Koro being a dog, though." Seryu said.

"I do. I already like dogs, by the way." Flare told Seryu.

Seryu immediately drops Koro. "Then you and Koro will get along just fine!"

Koro starts sniffing Flare's left leg. "Uh… Is this normal?" Flare asked.

"Why, yes. Koro's just getting used to your scent. Since we're already going to be working together..." Seryu replied.

"Oh, that's right! We're supposed to start our first assignment together. I know where it is... let's go!" she instantly grabbed his hand. Flare blushed a little, as this had never happened to him before. He felt kinda embarrassed and speechless. Seryu ran like crazy, dragging both Flare and Koro. Seryu ran many blocks down the street until she spotted a big crowd of people.

"Oops! Sorry! Pardon me! Sorry!" Seryu had apologized while running through the crowd with no chances of slowing down and bumping into people, unintentionally. Some of the people that Seryu had yelled back. It took a few minutes to finally get to the mission board.

"Well, it looks like we made it through that tough crowd, right Koro?" Seryu asked.

"Bark!" Koro replied.

"Right Flare? Flare?" Seryu turned her head left and right and noticed that he was not around. She and didn't see him after running through a crowd of people. "Aww, I can't believe we lost our new partner, Koro." Seryu pouted a bit and had a worried look on her face. "We have to go back and look for him. He's still our partner, and we never abandon anyone who needs help, right Koro?" She asked Koro, energetically.

"Bark!" Koro responded.

"I'm up here!" Flare yelled to Seryu.

Seryu looked up to see Flare on a roof close of a nearby building. "Oh, there you are!" Seryu waved to him.

Flare jumped off the building and caught up to Seryu. "Sorry I couldn't keep up with you through the crowd. After we got separated, I moved to a nearby building and sensed you out."

"I should be the one who's sorry. I'm always rush into things head first. Silly me." Seryu chuckled.

All of a sudden Koro starts moving awkwardly again, catching both Flare and Seryu's attention. He pointed at a large board.

"That's cute." Flare then looked at a giant board with a bunch of papers on it. "So, this is where we'll be taking assignments?"

"Mm-hmm. This is where the Imperial Guards will be doing missions, until we get promoted through ranks." Seryu explained.

Flare slowly looked at the papers on the wall pinned by thumbtacks and counted. There had to be a least over a hundred assignments. "That's a lot of assignments needed to be done."

"Well, the crime rate in the lower levels are high, so it's usually busy." Seryu explained the crime rate.

"That's a lot of crime that need to be stopped…" He looked at the missions once more. "Alright, so where do we star-" Flare paused as he looked at the wanted posters another wall board. "Those pictures… I saw them yesterday." He walked towards them, and discovered the Night Raid wanted posters.

Seryu's smile quickly turned into a frown, as she saw the posters. "Night Raid... what a bunch of scum."

'Her optimism quickly changed when she saw Night Raid the posters.' Flare thought to himself. "Do you know them?"

"No. Not personally. They're a group of assassins who kill whoever they want, whenever they want..." Seryu explained.

"It says that they are wanted dead or alive... and the bounty on their heads are are worth a lot of gold."

"It's true... they do have high bounties, but I prefer killing them..."

"Seryu?" Flare glanced instantly at Seryu's fists that were clenching.

"I just can't stand the thought of losing someone to evil. Especially to Night Raid..." Seryu gritted her teeth.

"Have you ever lost anyone?" Flare asked.

"My father."

Flare lightly gasped.

"He was once apart of the Imperial Police, but was killed in the line of duty. He was killed by those within the Revolutionary Army." Seryu had told Flare. "After he died... I chose to join the Imperial Army and swore to bring justice to those that I hate and threaten the peace of the Empire... even if it means destroying the Revolutionary Army...!"

Flare can tell that Seryu was upset by the tone of her voice. Somewhere in his mind, he knew Seryu didn't like criminals. He then lied a hand onto Seryu's left shoulder to comfort her.

Seryu lightly gasped as she felt a person hugging her. She glanced down to see Flare embracing her.

"I can probably imagine what you are going through and how you are feeling. But you can't allow the Revolutionary Army change who you are." Flare said while hugging Flare.

"Flare..."Seryu sniffed a bit while in Flare's arms.

"I originally came to the capital to save my village. Now that I see how you are and how you feel, I'm going to help you." Flare said.

"Thank you, Flare." Seryu said with a tear falling from down her face and she wrapped an arm around Flare's back.

After a twenty-five seconds of hugging, Flare let Seryu go. "Are you feeling better?"

"Mm-hmm." Seryu nodded as she wiped a tear from her left eye.

"Should we get going now?" Flare asked.

"Right! Let's go meet Captain Ogre!" Seryu yelled in a cheerful tone.

"How is she so cheerful all over a sudden?!" Flare was shocked due to her changing in a matter of seconds. In the next second, Seryu grabbed Flare's wrist and latched onto Koro's leash. "W-wait a second! You're dragging me too fast!" Flare yells as he almost trips while being dragged.

"Don't worry, Flare! I won't let go this time!" Seryu said while smiling and running.

Koro howls while Seryu continues dragging them to the Imperial Police Station. Rushing at top speeds.