Another day of summer began.

Izuru and Tate stood in front of the Ban family's apartment, summoned there by Ban, who hadn't shown his face around ever since their visit to Cafe Holmes. As per his weird request, the duo brought a pizza for him, with all the weird toppings he asked for.

"So... We gonna question this or not?" Tate asked, looking at the warm pizza box in his hands.

"What's there to question? That he asked for a pizza at ten in the morning or that a maid cafe was making pizzas this early?" Izuru asked in returned.

"The toppings! Dude, I can understand pineapple on pizza, I grew to accept it, but mango on pizza? Berries on pizza? Bananas on pizza?! Did he return to monkey or what?!"

"Not all of us can like pizza with dough made using vodka, you know?"

"Oh- That happened one time! I brought that pizza one time! How long are you gonna keep assblasting me about it?!"

"Until you become a degenerate like us. Unga bunga, one of us, unga bunga, one of us." Izuru cheered.

"Oh shut up! Yo Katsu-chan, open the hell up, will you?!" Tate yelled, knocking on the door again.

As the "Speaking of the devil" saying goes, the door of the aparment was opened, and what stood behind it shocked Izuru and Tate to the point of paralysis.

A monkey covered in a coat of blonde fur, and wearing some of Ban's old clothes that he had outgrown over the years, stepped out of the apartment, took the pizza out of Tate's hand, placed the money Ban owned to them in his hand and returned inside, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"He returned to monkey." Tate bluntly said.

"He returned... To monkey." Izuru nodded

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU RETURNED TO MONKEY?!" The best friend duo asked, following to monkey inside.

"I know I roasted you yesterday but that didn't meant I actually wanted you to become a monkey, dude!" Izuru explained. "I'm so sorry!"

"As his best friends, we must accept this important change in his life and accept him as the primate he now is!" Tate declared, clenching his fist with pride. "We must let no verbal harm come to our best friend as he faces this new and hard phase of his-"

"YOU DUMBASSES! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Ban yelled, running out of the bathroom.

Izuru and Tate looked back at their actual friend, who was now sporting a new haircut after taking Izuru's words of wisdom to heart, then shared a glance and looked back at the blonde monkey.

"Don't worry Ban, I'm sure people will still accept you for being a bad deck-playing monkey!" Tate exclaimed.

"Yeah! I won't let anyone make fun of you if you wanna do monkey business with a Great Nature monkey!" Izuru nodded.

"Yeah! We can understand if you want to clap Isabelle's cheeks!"

"You two..." Ban growled.

With his right hand, Ban grabbed hold of the nape of Tate's neck.

With his left hand, Ban grabbed hold of the nape of Izuru's neck.

Like a monkey about to beat his chest to assert dominance, Ban pulled the two closer to his chest, but instead, just like a monkey clanking two stones together to crack the tough shell of the fruit it wanted to feast on, he slammed their heads together.

After some minutes to get ice packets for their bruised foreheads, Izuru and Tate looked down on Ban, who simply sat on his couch with a confident smirk and his arms crossed. The monkey had left for the upper floor.

"The blonde monkey." Tate said.

"The blonde monkey." Izuru nodded.

"What about the blonde monkey?" Ban asked in return.

"When did you buy a blonde monkey?" Izuru replied.

"Can you buy me a blonde monkey?" Tate requested.

"I wish blonde monkeys were up for the sale, I'd meme with the Ruling Douchebag so fucking much." Ban scoffed. "A friend of my dad's is a vet of animals that have roles in movies and he came to visit, so he brought along a monkey he had been taking care of for some months now."

"So the blonde monkey has more money than me?" Izuru asked.

"Yes."

"I'm stealing the monkey's wallet."

"Do not steal the monkey's wallet!"

"Ah, imagine wanting to steal a wallet for some dumb gacha games." Tate snickered.

"I'm stealing your wallet then."

"I'll help."

"You're not!! Why did you called us over here anyway?"

"Oh yeah, I did have a reason. The swimming pool plan dunked harder than Ivan's grades over here, so I came up with a new plan. My folks have a beach house, and they're letting me use it for whatever I want this summer. So? What do you think?"

"How would that forgive the swimming pool tragedy?" Tate asked.

"You see, Ivan!" Izuru exclaimed. "When you go to private secluded house with tons of girls, the boob to ding dong ratio is favourable."

"You see, Ivan!" Ban chuckled loudly. "When many girls on bikinis come together, the boing boing is even better."

Rio stared down at the three from the top of the stairway, not holding back on the disgust and disappointment in her eyes.

"You three share a single brain cell." Rio deadpanned.

"I do not deny it." Tate replied.

"Thinking is overrated, we would have been better if a fucking fish didn't felt like living on land." Izuru stated.

"Fucker got out of water and now I'm in gacha hell, can't have shit in Tokyo." Ban joked.

"Honestly, you three somehow keep amazing me at how dumber than primates you manage to be." Rio sweatdropped, her eye twitching. "Either way, the only reason our parents are letting Ban use the beach house is because even they know it's impossible he'll get a girl there."

"Hey!"

"Seems legit." Tate shrugged.

"Your parents are truly geniuses, I reckon." Izuru nodded wisely.

"Wha- Shut up, dumbasses!"

"Anyway, I'm going aswell. You three orangutans go buy whatever you need to buy and get ready, I'll get in contact with the girls. We'll leave in two days, so chop chop, you sad cunts!"

"Dude, she's looking at us like we're trash." Tate whispered to Izuru.

"I know, it's hard to not get turned on by that, I reckon." Izuru replied.

"...I can hear you." Ban grunted.

"I have plans for now, I'll join you later. See ya!" Izuru exclaimed out of nowhere, running far and away from Ban's potential strike.

"Where is he going?" Rio asked.

"Beats me. I think he said something about spending the day with someone who'll probably kill his hearing capabilities." Tate shrugged.

"Ay caramba." Ban said.

"Hm, I see." Rio turned away from the two remaining boys and walked back to her room, a malicious grin spreading in her lips. 'The time has come.'

"I should get paid for this..."

Izuru stood in front of the last place he'd ever want to visit, and even then, being kicked in a place where the sun doesn't shine by thousands of people still seemed better than to approach this place.

This was where masses of fighters came together to learned under one of the biggest underdogs of Vanguard, the man who crawled from hated King to branch manager in just four years, and who's stupidly icon motto had become the national anthem for the Magallanica branch.

It only took one step inside the build for Izuru to charge in an all out dash, running away from crowds of fighters who chased after him.

"L-LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Izuru cried.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" They yelled in their incessant pursuit.

"GODDAMMIT- WAIT WHAT THE HELL?!" Izuru yelled, looking back.

He was refering to the man who lead the masses in their charge, a young adult with orange hair styled with curtains on the front and a very small ponytail on the back and who wore a green hawaiin shirt despite his place within the branch's management.

That man yelled louder than the rest, and with each of his yells, the yells of the crowd only got louder. He was their leader. He was, in naval terms, their captain. And his name was-

"GODDAMMIT TAIRA, WHAT THE HELL?!"

"MY NEED TO SLAY PROTAGONISTS GOES OVER OUR AGREEMENT REEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Taira sped up to match Izuru's speed, and after an entire lap around the building's entrance hall, the two escaped the crowds, who got stopped by the automatic doors.

"YOU BASTARD-!" Izuru screeched, grabbing Taira by his curtains and harshly pulling them up. "YOU WANNA CATCH THESE HANDS OR WHAT?!"

"REEEEEEEEEE WATCH IT YOU FILTHY PROTAG, I BEAT YOUR BROTHER IN FISTFIGHTS BEFORE REEEEE!!" Taira replied, grabbing Izuru's collar.

"A SMALL CHILD COULD BEAT RYUUGA!"

"THAT'S TRUE!"

All the way back in Jaakuryu Temple, the temple built on top of a hill in the edge of the city that served as both a place to pray, learn and teach kendo, and to manage everything related to the Dark Zone branch, Ryuuga, who sat in a white bench by the temple's entrance, sneezed.

"Bless you." The adult man with white hair and red eyes that sat next to him said. He grabbed a handkerchief from his white and green stripped hat and offered it to Ryuuga.

"You have pockets for a reason, Ryuzaki..." Ryuuga deadpanned.

"My pockets are too busy keeping all my fat stacks of money safe. I always leave the house with enough to buy a piece of land."

"...Kaido fucking off to med school didn't stop the Mikazuchis from flexing on me..." Ryuuga sighed in the purest of defeats.

"You can never get too much of a Mikazuchi."

"So it would seem..." Ryuuga deadpanned.

"You think Izuru-kun will ever agree to be my student?"

"Hell no."

"B-but Ryuuga!! Canonically this happens a good while after Generations, that means I'm not Yuuto's mentor anymore! I need to become someone's mentor or else I'll get back to suffering in gacha hell!!!" The older man cried, grabbing onto Ryuuga's shirt in desperation. "Come on, convince your brother to be my student! He'll get cool sakuga that comes with Haruka Mirai and all!"

"Don't worry about that, Ryuzaki." Ryuuga said, placing his hands on Ryuzkai's shoulders. With a stern look, and a soft smile, he nodded. "You two can suffer in gacha hell together."

"As teacher and student?!"

"No, as the big fat fucking whales you are! Goddammit, why did I agree to pay for Izuru's gacha expenses, I have to pay for my own and Maxios won't give anyone a raise!"

All the way back in the Magallanica branch, it was Izuru who sneezed, and Taira who offered him a handkerchief.

"Bless you. You catching a summer cold or something?" Taira asked.

"No, I just think Ryuuga's talking shit that'll get him boned later." Izuru replied, cleaning his nose. "So, about this 'Get better at seamen' training regiment you talked about. You sure you can make me not hate this dumb deck by the end of the day?"

"After I'm through with you, you won't even want to play another deck, little less another clan. You're about be hit by the full and raw intensity of the Ansei fmaily's training program!" Taira grinned, tossing Izuru a pair of sunglasses.

"The fuck are these Gojo Satoru-looking shades?" Izuru asked, putting them on.

"The Ansei training regiment may include rapid flashing lights and some other shit, so keep those on. Besides, I signed those myself so-"

"I'm selling these on eBay."

"You're not! Let's just get going, I'm forging you into a top shape Aqua Force player in one day!"

"If you say so, but I doubt it." Izuru shrugged. "How would I unironically like to play a deck that can't even get the best gift in the format? That just sounds like a sad and awful deck, in my opinion."

"Your sorry protagonist ass will wish it was in hell after today! Once you have the Ansei family training regiment, you never go back! First, you'll become one with Aqua Force by drinking ocean water!"

"....ah?" Izuru blinked.

"YOU WON'T SING OCEAN MAN, YOU WILL BE THE OCEAN MAN!"

"...AH?!"

"...Ocean Man, take me by the hand, lead me to the land that you understand..."