The next morning arrived quicker than Hiyoko had expected it to come... and she couldn't have been more excited for this day than any other day.

Today was the day that she would finally attend Extraordinary Minds as the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. After fears of her invitation being declined or her grandmother interfering with her dreams, she managed to prove those doubts wrong, and she never felt more confident of herself before.

The blonde girl woke up early, and was energized to get this day going.

"Finally! It's about damn time this is happening for me!!" Hiyoko exclaimed, getting up from her bed and immediately rushing away from her traditional-stylized bedroom to get ready to head to the Academy.

She hurried over to the bathroom with no time to waste, squirting some toothpaste onto her toothbrush, albeit sloppily. She brushed her teeth as quick as she possibly could. Not bothering to get every nook and cranny of her teeth, she rinsed her mouth afterwards and ran off to do the next step on her morning agenda.

Hiyoko went back to her bedroom and opened up her closet filled with many, many kimonos and hair bows. As of the last night, she was wearing a purple silky kimono robe fit for a good night's rest... which for a special occurrence, that wouldn't do at all! So, Hiyoko looked through her kimonos for something more comfortable, taking a look at them one by one.

"This pink one? Nah, too overly detailed! This isn't some stupid graduation ceremony!" Hiyoko looked to the next one. "This yellow one looks nice... but on second thought, this and the maroon sash doesn't really mesh well to me... Just makes it look uglier in comparison to the others!" She looked through the others to no satisfaction... but eventually... "Ugh! Why don't any of these stupid kimonos seem right for me?! Do I really have to go out and buy—"

She then spotted the one... the perfect kimono that she could wear... it was orange with a floral pattern flowing around the bottom and the sleeves. There was a green sash with darker green kitten heads surrounding it in a pattern. There were also matching green hair bows, with cat heads pinned on the front. It was just what Hiyoko was looking for! Not too detailed, but also cute enough to get a good first impression! It was perfection!

"It's... It's beautiful!! This is just what I needed!" Hiyoko took no time in taking the kimono from the hanger, and placed it on her bed. She'd get it on right then and there... but she just remembered something.

"Wait, god damnit..!! I can't even tie a damn kimono by myself!!" Well, she was unable to, but fortunately, she knew someone who could...

"BUTLERS!! ANY ONE OF YOU!! Can you get over here?!" One of Hiyoko's butlers soon arrived for her. "What is it that you need, Heiress Saionji?"

She sighed before blurting out... "The OBVIOUS..."

"Very well then. Now stand still, if you may please?" The butler got to work on untying Hiyoko's current purple kimono and swapping it out for the orange one that she was wanting to wear. Soon enough, the orange kimono was all tightened up on Hiyoko, and ready to go.

"There you go, madame. Your kimono has properly been changed." The butler stated as he bowed quickly.

"Good! Now you can shove off now!" The butler took his leave, as Hiyoko focused over to the next priority on the list... breakfast!

She rushed down over to the kitchen, hoping to be greeted with a good breakfast...

However, she would soon find out that she would only be met with outrage...

"Okay grandma, I'm all up and ready for this very special day! Now where's my special breakfast?"

"Oh, you're gettin' breakfast... but it isn't special..!"

"H-Huh? What do you mean?! I thought it was special already!!" Hiyoko was a bit shocked to hear that... but she would only get more surprised once her grandmother answered her question...

"Well, it was... until I found THIS hidden underneath the table!!" She took out what seemed to be a letter with Hiyoko's handwriting all over it.

'Dear Extraordinary Minds Academy Headmaster,

I, Hiyoko Saionji, would like to apply to this very academy of Extraordinary Minds as the honored role of the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. I have expressed many interests upon joining this very academy in the past before writing this. Now you may be wondering if I do have what it takes to have that title, well... I have provided you five video rolls of my past dance performances for you to witness. Perhaps those could be great enough for you to pick me? If not, I have other reasons for why as I'm very interested in coming here.

The first of which is that I'm desperate on getting away with this repetitive lifestyle that I've had..! Every day's the same thing... getting pampered around by my butlers and having to be bossed around by my overbearing stupid grandma who never ever lets me do anything that I, myself, want to do... and worst of all, she's always trying to make me into a flawless little dancer that she'd probably cherish for her tradition's own gains! I respect traditions too, but to me, that's just three steps too far in my eyes! Getting an invitation from you would provide me the one chance to escape this unhealthy lifestyle of mine and try to actually experience and do things all by myself, no longer having to be dependent on literally everything!

Now onto my second reasoning as to why I want to join! This one's... a lot more personal in my eyes... It's to honor my father, the one person that truly cared for me that I haven't seen in years... He'd always watch me dance gracefully and at my happiest, and care for me when things go wrong for me... Well, that was until my own stinking grandmother took me away for being a so-called bad influence, which is utter bullshit! I want to enter this academy to show appreciation to the one person who actually gave a shit for me in my life... and to remind myself that for my whole life, I was never alone...

Well, that's about it from me. I'm hoping that you'll be able to receive this very letter, and choose me for one of your upcoming classes. It would mean a lot to me... and probably my father too... Do send an update or even possibly an invitation sooner or later, but for now, I thank you for your time reading this. Hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Hiyoko Saionji.'

"M-My... My ROUGH DRAFT?!" Hiyoko was shocked of her grandmother finding out. "I t-thought I threw that shit out earlier for sounding like crap!!"

"You clearly left that piece of scrap lying under the living room table, and let me just say I am APPALLED on what you've said about me!!" She yelled out.

"T-That's because... what I said about you... were true!! You just don't know it yourself!" Hiyoko quickly retorted, having had enough of her grandmother's repetitive behaviors.

"E-Excuse me, young lady..?!"

"You heard me, granny! You just don't know that you're so unbearable and strict because your ego and stubbornness is basically off the charts!" Hiyoko yelled at her elder, which made her shocked herself. "And I'm wanting to do what I've wanted to do! For me AND for my father!!"

"Your father was a BAD INFLUENCE, missy!! You should be lucky that you've been staying with me for most of your life instead of being stuck with assassins still being on your butt!"

"He... He... wasn't the... bad influence..." Hiyoko stammered before gaining the courage to yell... "I-IT WAS YOU!! YOU WERE THE BAD INFLUENCE THE ENTIRE TIME I'VE BEEN IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!!"

This surprisingly silenced her grandmother from speaking another word...

"Honestly... you've hurt me a LOT more than you've helped me over the past years I've been here! You've always been strict on me just because I'm your tiny little heir for the family's clan and all! Like, I know this whole thing's important and all, but you could have gone a little easier for me! Hell, you've worked me almost like it's overtime whenever I don't get ANY of my dances perfect, you barely treat me with any respect at all, EVEN when I do things that you tell me to do... I'm your own GRANDDAUGHTER for hell's sake! Family members deserve to be treated with respect, even my father!"

Needless to say, Hiyoko's grandmother was speechless after her own daughter's rant. "....... I—"

"Oh, and speaking of him, he's the only person around here who bothers to protect me from every single one of my bullies and show me love and care like a good relative would, which was why I'm entering the academy for his own honor and sake! You, though..?! You just LAUGH IT OFF LIKE IT'S NOTHING AND IGNORE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY PROBLEMS WITH SOME STUPID EXCUSE!!"

Hiyoko breathed heavily a bit after ending her tirade on her granny... "..... I'm... sorry if I went too far with that, but... I really needed to let that out..."

"N-No, sweetie... Y-You... were right... P-Perhaps I have been... too harsh on you..." She seemed to be nearly in tears after Hiyoko had ranted. It seemed to have affected her a lot... "All of that stress i-involving traditions and o-our family got too m-much in my head..."

Hiyoko slightly rolled her eyes... 'Oh... NOW she realizes that..?!'

"I-I'm sorry, Hiyoko... I r-really mean it... I'll try to make it up for you, dear, however I can..."

"Well... you have a LOT of making up to do in my eyes..! I'm not forgiving you that easily... but I suppose you can at least start by letting me go to the academy... like you promised yesterday..."

The elderly lady sighed. "W-Well... I suppose I'll let you go ahead then, if that's what you desperately w-wish for..."

Hiyoko quietly nodded. "T-Thanks... Just... promise that you'll be a better person when I come back..?"

"I'll try my best to keep that p-promise for you, Hiyoko..." She confirmed.

"At least THAT'S somewhat reassuring..." Hiyoko said, taking a map of the area from the desk, marking where the Extraordinary Minds Academy was. "Well, I'd love to stay for breakfast and all, but I think I've wasted a lot of time by now... so I'll... see you on the other side... okay..?"

"T-Take care sweetie, and have a good time at the academy... Do at least w-write some postcards to send over, okay..?"

"H-Heh... I'll consider it." Hiyoko chucked a tiny bit to that. She waved goodbye to her once-overbearing grandmother, as she turned towards the door, taking a deep inhale before leaving the place for good. Hiyoko opened her map back up and started to follow its path all the way to the fabled Extraordinary Minds Academy... While she walked down the roads leading her to where she wanted to be, she took one last look at all the sights that surrounded her across her journey as a means to give one last goodbye to what this world offered her before her enrollment...

Step after step, bus after bus, and train after train... she soon made it... the academy of her own dreams... She stood outside the gates of the place, looking right at the doors. She took in a moment to take in everything at once. The architecture seeming almost like something out of an elitist school. Trees and flowers perfectly arranged all about, as she took her first step past the gates.

"I just damn knew it was too late for anyone to make me turn back..!! Now that my family's no longer holding me back, I feel as if this could lead me to a good future!" Hiyoko gave a confident smile as she said that, stepping her way towards the doors of the academy. "This is now my time to shine! Now let's seize this moment, and prove to the academy who I am, and that I have what it takes to go through it all! Dad, this is for you..!"

Making her way up the steps and going through the door, she swung open the doors and stood proudly. "Extraordinary Minds Academy, say hello to your new Ultimate Traditional Dancer!!" However, her confidence quickly turned into confusion as the hallways gave off a darkened aura, and looking almost similar to a high school hallway, except that it seemed abandoned and empty. The main hallway seemed to be regal with its decorations, with a chandelier above that was only barely lit up...

"Okay, now why in the fuck does this seem empty around here..? Is this like some sort of lame, low-budget horror movie or something..?!" Hiyoko questioned, looking around the place as she looked around, eventually spotted a blonde-haired girl dressed in white, and facing right away from her.

"Hey! You over there! Why is everything so creepy and empty around here?! Tell me what's going on right now!" Hiyoko demanded to the female, who only just stood there silently without any response at all...

"Um, hello?! Are you just going to keep ignoring me over here you blonde weirdo?! I demand an answer!!" Hiyoko yelled out at her, starting to sweat out of slight fear...

The girl just turned her head at her, chuckling maliciously. "Answer? You want an answer..? Weeeeell... I'll give you answers... but you're gonna regret asking..!!" Turning her body around, Hiyoko saw that she had emerald eyes with a menacing smirk on her face. Hiyoko's confidence from earlier sunk down as quick as a heavy object underwater...

"W-What the hell... a-are you talking about, y-you vomit-eyed creep..?!" Hiyoko asked, trembling in fear as she slightly backed away from her... "A-And what's with t-that stupid scary s-smirk on y-you..?!"

The girl just chuckled, taking something out of her pocket... "I think I should start with answering THOSE ones! By shutting you up until you can't even talk with that big mouth of yours anymore..." She used the object to shoot some sort of projectile at Hiyoko, who only barely managed to dodge it. She quickly backed away into a corner, her fear levels at an all-time high... "T-The fuck?! W-What the h-hell is w-wrong with you..?!"

The girl could only approach her, aiming directly at her neck... "Tisk, tisk, tisk... You really are a talker, aren't you? A nimble one at that as well! No wonder why HE chose you... even if you were a last second decision of HIS..."

'H-He..?! Who... is she even referring to..?!' Hiyoko thought to herself, too afraid to ask any more questions out loud, out of fear that she would get shot... However, this was practically inevitable for her, as the girl just widened her own grin. "Ahh... someone who masks their own fears and worries with a fake tough bully personality... Hehehe... I think you'll be the perfect fit for where you're going..." The girl said confidently, shooting directly at Hiyoko's own neck... A giant rush of pain immediately hit her, as she tried to scream bloody murder, but... nothing at all... The only thing that exited her own mouth was the sound of silence...

Flopping right onto the floor, Hiyoko struggled to stay awake and keep her eyes peeled... Looking at her neck, she noticed that what was on her neck... was a tranquilizer dart. As she realized that, she felt the world was slowly falling apart and her head was beginning to swirl around... "D-D-Daddy... a-anyone... p-please... h-h-help..." She muttered out, with tears coming out of her eyes...

"Cry all you want, Hiyoko Saionji... but you should probably just give up and accept your fate by now... There are times where mother Earth want things to be perfectly quiet instead of a blabbering mouth... and she thinks the perfect way to achieve that? It's by giving you another bullet right on your neck..." The girl spoke, those last words of her's ringing onto Hiyoko's head as she was shot with another tranquilizer dart right on her neck... Her head dropped to the floor as everything suddenly went pitch black...

Eventually, Hiyoko slowly felt herself on something warm, rough, coarse... and it also got everywhere on her... especially her mouth, in which she coughed it out not long after... At first, she heard words from a feminine voice that she could barely hear...

"Hey... Excuse me..? Young lady? Can you hear me?"

As Hiyoko rubbed her eyes to wake herself up... her first sight after the end of her slumber... was someone staring right at her from above.

"Ah, it seems as if your finally awake. From the looks of it, it seemed as if you've been unconscious there for a while..." The girl noted.

"G-GAH!!" The surprised Hiyoko screamed, backing away from her. The girl seemed to have long, mauve-like hair, and sports small glasses along with her blue eyes. She wore a grey jacket over her lavender sweater, and had a longish blue skirt alongside warm grey leggings.

"W-WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! W-WHERE THE HELL AM I?! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" Hiyoko asked, seemingly extremely panicked... which is a pretty reasonable  reaction given that she woke up in a different place that she didn't even know of alongside a random stranger.

The girl seemed to notice Hiyoko's panicky nature, and looked concerned. "Hey, hey... I do not seem to have an idea on where we are at right now, but I do need you to calm down for me... I have no intentions to cause any harm to you, alright?" She reassured the traditional dancer, kneeling down to talk to her.

"A-And how should I know you aren't a liar..?!" Hiyoko asked her, still feeling suspicious of the girl in front of her.

"I know we're both strangers, and that we've just met... but considering the both of us have gotten into this situation by unknown means, I think we would both agree that it wouldn't be very wise to turn on each other immediately after finding ourselves into this..."

Hiyoko thought of that for a moment, and realized that she was pretty much right about what she said... "... Ngh... I g-guess you raise a good point there..." She said as she got up and dusted some of the sand off of her kimono...

"So, I suppose introductions should be the next thing in order?" The girl asked.

"Well, I guess that sounds gooooood... You can go first... if you'd like." Hiyoko told her, looking away for a bit.

"Alright then." She said, clearing her throat for her introduction. "My name is Madison Grace, and I am known as the Ultimate Children's Therapist. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeeeaaaah... a pleasure..." Hiyoko said somewhat sarcastically. 'And a bit of a lame talent as well...' She also thought...

"As you can tell from my talent, I'm specialized in helping children that have went through horrible things during their childhood... Be it physical, emotional, or even mental trauma? I try my very best to help them at least heal bits of their pasts." Madison explained her talent to Hiyoko.

before clearing her throat to introduce herself next. "But I suppose I'm up next now!" Hiyoko did an elegant little twirl, mostly for show. "I'm Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Traditional Dancer!"

Madison slightly smirked at Hiyoko's little introduction. "I think that twirl definitely proved that you have the skills of one."

"Heh! Most definitely!" Hiyoko said with a prideful smile. "I've danced a lot in many shows, using my Japanese Traditional Dancing skills, of course! Most of my audience were... young males, oddly enough... but at least SOME of them didn't seem too pervy..."

"I... see... well that's... interesting to know of...." Madison nodded a fair bit. "Anywho... I do have a question I wanted to ask you." She told Hiyoko, who now looked a bit concerned.

"Well, make it snappy." Hiyoko demanded. "We still gotta figure out what kind of mess we got in!"

"Is it only me that's seeing this, or do your clothes feel a lot more smaller and tighter than usual?" Madison asked Hiyoko, who proceeded to look at her kimono. "I have no idea on what the hell you're talking about, four eyes. It looks perfectly normal to me!"

"Is that so?" Madison tried to be sure if that was true, with Hiyoko nodding impatiently. "That is quite odd... considering the fact that mine does actually feel quite tighter..."

Hiyoko observed Madison's clothing. "Well, now that you mentioned that yourself... Your outfit DOES seem quite small on you... Not to mention that it's probably too warm for a climate like this!" She pointed out, looking at her new surroundings. "Like, come on! Warm sand, water rushing around, and palm trees... That isn't something someone could be wearing in a place like this!"

"Hmm... That is quite true, but then again, this was what I wore when I first arrived at the academy. I assume you also wore that kimono of yours when you arrived here as well?"

"Wow, lucky guess..." Hiyoko confirmed with a slightly sarcastic tone. "Also, I do have something to point out... While my clothes definitely didn't shrink on me... I can't help but feel as if I've gotten a bit older..."

"I have had the same feeling as you did..." Madison pointed out, as she placed her finger on her chin. "Makes me question how long we've been rendered unconscious for..."

Before the two could make any assumptions about that... they heard a masculine voice shout... "Hey! Madison! You will NOT believe what I found!!"

"W-Who the hell said that..?!" Hiyoko said, who looked around frantically.

"Oh, him? That's Ryu. He stated that he's the Ultimate Private Detective. I woke up alongside him and you... we just managed to wake up earlier than you did." Madison claimed. "Right now, he's busy looking for clues around the island, and I think he might have found something important."

"Well, if it's that important, then I guess it's worth checking out. Follow that voice!" Hiyoko and Madison walked over towards where Ryu was at.

He was a young-looking male... about 25 to 28 years old of age, with colored hair covered by a pale green fedora, and brown eyes to boot. He wore a blue buttoned shirt that was opened up, exposing a white t-shirt. Covering the both of them was a jacket that was the same color as his fedora. He also sported black jeans with a silver belt buckled on it, and black fancy-looking shoes fitting for a detective like him.

"So, what did you manage to find, Ryu?" Madison asked him.

"You won't believe what I've just discovered..! It's something so bold, so innovative, and so earth-shattering that one could even say... it'll blow your own brains out! Well, figuratively anyway!"

"Well, show us then." Madison told him.

"IIIIIIIIIt's a..."

Ryu took out the object that he had been hyping up...

"A heermit craaaaaab!!" He said excitedly, holding the crab on top of his palms. "I'm gonna name this lil' guy Eugene!"

While this seemed to make Ryu excited and all... the two girls had the opposite reaction. Hiyoko was visibly extremely irritated by his shenanigans... and all Madison did was showing a resting bitch face.

"Oh LORD..." The latter muttered...

"You call that innovative and mind-blowing..?! That's just some random Mr. Hermit Crab!!" Hiyoko yelled at him, feeling a lot of anger at him for wasting her and Madison's time on trying to figure everything out. "Why call yourself an Ultimate Private Detective when right now, you're basically being an Ultimate PUBLIC NUISANCE?!"

"Yeesh... Didn't need to be THAT harsh about having at least some fun over here..." Ryu stated, seemingly somewhat hurt from the comment.

This also got Madison somewhat concerned for Hiyoko and the behavior that she showed. "You seem troubled, Hiyoko... based on the way you just talked to Ryu? If you'd like, I—"

"Can it, Four Eyes! I don't need approval from some Karen lookalike right now!" Hiyoko interrupted her, seemingly not in the mood for any other shenanigans.

"Fair enough then..."

"Say, uh, blondie? One question... who even ARE you anyway?" Ryu asked, not having gotten to fully know her yet.

"I'm Hiyoko Saionji... Ultimate Traditional Dancer..." Hiyoko introduced herself very grumpily. The not-so-amazing discovery found by Ryu seemed to have soured her mood a whole lot.

Despite the insult having had hurt Ryu quite a tiny bit, he did feel a bit bad for pissing both her and Madison off. "Okay, uh... maybe introducing myself might help you calm you down a bit? So, I'll just cut to the chase! I'm Ryu Ikeda, and I'm the Ultimate Private Detective! Although I may look pretty young, I've got a lot more experience than the two of you may think!"

"From the looks of you, you look more fit to work at IKEA than a private detective business... Would totally fit your last namesake!" Hiyoko mocked him.

"Heeey, I said not to judge my appearance! Geez..!" Ryu groaned a bit. "But anywho, as you could both assume, I do hold my own private detective business!" He then said, showing his confidence. "Solved many, many mysteries and crimes with my own bare hands and tools!"

"So... do you just ACT like that every single time you're on some case? If so, I'm pretty sure you only solved them just by pure-ass luck!" Hiyoko scoffed a bit.

"Actually, I'm a very work-oriented, hard-focused man! Well, most of the times at least."

"Then one question... What in the heck do you even do in the OTHER times..." Hiyoko raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uhm... how should I explain this..? Eating cookie dough ice cream and crying right in front of my TV over some very sad anime moments and movies?" Ryu admitted, scratching the back of his head awkwardly with a smile.

Madison chuckled a fair bit at that, whilst Hiyoko would only roll her eyes out of annoyance...

'I also watch anime, but I'm not the type of loser to even CRY at any of them..!' Hiyoko thought to herself cockily.

"Interesting tidbits to know there, Ryu." Madison said with a smirk. "Although, I don't think standing around here would help us much with our investigations of what seems to look like an island... I suggest we continue off at some other area." Madison suggested to the other two.

"Good thinking there, Madison!" Ryu praised her. "Perhaps there could also be some other Ultimates like us around as well. Me and my lil' friend Eugene will go look eastward. You and Hiyoko go check if there's anything by the west."

"Sounds like a fair plan. What do you say about it, Hiyoko?" Madison asked her.

"Well, better than anything I could have figured out, admittedly..." Hiyoko sighed. "Let's get going... and hopefully we'll ACTUALLY find useful information this time..."

"Looks like it's settled then. We will be seeing you on the other side, Ryu." Madison bid farewell to Ryu, which Hiyoko proceeded to do the same, albeit more casually. "See you later..." and then thought to herself... 'Wouldn't even want to be you...'

"Likewise, new friends!"

With their goodbyes being said, the two duos parted ways, as Ryu and his hermit crab went towards the leftmost direction, and Hiyoko and Madison headed to the rightmost direction. This was only the beginning of a series of events that would occur for Hiyoko Saionji...

A series of events that... the Ultimate Traditional  Dancer would have later wished she had ripped up that invitation to bits in the first place...