(A/N): Yeah, I know the actual story itself hasn't started yet at the time this has been published... but I thought it might be good to have a head-start for this. After all, this chapter doesn't really rely on the story events itself... well... mostly. o-o Regardless, do enjoy the read! I worked hard on it! :O

Ahh... the lovely sunny afternoon... Normally these are times where people relieve themselves from their stress, see the sights from the fresh outdoors, and just enjoy life in general. Well... this can't really be said the same for one individual in particular, who's... been having a lot on her mind as of recently...

Inside this person's humble adobe, this girl was lying on her bed. She was a short, blonde, banana-like haired girl wearing an orange kimono with a floral pattern. Her twintails were seemingly being held by green hair bows, with cat face pins slapped on them. Right now, she seemed to be focused on a video shown on TV involving a familiar face...

"Hey everyone! Akira Odashi here, and welcome to today's livestream! For this stream, I'm gonna be trying to speedrun through Super Mario Galaxy while blindfolded! Honestly, I never really tried to do this challenge for this game... Heh, I tried this for Sunshine and 64 beforehand, so either way, this'll be a fun new experience that all of you and I will go through together! So before we start, just remember to hit that like button and subscribe if you're interested for more gaming videos like these!"

The video then switched to another one, featuring an orange-haired girl, wearing a small polka dot top hat and clothing, with her hair tied up into a ponytail.

"Hello, hello, heeelloooooo everyooooone!! IIIIIIIIIIIt's Penelope! And welcome back toooooooo... Penelope's Playhouse!!" The orange haired girl shouted with joy. "Today's episode is gonna be a VERY VEEEEERY special one! So make sure you stay seated, as we're gonna have a LOT of fun today!! Heehee!"

The sight of Penelope made the blonde girl crack a bit of a smile. 'Heh... good memories watching that show when I was at a bit of a younger age..! Probably the only kid's show that I liked there! All of the other ones stank..!' Just then, the screen then swapped to another different video.

There, was zoomed in footage of a pink-haired boy who seemed to be a bit on the short side, devouring many, many donuts. He seemed to have a confident look on his face. An announcer spoke as he continued to eat.

"And Kentaro is currently at 123 donuts eating, and it doesn't seem like he's tiring out yet! His opponent may have to hope for a miracle to win this!"

The boy, named Kentaro, kept on with the donut eating, making the amount go up to 130... and eventually 140!

Eventually, his opponent seemed to stop completely once Kentaro reached 150 donuts having been eaten. The audience had cheered after this occurred, with the overjoyed boy rising out of his seat in victory.

"And there you have it! Kentaro Fukuda has WON the 2032 Boston Creme Donut Competition!!"

'Geez, only a fat pig like him would actually waste his own life on a talent like THAT! He should have be obese by then!' The girl watching everything had thought again...

The video footage swapped to a sunglasses-wearing boy with black hair and a grey hat, being swarmed by what seemed like a paparazzi. He seemed rather uncomfortable about the situation.

"H-How many times have I told all of you... to get the hell AWAY FROM ME?!" He yelled at the multiple cameramen, feeling very irritated by their presence.

They didn't seem to listen, however, as they kept chattering and asking him questions.

"Ghhhhhrgh..!! Fuck THIS!!" The boy yelled, as he ran off from the crowd as quick as he could. In spite of this, the paparazzi followed suit.

Soon enough though, the footage had zoomed away, with the screen of the TV the girl had been watching on now focusing over to a news broadcast, with a female reporter on the scene. The headline below apparently read 'EXTRAORDINARY MINDS DISAPPEARANCES - Many Ultimates Gone Missing'

"This juuuust in! Recently, there has been a lot of disappearances involving Ultimates such as the ones that were shown on video!" The reporter said, with a bit of enthusiasm for the first part. "Most of their current whereabouts are unknown as of now, but many of us are hoping that the victims of these kidnappings will be able to come back to their homes, alive and well."

The blonde girl turned off the TV afterwards, seemingly uninterested in the whole story itself. She seemed to rather want to focus on the questions that have been lingering in her mind...

'Yadda, yadda... I'm sure none of that's really important... On the other hand though, I know it's kind of stupid to think of things like this, but... I just wonder if there's even the slighest chance for me, Hiyoko Saionji, to possibly be amongst the most talented like those that I saw on TV... Like those Akira and Kentaro people or whatnot?' Hiyoko sighed as she continued to let her thoughts wander around...

'I mean, my traditional dancing's popular among a lot of people... especially some weird young men... but come on, what are the chances of ME ever getting accepted..?! What if they decline me for basically looking like a child? Which I'm not ACTUALLY one?!'

'Besides, there's probably some other better talents that they'd rather consider than dancing that's limited to one place in the whooooole wide world..!!'

The Traditional Dancer just look frustrated about her inner doubts at that point... 'Is there even a chance that... my grandmother was right about me not having a... U-UGH! Why am I thinking this way?! I s-shouldn't let those stupid thoughts get the best of me! I'm... probably graceful and beautiful enough for the whole place to accept me! Yeah!'  She tried to think more positive thoughts to herself. 'M-My dancing skills are probably infinite times better than that princess wannabe-looking ballerina anyway! If a-any of those uggo pigs who think about those stuff otherwise, then they don't have any true taste!'

'For now though? I just have to wait and hope for one giant miracle to land right on my shoulders...'

So, the blonde girl waited... and waited... and waited more... and as the more time passed by, the more her thoughts lingered more deeply...

Eventually though... near the evening... she wouldn't have to worry about those thoughts any longer.

A knock on the door was heard at the time. Hiyoko tried to ignore it, thinking that it could have been one of those pranks again... but the door kept getting knocked on... and on... and on.

"Hiyokooooo!!" An annoyed voice from an old woman yelled out. "Be a good granddaughter of mine and answer the dang door for me! It's annoyin' me, and I'm already preoccupied with making dinner!"

"Alright, alright, fine!" Hiyoko groaned, with her annoyance being fueled even further. "I'll go open the dumb door!"

She started to grumble under her breath as she walked towards the door. "Stupid hag of a grandmother... always having to boss me over little things like these as if I don't even have a life..! I mean, I am thankful for her taking care of me as well as she could and all, but... with her and other butlers around, I never get to do things on my own accord! Why can't I ever make my old decisions?! Why can't I just live the life I want to live?! I'm 19 years old by now for hell's sake, and I'd fair well out in this world... probably! I don't want to be known as just a plain heiress... I... I want to do what my heart desires to..!' She groaned, before reaching over to the door. "I swear, doing this BETTER be worth it..."

The grumpy female opened up the doorknob. "Okay, who's stupid enough to be bugging me at THIS time..?!"

She looked around, and found nobody at the front of the door... which was odd, as she did hear some knocking noises from the door itself...

"Are you kidding me..?! Is this some kind of idiotic joke, one of those shitty pranks, or..?!—" Hiyoko then looked down... and found some sort of envelope lying on the doormat, with a familiar looking emblem right on the middle.

Hiyoko was shocked about this. 'C-Could it be..?!' She thought to herself. The emblem itself seemed exactly like the one from the Extraordinary Minds Academy. 'T-There's no damn way that this could be my ticket for my future..!!'

Grabbing the envelope from the ground, the excited girl ran back inside her house... not before closing the door shut.

Walking back into her living room, she sat down as she looked at the envelope that she was holding with both of her hands...

"Is this really the moment of truth..?!" She asked herself out loud. "I... I guess I'm gonna have to find out then..!'

Breathing in and out... she closed her eyes as she placed her finger on the envelope opening. 'Here goes nothing...'

Hiyoko opened the envelope, and took the letter out. When she unfolded the letter and opened her eyes...

She couldn't have believed what she had saw...

"Dear Hiyoko Saionji,

We have seen your recent application to our learning environment, and are proud to say that you've passed our test of applying for not only our school, but the Humanity Preservation Program! We ask that you, as the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, must come to the Academy at your earliest convenience, and meet your fellow classmates. We are ever so excited to see what future discoveries in not just the talent that you provide for us, but your humanity and selflessness within yourself! We hope to see you soon!"

Signed, The Headmaster of Extraordinary Minds Academy

Hiyoko... was shocked. The letter looked genuine, the envelope looked genuine... 'It's... I-It's really true..? I've... been accepted..?!'

'I can't... b-believe it..! This... this could be the future that I've been looking for for-fucking-ever!! There's no damn way that anyone's gonna stop me from taking this opportunity fully!' She thought to herself, now feeling super excited and grateful about the news.

Her face went from excitement to solemness as her thoughts drifted towards someone else... 'If only dad was still here with me... he... would have been very, very proud...'

However, her lingering thoughts were immediately interrupted when...

"HIYOKO!! Your lunch's ready! Now come over here before it gets cold!"

'Oh... FUCK... I almost forgot about that bitch..!! Damnit, what if she finds out about that invitation..?! She IS really strict about our clan values, traditions, and all..!! Ngh! I can't let her see this, or else this one chance could possibly be ruined!'

Hiyoko hid the letter behind her as she went over to get her food.

"I'm here, grandmother..." She said, trying her best to avoid having the letter be seen by her eyes. "Now what did you cook up for me this time?"

"Well, I was hopin' you'd ask... and for you to get here earlier anyway..." The grumpy grandmother remarked, as the butler brought Hiyoko her dinner... Hitsumabushi with Sunomono cucumber salad as a side.

"That's... nice..!" Hiyoko said, cracking an awkward smile. On one hand, she did like the food presented. On the other though... the stress about the letter still floated within her.

However... her grandmother then noticed that... she was hiding something behind her own back. "What's that you're holding behind you..?" She asked her, who now seemed to be panicked about possibly being found out. 'Gah! D-Damnit!! If only kimonos had fucking POCKETS on them..!!'

Hiyoko, with a little sweat on her forehead, tried to make an excuse. "It's... a napkin! Gotta keep myself clean after all! H-Hehe..!" She brought out the letter, albeit faced backwards to make it seem like a regular paper piece.

"And how do I know you're not lying to your own elder..?" Her grandmother said, feeling skeptical about Hiyoko's explanation, in which Hiyoko tried to use another excuse. "I mean, c-come on! When would I EEEVEEER lie to you, r-right..?!"

"Hmmmph... REALLY then..." She said, and unluckily for Hiyoko...

Those excuses didn't seem to work on her, as she swiped the 'napkin' from her. 'G-GAH! F-FUCK!! I thought that stupid trick would have worked on her!' Hiyoko, who was now REALLY panicked, thought...

The elderly lady opened it up, and read the entire thing to herself, word to word.

"So... you really were serious about those so-called dreams of yours?"

"Well, d-duh! Yeah I was! And would you look at that, I got accepted!" Hiyoko tried to come off as proud of herself, but it was obvious that she wasn't really feeling like that at all... "And now I get the chance to b

"Pah! As if you think I'd let you go there!" The grandmother said, folding up the paper. "Going to that wretched place would be directly against our own sacred traditions!"

Hiyoko looked in distraught as she heard those words, and as she saw that paper crumble from the hands of her grandmother... 'D-Damnit..!! I knew this would fuckin' happen..!!'

"Besides, you should have given up on those dreams of yours since a long time ago!" She spat out sternly and grumpily. "In the end, only the people who are really lucky are the ones who have gotten this chance!"

Hearing all of that was making Hiyoko's blood boil... and her very last straw was broken once she had uttered...

"That ol' invitation of yours? As IF that could be genuine! That was probably sent out of their own PITY!"

"T-That's ENOUGH!!" Hiyoko yelled out, which slightly shocked her grandma.

"E-Excuse ME young lady..?!?" The elderly lady was now appalled from Hiyoko's sudden outburst.

"Look, I care about traditions and all as much as you do, but... there are times where you should try considering what your own child would want in her life, and how she'd feel!" She told her straight to the point. "For many times in my life, I've always have to follow through your own footsteps in everything! From my dance rehearsals, to my interests, and heck, now even my own future! And at this point, I'm sick of it!"

"First, you better watch your mouth around me, young lady! And second, why should I let YOU go there anyway..?! That damn place could be a huge scam and you would be THAT NAIVE to fall for it!"

"Ghh..! Look, can't we just try to agree with something like really real adults would..?!"

"..... Make it quick..." This was all that her grandmother could reply, feeling impatient for her granddaughter.

"Well, let's see, um..." Hiyoko struggled to think of something to convince her grandma... 'Damnit... what COULD I do to convince her to let me follow my dream..?!'

Eventually, she got an idea. "Let's try thinking about it logically for a second! This opportunity could actually benefit us, and you just don't know it! Look at the possibilities we could gain from this! I could improve my talent that you care about, I can help spread our traditions over to more parts of this world, and we could even make a lot more money with my performances, all the while making my own dream come true!"

"Now hold up just a minute... did I hear somethin' involving making more money..?"

"Y-Yeah!" Hiyoko confirmed. "The more experience I get from this, the more fans I might gain, and the more revenue we could gain from our dance shows! We'd probably be even richer than we already are, and it would all be a win-win situation for the both of us!"

Hiyoko did provide some convincing points, but needless to say, the greed had fully gotten to that old hag, as Hiyoko called her. Who could even refuse the opportunity to make a lot more money anyway?

"Alright, alright, fine..! You can go to that so-called academy of your dreams, but if this becomes a death trap for you, then don't you dare try blaming me for it!"

This brightened Hiyoko's mood back up. "Yaaaaaay!! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank YOU!!" She was relieved that her dreams haven't been shattered completely now that her grandmother approved of her heading off.

"Yeah, yeah... whatever..." The grandmother muttered, before shouting to her granddaughter again. "Now finish your food already! It's gettin' cold, and you know that tomorrow's a big day for you, don't you?! We're goin' over there first thing in the morning anyway!"

"O-Oh, right!!" Hiyoko quickly resumed to eat her food. It did taste cold for her, unsurprisingly... but in her eyes, it was completely worth the wait.

Now with her hopes and dreams still intact, Hiyoko Saionji couldn't wait for the next day to arrive... and as she ate, she thought to herself...

'Dad... I'm hoping with this opportunity, I'll make you feel proud like you've always had with me... This dream is all mine to take, and I won't let any other bitchy pigshits stop me from achieving it!'