“Alli Verona… Whoa”. 

“Huh? Who said my name?” She turned around and faced Mia, who was still in partial shock from being slapped. “It was you huh?” She asked, as she edged closer towards Mia. She looked up, “Gurren you lil’ shit. Why’d you bring Hikaru and a runt to my home?” 

“I found her in a village on the other side of the forest… She survived a beast attack”, he explained. Alli folded her arms and stared at Mia, assessing her with her eyes. 

“And so I guess you want me to train her huh?” She squinted her eyes, “You know just because you survived a beast attack doesn’t mean you’ll be any good as a huntsman…”. Mia looked at her with a straight and confident face, with the intent to not take no for an answer. 

“That girl has come in direct contact with five beasts; the last one even said that she smelled terrible”. Captain Yakusuke looked incredibly serious, he was in the middle of negotiation mode.

“B.O.?” Alli jokingly responded. Captain Yakusuke ignored the comment and continued, “The beast was evolved, it claimed that she’d ruin its meal. Beasts kill all humans they come in contact with, why would it be disgusted by her?” He took a step forward, “She’s special, and I know she’s got potential”. He looked over to Mia, “Please train her, give her the tools to become strong and start her own path. Won’t you do this for your precious student?” 

Alli sighed, “It’s been a long time since I’ve considered you a student… Damn, well if you say she has potential then I guess I'm a little interested”. She unlatched Hikaru who was being smothered the whole time, and walked over to the door. “Come in I suppose, we’ll get you cleaned up and begin tomorrow… you’ll need your strength”. 

The inside of the odd head house was rather strange, straight through the door was a hallway with only one room to the left. Mia and the others walked past the one room. Inside you could hear children arguing but the words were inaudible. At the end of the hallway was a large metal grate.

“Here we are”, Alli bent down and grabbed onto the latch and pulled, beneath it was a wooden staircase leading into the dark. As the four of them walked down it each of their steps creaked on the wooden boards. 

It seemed like they were walking forever until they reached the base. The end of the stairs lead to a short hallway, beyond it was a brutally bright room. They walked forwards and shaded their eyes from the light fixtures rays. As they’re eyes adjusted, they were shocked. The bright room they entered looked like an arena. Surrounding them were four giant grey walls, On each wall was a small door leading to other rooms.

Mia stepped forward, “whoa, this place is huge”. She was in awe, beneath such a weird house was a gigantic room. 

“Pretty cool huh, I got some neighbours to help me build it awhile ago, damn it took forever to get it approved though. A god awful amount of paperwork”. She walked over to Mia and placed her hand on her shoulder. “What’s your name runt?”

“My name is Mia Sanju… And for your information I am not a runt. I’m the perfect height for my age”. Mia was slightly annoyed by Alli’s comment but felt that if she delved further she’d receive the same kick Captain Yakusuke got earlier. She asked; “Is this where my training will be? There isn’t really any equipment”. She looked confused but was right. The large room was completely empty.

“You’re right on the nose. This is what I call my Super Exquisite Master Body Maker Amazing Battle Training Room”. Alli stood proud of her excessively long name.

Captain Yakusuke piped up, “kinda dumb name don’t y-”, WAAAAM! Alli swiftly punched him, leaving him lying on the ground twitching. 

“Yes, this is where you’ll do your training, in fact, this is the exact place where I trained Hikaru as well. Unlike you though, he wasn’t as interested”. Alli looked over to Hikaru, who was standing silently. “Gurren brought him in and we weren't exactly interested in becoming a huntsman… But gave him what he needed… The loving suppo-”, Hikaru came forward with an annoyed face, “Shut up! You forced me into training!” Mia noticed some deep emotions between the two of them. It seemed that Alli had an odd familial love for him, definitely not romantic. Hikaru on the other hand only showed her animosity, his venting from earlier solidified that. 

Captain Yakusuke stood up, “anyways, now that you’ve shown her your ridiculously long named gym, Alli shot him death stare(you’d assume so) while gritting her teeth. 

“Alright, prepare yourselves, tonight we feast”. Alli grabbed Hikaru by the arm and began pulling him to another room, “you’re gonna help us cook”. Hikaru squirmed, “Us?” His complaints could be heard drifting away as she took him away. 

Now being the only two remaining, Mia and Captain Yakusuke stood in silence for a while.

“Captain… Uh… So how do you know Alli? She treats you harshly”, she asked hesitantly, trying to break the awkward silence. 

“Ah, that is indeed a long story. Alright, I’ll tell you.” The Captain sat down, back against the wall. “About fifteen years ago I was living in a situation similar to yours. My family was poor, and I mean really poor. Scrounging for food just to live another day was all we could do. Sadly, this world isn’t forgiving. One day, after I was finished begging, I ran home with a piece of bread. I remember that it was raining and I was soaked in mud and water. I got home and saw my mother and younger brother crying, it seemed like earlier that day while I was out some bandits went through town and killed a bunch of people, my father included. He wasn’t perfect but he loved his family. The death of my father drove my mother into a severe depression, this eventually led to her death a few weeks later. From then on it was my younger brother and I were on our own. With our parents gone it was even harder to get by, and soon enough he died as well, this time from sickness. After a bit of being on my own I learned to steal, merchants, workers, anyone could fall victim. One day a woman came through town, Alli came through town. She looked like an ample target, so I went to brush past her and pickpocket anything I could get. As you’d expect she caught on immediately and beat me without remorse”.

Mia shed a tear as she  listened in silence to the Captain's sad tale.

He continued; “It’s weird actually, soon after she beat me she told me something. She said: You’re trash, but someone's trash could be someone else's treasure, come with me. She took me by the hand and led me here. I remember the many days of torment as she trained me, forcing down techniques and so much more. Eventually she told me who she was; the Captain of the second division in the huntsmans covenant. I could barely believe anything she said”. The captain looked up.

“Eventually she left the Covenant and relinquished her position. I figured with all the training she forced me to do that I could be a contender for her former position. It took many years to grow and become stronger, but eventually it paid off, I became a captain and led the second division. When I came back she was furious, calling me a dumbass and names similar, but a part of me could tell that she was proud”. Captain Yakusuke looked over to Mia, “And that’s how we met, well, I guess that’s my back story too”.  

Mia sat beside him sniffling, tears fell down her face, “That's such- sniff a sad story”.

A small voice appeared, “wow mister, that’s such a sad story”.

 Captain Yakusuke and Mia quickly turned around and saw a short girl in the hallway where they initially entered. The girl had long blonde hair and a white dress down to her ankles. Behind her was another girl who was wearing the exact same dress, this girl had long blonde hair tied into two pigtails, she seemed to be hiding behind the first one. Both girls had vivid bright green eyes, in fact, their faces were identical.

“Twins!” Mia piped up, her eyes sparkled, “And they’re so cute!”

The first one stepped out, the second slowly behind her. She put her hand and saluted, “yo! I’m Atchi, and the scaredy cat behind me is Suzatchi!” She put her hand back down and pulled Suzatchi in front. It seemed as if Suzatchi was the younger sister, she twiddled her fingers and fidgeted, she couldn’t look anyone in the eyes.

“Go on, introduce yourself!” Atchi nudged Suzatchi again.

“He-hello, ju-just as m-my si-sister sa-id Im su-su-zatchi”, she minced her words and fumbled, the girl was clearly extremely nervous. 

Captain Yakusuke stood up and took a step towards the twins, “well that's strange for two little girls to be around here… Did you two run away from home and thought this weird place was cool”. Both of the girls stared at him for a moment.

WAAAACK! Atchi delivered Captain Yakusuke a swift and powerful kick to the shin, dropping him to his knees. 

“Dammit! Why are all the girls I meet so violent?”

Atchi, with her hands on her hips, “we didn’t run away from home… We live here”. 

Captain Yakusuke looked up while still grasping his shin, he was shivering in pain. “You live here? What? There’s no way Alli would le- … Actually that one-hundred percent something she’d let happen. 

Suzatchi took a hesitant step forward, “W-we ca-came to te-tell you fo-food is re-ready”. 

“Yeah! So come on and get some grub!” Atchi exclaimed.

Mia took notice of the two of them. First and foremost she noted that both of them were incredibly cute, after that she was drawn to their completely opposite personalities. Atchi seems like a super hyper extrovert, but Suzatchi seems like an anxiety-ridden introvert. 

Once again recovering from an unnecessary injury, Captain Yakusuke shakily stood up. He slowly limped across to where Alli had dragged Hikaru off to and stood in front of a door. “Alright, now to get through dinner without any injuries. I can do this”. He took a few breaths and walked in.

Captain Yakusuke walked in and disappeared. 

“Whoa”, Mia turned to the twins who were staring at her in awe. “Mia, your hair is so pretty, it’s two different colours! Is it natural? Did you really see beasts? You’re so pretty”. Mia was bombarded with questions and compliments, she didn’t know what to say.

“Sis, we shouldn’t be too rowdy. From what we heard from mistress Alli, she’s had a really rough time”. Suzatchi whispered.

“Hmm… You’re right, let’s ask her loads of questions after we eat!” 

The girls walked towards the door Captain Yakusuke entered and Mia followed behind. The smell of delicious food led her. This food, the scent, was similar to what Hikaru’s cooking smelled like. The delicious smell had bits of meat and spices, as well as a sweetness. She salivated at the thought of getting another delicious meal. 

The girls walked up and opened the door, the smell, oh the smell was intoxicating. Mia practically drooled as she walked in. In front of her was a table filled with plates and platters of food. Meats, fruit, vegetables, even baked goods, it was heaven. 

“Time to eat!” Atchi shouted.