Late afternoon. The once blue sky had turned into a light shade of orange. Birds were barely chirping, probably tired. The wind carried a calming scent of fresh, cold air.

  The base of the 1111th Division was approached by a small truck-like car. The driver stopped near the entrance. Johnny jumped out of the passenger seat. At the same time, Diff walked out through the front door.

  "Looks like our stuff is here." - Diff murmurs as he walks up to Johnny, giving him a high five. Johnny walks to the back of the truck and opens the door.

  "Well. They’re intact. But someone broke into your house. And took your toilet paper and keyboard. Nothing else." - Johnny states.

  "You have to be joking. Who would even take only two things?" - Diff asks.

  "Aren’t you a toxic League player? If someone finds out where you live—" - Johnny starts.

  "I’m not that toxic. Maybe when I play a specific champ..." - Diff cuts him off as he reaches in and grabs a box. He lifts it up and carries it inside.

  Johnny does the same. They start with boxes labeled Diff. In the lobby, Yunyan lies on the couch. On the other side of the couch, Paul sits, looking at the TV.

  The TV is wide, showing a fighting game. Under it there is a gaming console. Vaska and Erica are playing. Vaska spams one attack—her character shoots a fireball—while Erica furiously presses buttons, trying to do anything useful against her.

  As Diff and Johnny carry the boxes, Paul looks over his shoulder and stands up. He goes to help them. Now the three of them carry boxes. After a few turns, Yunyan stands up and goes to help too.

  As the boxes dwindle and time passes, gradually everyone goes to help. A while later, once every box has been carried inside, the truck driver drives away without saying a word.

  "He seems mean." - Diff comments.

  "I had to bribe him with a taco." - Johnny comments.

  Vaska and Erica sit down in front of the TV again.

  "Ready for a rematch?" - Vaska asks with a smile on her face.

  "You are not beating me that easily again!" - Erica says as she grabs the controller. Meanwhile, Yunyan slowly walks up the stairs, holding a black mug. 'Coffee is the best' is written on it.

  "Paperwork..." - Yunyan murmurs quietly.

  Hours pass by. Diff and Johnny both finish unpacking their things. Diff sits on the edge of his bed, looking at his PC. No keyboard, and the current graphics card is dead.

  No League for me today. - Diff thinks to himself as he pulls out his phone, opening Discord. His messages are empty as always. He locks his phone, drops it to his side, and lies on the bed. As he stares at the ceiling, a sudden bell rings through the building. Someone knocks on the door.

  Diff gets up, putting his phone into his pocket before opening the door. On the other side, Johnny stands.

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  "Yunyan told me to get you. She wants to talk to us, I guess." - He states.

  They both make their way downstairs into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Paul carries like seven boxes of pizza and puts them down onto the table. Suddenly Erica puts her hands on Diff’s and Johnny’s shoulders.

  "Don’t worry. We eat pizza every time someone joins us. This is our habit of welcoming them." - Erica speaks as she presses two bottles of wine into Johnny’s and Diff’s hands. She then goes and takes a seat between Paul and Vaska.

  "Yunyan, bring the spicy sauce too, please." - Vaska speaks as she opens a box, grabbing the little tables from the pizza and setting them aside.

  Minutes later everyone sits at the table, eating pizza. Erica starts pouring wine for everyone.

  "No one plans to drive, right?" - She asks as she starts handing out the glasses. After everyone gives her a nod, she sits back and starts to drink—wine, of course.

  "Hey, Diff. Right? Don’t worry about your first commission needing rescue. Everyone makes mistakes." - Paul speaks as he pulls a slice to his mouth.

  "Yeah. For example, Paul on his first commission got so drunk that he blacked out." - Erica speaks with a smile. Meanwhile Paul chokes on his pizza before speaking up.

  "Oh yeah? And you raced with a cop on your first commission!" - Paul speaks.

  At this point Vaska just starts laughing. Both Erica and Paul look at her.

  "You’re no better!" - Erica says.

  "You burned down an old mill on your first commission!" - Paul speaks while pointing at Vaska.

  But Vaska just keeps laughing. Suddenly Diff starts to giggle. Johnny just shakes his head. The wholesome atmosphere is interrupted by a loud bang. Yunyan’s head hits the table—she’s deeply asleep, still holding onto a wine glass.

  At this sight Diff bursts out laughing. So does Johnny. Erica starts hitting the table as she laughs. Vaska laughs so much that tears of joy come out of her eyes. Once she manages to calm down she starts speaking.

  "Phew. I go and take her to her room." - Vaska speaks as she lifts Yunyan onto her back and starts to make her way upstairs.

  "Right, Bosslady can't handle alcohol..." - Paul speaks as he keeps eating his slice.

  Hours flew by. Near midnight Diff arrives into his room. He closes the door behind him and slowly stumbles forward. An impressive amount of exhaustion takes hold of him. He barely reached the bed before falling asleep.

  When Diff wakes up he hears the birds chirping. Sunlight lights up the room through the window. Diff groans as he gets up from the bed. He makes his way downstairs. Instantly turning into the kitchen. He spots Yunyan standing right in front of the buzzing coffee machine.

  Yunyan looks up at him. Her hair is messy from sleeping. Circles under her eyes. Without saying a word she points to a cabinet. Diff opens it, it's full of mugs. He grabs one and waits with Yunyan for the coffee machine to end.

  Once the coffee machine made coffee Yunyan pours some into her usual black mug, with 'Coffee is the best' written on it. Then she pours milk into her coffee. Lastly she puts a small spoon into it and walks upstairs.

  Diff does something similar. Once done he puts the milk back into the fridge and walks upstairs into his room. After drinking his coffee and taking a shower and changing into new clean clothes he walks downstairs yet again.

  In the kitchen he spots Johnny picking up the empty pizza boxes and folding them up after throwing them into the trash.

  "Morning." - Diff greets.

  "Morning. Vaska asked me to clean the table." - Johnny replies.

  As they speak Paul appears in the kitchen. He pulls out a chair, spinning it around before sitting down.

  "So." - He starts. - "Bosslady told me neither of you have combat experience. Which is not a problem. But we are a Division." - He leans forward.

  "We deliver, we help. But most of the times we fight. And if you want to survive past your third commission. You need to know how to fight."

  Johnny and Diff looks at eachother. Then back at Paul.

  "So you are giving us homework?" - Johnny asks.

  "No. Not homework. I can teach you two the basics. First lesson is in an hour." - Paul states before standing up and walking out of the room.

  A while later Paul sets up a practice dummy in the backyard. He places it down in the middle of a big circle. What outline is shaped by red bricks in the ground. Diff and Johnny just looks in silence.

  "You want us to punch that dummy?" - Diff asks as he points to the dummy.

  "What's next, we wrestle a cactus?" - Johnny notes.

  Paul nods before speaking. "Yep. Basic things for now. I will teach you two how to throw a punch, how to block, things like that. Then we will get down to fighting against one and another."

  "What about magic and vetra?" - Johnny asks.

  "There are certain enemies what can resist vetra or magic based attacks. A snake with thick skin, or a spider what can teleport... These are all terrifying beasts. No matter what is your enemy, you shouldn't start panicking." - Paul speaks as he hands out boxing gloves, with the number 1111 written in yellow on them.

  "And vetra is not something I can teach. And I can't use magic. For magic you should ask Yunyan or Vaska." - He continues.

  In the next few hours Paul teaches Johnny and Diff the basics in martial arts, especially boxing, after all Paul was a boxer. But of course the two rookies are not going to be good at it anytime soon.

  Time passes, the sun is in the middle of the sky pointing down from above. The immersive training session gets interrupted by Yunyan.

  "Lunch is done. I advise on not skipping it." - Yunyan states holding her black mug. The bags under her eyes indicates that she still has paperwork to do.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------

  Writer's note:

  Hey hey!

  First of all, thank you so much for reading this chapter! I really appreciate you taking the time to follow along with Diff, Johnny, and the rest of the Division.

  I’m still figuring things out as I go, but comments really help me know what’s working. If you feel like sharing your thoughts, I’d be very happy to read them. Even a short reaction is more than enough or, if you’re not sure what to say, just comment 'coffee' so I’ll know you made it to the end!

  Thanks again for being here! I hope you’ll stick around for the next chapter!