While the IAC was still going on, there was another "tradition" that was going on that usually did around this time of year: the return to school, or the move to a new school. Usually this would be trying for the students since they would be moving to newer, and in some cases unfamiliar, territory, while parents would have a trying time dealing with the first "symptoms" of Empty Nest Syndrome. But Animalia was dealing with a few problems that weren't part of human society.
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Heiya Island was having a brand new thing, which was showcased during the IAC: The Heiya Island "Branch" of WSA, or as some called it "Samurai Prep". The tour, both physical and virtual (on the website) was helping dispel some of the myths that had revolved around it, many of them were either stereotypes or "schoolboy fantasies", but there were a few that were confirmed, such as the unisex dormitories and locker rooms, though these were only open to those who were in high school.
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Hector was also learning some new things about Animalia, mainly through his punishments. While he did get a comfortable set of clothes, his punishment wasn't quite finished yet. He was very surprised to be jumped by a bunch of girls who had other outfits, including costumes, for him to model, since they already had Halloween/Spookyville preorders coming in, which made sense if you wanted to get the "good costumes". What was probably the most embarrassing for him was the way they were all gibbering about how "cute" he was. While he didn't explode in anger, he was 'heating up' though that was mainly due to embarrassment.
"You're doing well so far," said the officer who had stayed with him. "but you've still got two more punishments to go."
"Hopefully they won't be any worse than this." answered Hector.
"Well you've still got to deal with a specially prepared jawbreaker," replied the officer, "Then the final punishment will be one that fits the crime."
Hector blanched at this, wondering more about what his punishment would be in the final one more than the 'jawbreaker'.
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Meanwhile, Anderson was dealing with one of his regular headaches. While he still focused on the rest of the IAC Games, he still had to deal with "noodleheads" who were trying to "improve' the UFC-A in various ways. While there were those who were clearly joking about certain things, such as activatable obstacles that were more at home in Robot Wars, others were genuinely frustrating to him.
"No, no, no, and no!" almost yelled Anderson during one brainstorming meeting that was done long distance via Zoom, "We simply cannot use those designs of costumes! Not only are they barely decent, those 'heels' are at more risk of causing severe injury to the wearer than to the opponent." Fortunately, with feedback from Edgar, there was now some new costume choices for UFC-A Fights. Unfortunately, these had begun a new surge in costume suggestions, many of which were more about titillation rather than safety. As a last act of 'mercy', there were no longer any suggestions for more 'sexual' moves.
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With the weather cooling down, and the pandemic also calming down, relatively, there was a new surge in "migratory" Vacation Packages for winter. Of course, there were still people being stupid about the pandemic, but these were becoming less and less usual.