Off the distance was Zero, coming back from the direction of the lavatory. She was strolling back to the meet up area, humming loudly at each stride. Then she encountered the strange sight of two students throwing themselves at Shinichi. Shinichi's face had darkened. He looked like he was seconds away from whipping a machete and sending two heads flying off. She approached them with a loud whistle.

"Hey, what did this old man do to you kids?" she shouted. "You aren't harassing them, aren't you?"

Shinichi glared at her. "No, can you just--ugh, take them away!" He pushed the students to Zero. "Zero, I told you to call me over when they're about to board the buses."

"Oof, they're already gone? I was taking a dump."

"You--" Shinichi slapped his face with both hands and groaned loudly into it. "Of all times…"

"Sheesh, don't judge me. Can't a girl take a dump in peace?"

"Zero." The glare's intensity rose.

"Don't worry, I'll just make a call," she said, eyes closed in exasperation. Her hands searched through her front pockets before pausing. Then she searched through her back pockets. When Zero looked back to Shinichi, she held up two peace signs, lips curved into a pout.

Shinichi turned away with a sigh, fingers pinching his nose. He wished his brain arteries would rupture so he could just drop dead.

"I may have already packed my things inside the bus…"

Nahashi fell to the ground. Her tanned face was abnormally pale. "No… I can't fail an exam. I--I can't!"

The other girl kneeled next to her, placing a hand on her back. Nahashi clenched her fist open and close as she collected her scattered mind. A few stray tears streamed down her ashen cheeks. Her classmate dedicated her time to rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder yet Nahashi was too deep in thought to notice.

Nokori broke out into a sweat. "Ah.. eugh…" his mouth opened and closed like a fish in dry land. "Exam failure…. no no…"

"My family," came Nahashi's faint voice. "My family… Once they know…"

"Ah shit, you're a Himere, right?"

Nahashi's head whipped up to Zero. Her airy tone had rammed into the glum atmosphere, shattering it into pieces. Nahashi could only nod stupidly

Zero's face contorted into a rare impression of sympathy. "Well, this isn't gonna be easy news to break to your folks. Good luck to you when you get disowned."

"You're not helping," scolded the other girl.

Besides Zero's unsurprisingly apathetic response, there's a shocking reveal here that made Shinichi's jaw fall agape. "You... A Himere? Really?"

Just like the Akatsuki Family, the Himere family were part of the Great Families in history.

If the Akatsuki had red hair and eyes, then the Himere family had unique eyes. If one looked closely, they'd notice that the iris had a glowing halo which surrounded the pupil. Not like Shinichi would stare deeply into the eyes of a minor, so he never noticed. And if the Akatsuki had blood magic, the Himere family had a strange connection to the insect kingdom. Shinichi shuddered at the thought. One must never anger a Himere, lest they wake up on a bed of cockroaches.

"Yes, I am!" Nahashi's sadness made a recovery at the reminder. She looked down, hiding behind her dark fringe. "Don't make fun of me when I'm already suffering."

Something about Nahashi's pathetic appearance struck a chord within him.

"Becoming a hunter, is that truly what you want for your future?"

Nahashi didn't hesitate to nod. "Figures like the Green Sage, the Puppeteer, the Deathless Warrior, and especially the Ashen One who unified Tairiku…I grew up reading their stories. Stories that greatly inspire me," said Nahashi. A bit of red dusted her cheeks, embarrassment helping her regain her colour. Her clasped hands never ceased trembling. "One day, I'd really… like to be like them."

An ambitious dream. Shinichi couldn't help but smile at that. It's something he could respect.

"Is that dream something you truly designed on your own?"

Nahashi's brows furrowed in puzzlement at this line of questioning. "Yes, it is! All combat lessons I've undergone have only given me a small sample of what it feels to be in a battle. I truly want to experience the thrill those stories described."

"Becoming a hunter for the thrill of battle and not for some noble quest like protecting the citizens of Tairiku or something?" said Zero, tone half ridiculing and half serious. "You know there's two results in a battle, right? You don't just win, you could also lose."

"I--" Nahashi looked down, admonished. "I know that."

"No, no, being selfish can be good," said Shinichi. Designing your own answer to what purpose you'd serve. It was better than living a lie. But such people tend to fall down twice as hard whenever that dream was threatened.

"If I fail here..." Nokori's harsh breathing enveloped the air. Mucus trailed down his nose. "My family will cut me up and sell parts of me to the black market."

Shinichi nodded. "Human bodies are a rich supply of ingredients for potions and spells. Maybe even aphrodisiacs."

"That's rough, buddy," Zero replied.

Shinichi sighed. "Nahashi, get up. Gods, I can't believe I'm doing this."

Nahashi and the other girl stood back on their feet. They're confusion only grew.

"Ah… wehh…" Nokori still looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack.

"How about I supervise your exam instead?"

Three heads snap to Shinichi, all wearing identical expressions of disbelief. The tears in Nahashi's eyes seemed to have evaporated. Nokori's jaw fell open so fast, Shinichi thought he heard the bone crack. And the other girl's usually impassive expression finally cracked into surprise. Zero snorted at their reactions. She tried to cover up her mouth with her fist.

"You guys don't have to be that shocked," grumbled Shinichi.

"What do you mean by 'supervise'?" the other girl asked. Her face contorted to a silly expression. "Do you even have the qualifications to do that?"

"Qualifications? All you have to do is roam through Zone 1, kill some devourers, and I'll evaluate how you perform. Who needs qualifications for that?"

"Ehh..! Ah!" Nokori looked constipated (the constant sweating not helping) and his jaw may be broken.

"The evaluating part needs qualifications!" snapped Nahashi. "You're just a janitor!"

"Just a janitor?" Shinichi crossed his arms, offended. "I'll have you know that I'm definitely more qualified than Zero or even that bastard Bobu."

The other girl's mouth wobbled. "Did you just call Professor Bobu a bastard?"

"Oh my god," Zero wheezed.

"And as a janitor, I suppose it is part of my job to clean up my student's messes. I can't slack off on my job, my integrity as a janitor would be at stake!"

"This is beyond a janitor's duties! All we asked was for you to talk to Professor Bobu about this," Nahashi retorted. "And what about our safety? What if some devourer comes swooping in and kills us all!?"

Shinichi shook his head and clicked his tongue. "We've got Zero the Akatsuki here. Zone 1 doesn't contain any instances as well. We'll be fine."

Zero had both her hands on her face. From the way her body shook, it was clear she was laughing behind it.

With his thumb, Shinichi pointed to himself. "You've got me here too!"

"Dude, you tripped on wet tiles!"

A harsh sound escaped from Zero's hand.

"If I follow you, am I going to be running to my death?" the other girl stammered, expression conflicted.

Nokori's eyes widened at that, feet tripping to her. "Ehh!! Wehh!? Eugh!" Froth leaked out of his lips. "Wehh! Wehhh!" he babbled on. His face was red as a constant stream of tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he was fainting.

His body fell with a thud.

Shinichi clicked his tongue and turned to the rest. "If anything, shouldn't we be questioning this guy's qualifications instead?"

The other girl nodded. "He's got a point."

Zero upturned her head as a high pitched cackle burst out of her mouth, a hand obnoxiously pointing at Nokori.