The leaders of the Northern Peak Blizzards, Jie Peng and Chao Peng, sit and talk with Akari and Emilija in the Central dining hall.

"You two sure pack a punch," Jie comments. "That wasn't even your first skirmish, I reckon?"

While Akari pretends not to exist, Emilija laughs with glory. "We were attacked ourselves just ten minutes before."

"My, what endurance," Chao remarks.

"Freshmen, right?" Jie asks. After getting a confident nod from Emilija (and a mild nod from Akari), she explains, "Well, this ain't an opportunity I'm gonna pass on. Tomorrow night, meet us at 10 Park Avenue. Be sure to put that down somewhere."

"Totally!" Emilija spouts, with a goofy smile and a thumbs up.

"Akari?" Jie turns towards her.

Akari sinks in her chair. "Please continue," she murmurs.

"Well, it's best we be perfectly clear on what we're asking of you two," Chao begins with a casual tone. "The Northern Peak Blizzards are a student organization dedicated to improving campus culture and safety. We have Protectors and Protectees. We're proposing you two become Protectors; those who patrol campus, suppressing any malevolent activity and saving people from violence. Importantly, we don't stop any and all fights, since that's far from realistic. We mainly serve to ensure nobody is being bullied, more or less. But besides being pseudo-police, we also offer a haven for peaceful students—the Protectees—where they can hang out, talk about their problems, and feel safe. Do you two understand?"

"Yes," Akari answers, keeping a certain modesty. "Actually, we've both wanted to join the Blizzards as soon as we could, so this works out quite well for us. But, well, for tomorrow night, can I bring a potential Protectee?"

Emilija snickers.

"Well, campus policy is to not accept new members until October," Jie explains. "We're blatantly disregarding those rules right now, but only because you two demonstrate quite the potential. Not to discredit Emilija here, but Akari in particular... One doesn't see a woman like you very often."

"Heh, just so you know," Emilija remarks, "by graduation I'll be even stronger than my lofty friend right here."

"I really wouldn't care if you surpassed me," a tired Akari replies. "So," she looks at Jie, "I can't bring him?"

Jie clicks her tongue. "Well, this is a meeting of Protectors."

"Why not let him come, Jie?" Chao asks. "Don't put her down already."

"Fine, fine. Bring him. He can come if he's that close to you."

Akari instinctively yelps with a blush, prompting Emilija to snicker once again.

"Though we don't formally accept any new Protectees until October," Jie continues, "we offer plenty of resources for those who want our protection before the official inductions. Office hours and such. Even so, they usually don't meet us halfway."

"Why not?" Akari asks.

"A thousand reasons," Jie explains, clearly bitter. "We advertise all we can, but we have a stigma. We're annoying to the fighters and intimidating to the Honors students. But being frightening is a necessary part of the job."

"Ah..." Akari utters with a frown.

"A lot of people also believe that joining the Blizzards means joining the fighting culture. They'd rather keep to themselves. Some students carry knives on them for self-defense and leave it at that. But that's risky, because weapons are highly discouraged among the fighters here, so if you use it for self-defense but aren't successful, you'll get sent to hell. We average ten to twenty new active Protectees each year. More people sign up, but don't attend meetings. Hardly anyone uses the pre-October resources."

"That's... unfortunate," Akari murmurs.

"But not surprising," Emilija says. "I can already tell that there's an apathetic air to the Honors students. Not to say they're bad people, but most of them would rather live quietly and avoid anything remotely related to fighting if they can help it."

"Even though Protectees don't have to fight at all," Chao sighs. "We offer training, but it's far from mandatory."

"Do you guys... like, have a way of vetting improvements?" Akari asks shyly.

"We're always open to them," Jie explains, "but we do a harsh job that's hardly malleable. I mean it; our work is tedious, grueling, and thankless."

"Ah..." Akari hunches down. "Well, I already figured that was the case."

Emilija, meanwhile, smiles at the challenge. Bring it on, then.

"We're more or less set in our ways," Jie continues. "The last thing we want to do is experiment and screw up this campus even more."

Chao smiles. "Even so, if you guys want to add your own spice to things, we'd love to see what you can offer."

Akari sighs. "Well, y-you guys..."

"Hm?" Jie raises an eyebrow.

"It'll be a bit difficult to adjust to this... pseudo-police work. Just know, my priority will be saving people. So if I divert a bit from your expectations, please pardon me."

"Heh, did I not just say you can add your own spice?" Chao comments. "Go for it."

Akari shyly nods.

"We can talk more specifics during your first patrol," Jie says.

"Oh yeah," Akari continues, "how do you ensure that the Protectors are fit for the job?"

"Of course," Chao replies, "we host an assessment."

"So tomorrow night, 7pm, at 10 Park Avenue, I will fight Akari, and my brother will fight Emilija," Jie explains. Noting Akari's discomfort, she continues, "It shouldn't be anything crazy. It'll be a friendly match. We want to test your abilities further."

Akari hunches in her seat. There's one big problem. My OCD... Every time I touch someone else, especially if their fluids fly on me, I grow anxious. I can still fight with this hangup, but will the Peng Twins accept it? It can't be helped... I have to endure. This is what I've come here to do!

Akari shakes her head, whisking away her shyness in exchange for a sharp determination. "Very well. Tomorrow at 7, you're on."