The sound of an obnoxious blaring woke David up from his near hour of sleep. He tapped the off button, hopping out of bed and grabbing the clothes off his desk. He made his way through his daily routine (shower, food, and bashing his head into the wall) all the while still wondering what to write his report on. By the time he was outside, he was still unsure. He was wearing a pair of khakis, a blue t-shirt, and a brown jacket, his bag hanging off his right shoulder. "Hmm?" A holographic window appeared to his right. He reagusted his glasses, tapping the accept button. He plugged the ear bud hanging off his glasses into his ear, holding the microphone to his mouth.

"Um, hey David. It's Monika, the training manager at Victorian Hall? I'm calling about some trouble with your current ranking. Do you have time to meet with us sometime today?"

"Uhhhhhhh…ok."

"Oh, wonderful! Don't be worried, really. No real trouble, just a tiny problem."

"Ok."

"Alright. Um, I'll be free at 2 today. Sound okay to you?"

"Ok."

"Fantastic! Really, absolutely fantastic. Alright, well, I'll see you then. Good day now!"

She hung up. He stood stock still in the middle of the sidewalk, face paler than a piece of printer paper. "...AHH-

…

"Alright everyone, you have ten minutes to finish the worksheet, starting now." In front of the small classroom, where everyone was only five inches from each other, stood a man in a brown suit and dress pants, tapping away on a hologram invisible to everyone else until a timer appeared in the corner of everyone's glasses. The class went silent, the only sound being that of pencils vigorously scribbling against their worksheets. "Hey, David, you all good?" David turned toward the boy speaking to him. He was wearing the same pair of khakis, a black long sleeve, and a red scarf. "Nothing much. I ran out of bread, so I ate a bowl of jelly, and now my insides want me to drown myself." He had a hard time believing he had actually said that, but decided to go along with it. "Sure. And I actually don't hate my family." David rolled his eyes. "Samuel." A voice came from upfront. The boy next to David grabbed the chalk inches from his face, giving the man in front an arrogant grin, not noticing the second price of chalk flying through the air until it had pushed the first price of chalk out from between his fingers and into his forehead. "Ahh!" Samuel laid his head on his desk.

"Well, where's all that shade now?" David said, grinning. He also received a piece of chalk to the head, sending his face into his desk.

…

"Oh, David!" David gave the woman at the desk a forced smile. Her blonde hair hung halfway down her back, her eyes were a deep blue and she wore a black suit. Upon arriving at the front desk, the woman sent a window share request. After hitting accept, a holographic folder dances onto his display. It opens, spewing out a pile of papers. The first page is a picture of him, with his basic heroism information;

Name: David Thomas

Persona: N/A

Level: 25

Rank: E

David gulped. "You said we were talking about my ranking?" The woman nodded. "Just an explanation first." She said, flipping to another page. A graph, comparing his demon kills to time passed. After June 4173, there's a notable decrease in killed demons, maybe one or two a month. "Ever since the incident, you've been far too inefficient in hunting. Before this drop started, you were a Level 22. It's been three years now and you've only gone up by three levels." David scratched the back of his neck. "Yes ma'am." She flipped to another page. "Due to this, we're dropping you back down to Rank F, until you can get back on track." He'd seen it coming, but it still hurt. "You mean back with the 12 year olds." She ignored his comment. "This change has already been brought into effect. I'm very sorry." David was unable to meet her look. "Okay." He finally mumbled and started walking away. "Uh, wait." David stopped. "I also want to discuss your lack of a team mate." He turned back around. "Why's that, ma'm?" She cleared her throat. "W-well, we believe the main thing holding you back is the lack of a team member. As a support type hunter, your offensive options are limited. So, I may have set you up some interviews." The stack of papers in his vision disappeared, replaced by another, filled with the information of a couple hunters. "..." He wasn't sure whether he wanted to blow up or thank her.

"Where do I go?" He finally asked. She points to a staircase on the right. "From there, you take the left staircase and there will be some rooms. Check the papers for their room numbers." He rubbed his forehead, thanked her, and made his way to the staircase.

…

Nobody was interested. As he sat on the stairs, pondering that fact, he couldn't help wondering why he'd bothered indulging her at all. He almost slapped himself for saying that. "She cares about you, jackass. Maybe you could stop being such a dick in return." He spoke quietly before getting up. He made his way down the staircases and back to the counter, giving her the best smile he could muster, before explaining the results. Her face darkened."I'm sorry, David. I was sure at least one of them would be happy to work with you." He nodded along with what she was saying. "I can keep looking and call you when I have some more." She offered, giving him a look he could only believe was undying pity. "Yeah. Thank you." He turned around and began walking to the door, when; "I honestly don't know why you bother with that guy. He's already in F rank, let him rot in obscurity." "Charlie!" "What, Monika? What makes this guy worth it?" Monika couldn't respond, and David didn't stick around to see if she did.