74: No Naps Allowed

After letting Class Zero explore the town on Cerbos Lake’s edge for the afternoon, Angelica sent out a message as she walked out of the hunter’s association.

[I’m going to be grabbing dinner near the town center if anyone wants to join. I will ask all of you to join me around 8 pm though so that we can all go to the Hunter’s Association though. I want to formally register you all since being registered through the school will be annoying once you graduate. It will also be useful since we will leave starting tomorrow for our first scouting trip.]

All across the town, the phones of Class Zero buzzed with the notification. As hands all pulled the phones out of their respective pockets, the seven students adjusted their evening plans to make the evening appointment.

---

“I don’t think we need half the restaurants on this list, if we cut out entries ten to fifteen, I think we can make it.”

“What about entries nine to fourteen, I do really want to go to that pastry place.”

“I’m fine with anything.”

---

“This simulation room has too many entries to finish even within a day, so I’m fine with cutting it short whenever. We do need to eat at some point though.”

“Want to join Angelica then? Since we’ll be coming back to the Association anyway?”

“Sure.”

---

“I mean... were we going to do anything?”

“I was going to try and take a nap...”

“No naps allowed.”

“Then how about we go grab dinner alone somewhere? Some more peace and quiet?”

“Sounds good to me.”

---

By the time eight pm rolled around, the sky had already darkened. Due to how north Cerbos Lake lay, the sun’s light diminished every day far before dinner time. Lamps dotted the streets, casting warm cones of light onto the pavement below and stray townspeople walked around chatting as threads of life flowed through the streets.

Ryker, Electra, and Angelica jogged down the side of the street, arriving at the Hunter’s Association with light steps and even breaths. Nyssa, Celeste, Albion, Titus, and Conrad greeted the three of them with a wave and walked over from the side. A round of short greetings—along with a short apology from Angelica for their tardiness—later, they headed through the double doors into the Hunter’s Association.

The anachronistic view from before remained unchanged; yet, as the group walked in, Ryker and Electra froze for a half-second. People occupied most, if not all, of the tables. Cups of beer sat on many tables and music played in the background while laughter and conversation filled the room.

Nyssa’s hand found Celeste’s as they navigated through the chaos of the Hunter’s Association. Her eyes wandered as they walked, and, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the four hunters they had met at the beach. They sat together on the second floor, pushing their glasses of beer together in celebration.

“How may I help you tonight?” The receptionist asked as their group walked up. Sat behind a desk with a large wooden frame in the wall, the receptionist had a state of the art computer sitting off to the side waiting for input.

“I’m here to formally register these seven in the Hunter’s Association. They have a school-linked profile already, so you can sync them later, but I want them to have a normal account,” Angelica leaned against the wooden desk, tapping her fingers against it as she talked. “Just print out the forms and I’ll have them fill them out and hand it back to you.”

“Sounds good,” The receptionist smiled, craning her neck to take a look at the students. “All you all aware of what this entails?”

With most of the students shaking their heads, the receptionist reached over and grabbed a stack of pamphlets. “So you’ll be filling out a form with a lot of personal details, no need to stress over it too much, but they are all required to fill out. The Hunter’s Association is a government-linked organization so we are under a lot of strict regulations; especially since we have to follow the regulations of all the countries we operate in. Thus, no need to worry about all your information being sold. By registering with the Hunter’s Association, you still preserve many of your rights, but do consent to being monitored to a certain extent for unlawful behavior that would unnecessarily endanger the lives of innocents. Understand?”

A wave of nods greeted her like a crowd of ducklings before their mother. Following the show of understanding, the receptionist navigated through the computer’s interface with practiced motions, pulling up a form and printing out seven copies.

One small battle with the printer later, and she handed the forms over to Angelica with seven ballpoint pens. “All of what I just mentioned and more is restated on the forms. Please don’t leave the building with these pens, but otherwise, take your time filling these out.”

Angelica, with the forms in hand, spun on her heel and distributed a pen and a form to each of the students. “Let’s go find a table. I was looking earlier and all the open ones are on the second floor, so head up the stairs to our right.”

Leading the way, Nyssa and Celeste took the stairs two steps at a time before searching for an empty table. Even on the second floor, the vast majority of the tables sat full with hunter’s unwinding and socializing after a long day.

“Beside Kael, Kallix, and them?” Nyssa proposed while squeezing Celeste’s hand.

“I’m down,” Celeste nodded. With the hand carrying the paper and pen, she pointed to the empty table beside the team of hunters from before and turned to look at the others. “How about over there? It’s also near the edge of the second floor area looking over the first floor.”

After a stream of agreement, Conrad leapt in front of Celeste and Nyssa, taking the lead and sliding to sit down on the end of the table’s attached bench. “I’m gonna fill out this form so fast, I'll be done before you all are even halfway. This is where I demonstrate my MAGNIFICENT academic abilities to their fullest. One’s deserving of a main character!”

“Lock in, Conrad!” Titus goaded him on with a laugh. “Pull out the secret shadow dragon–form filling out technique you must have!”

“Of course!” Conrad pushed up an invisible pair of glasses on his face. “Watch and learn, my supporting cast.”

“Most stupid comment I’ve heard in a while,” Electra shook her head, “I thought you were past this type of stuff, Conrad.”

“Merely suppressing it for you mere mortals!” Conrad pumped his fist as his pen began blazing across the paper. Circles began to rotate around his eyes as he fired up his system to its fullest effects. “Let the powers bestowed upon me flow through my vei-”

“Oh! Nyssa and Celeste! We didn’t notice you two here!” Kallix interrupted from his table. “When did you all arrive? Nice to meet you all by the way!”