In half a year Shouri Tomoshibi’s life had gone from directionless to driven. However, today was another day for him to question what in the world he was doing. Sitting in a small meeting room alongside his three Resonators, the air was stuffy. Whoever was in charge of the ventilation systems needed a serious talking to. (It wasn’t going to be him.)

  The warm muggy air that hung in the room only compounded the discomfort he felt from his new attire. He hadn’t grown used to the formal jacket, nor the glasses sitting on his face. Pacifica insisted on the frames though, backed up by Taika and Rebecca after they saw him sporting them. It was all for visuals, but either way…

  …he feared he may have unlocked something in his loyal trio.

  The door opened and the quartet rose.

  Shouri extended a hand over the table for the new entrant to the room. “Good afternoon, Mister…”

  “Leary, Tristan Leary,” he said, shaking Shouri’s hand.

  “Shouri Tomoshibi, I am the guild master. Please, have a seat,” Shouri motioned to the chair opposite the four.

  As all gathered took their seats, Tristan noticed Taika. He raised a brow at the Lunar element who was the only one behind a laptop screen. Her eyes were closed, arms folded across her chest. Without moving at all, there was the distinct sound of keys on a keyboard being pressed.

  “Ah, my apologies, allow me to introduce you to the panelists for this interview,” Shouri motioned to the trio.

  “Pacifica, she will be asking you questions regarding your interest in our guild.”

  “Rebecca will be delving into your prior experience as a Maestro.”

  “And Taika will be handling any note-taking that needs to be done.”

  Tristan nodded slowly. “If I may ask sir, will you be part of the interview?” the applicant asked.

  “No,” Shouri said without missing a beat. He pushed his glasses up and smiled. “I hope that is not a problem.”

  “Not at all!” Tristan exclaimed. The keyboard came to life again upon completion of that comment, drawing his eyes to the lunar element.

  “Good afternoon, Mister Leary, do you have any questions before we begin?” Pacifica spoke up, once more earning a jump from the applicant.

  “Uh… no,” he replied.

  “It’s okay to be nervous. Interviews are pretty scary,” Pacifica said with a smile. He simply nodded in response.

  “First question: Can you tell me about yourself and your history with Resonators?”

  Tristan shifted in his seat for a moment before answering. “Well, I’m currently a duelist, but I’m uh, not a very good one. I was thinking about trading my license in for a hunter license.”

  Rebecca spoke up next. “How do your current Resonators feel about that?”

  “Oh! Uh, I haven’t talked to them about it yet,” he replied.

  “I see,” said Rebecca as Taika’s keyboard furiously clacked away in the background.

  After a sufficient amount of time in silence passed, Pacifica moved on. “Right, next question. How did you find out about our guild?”

  “Uh, I found it in the upcoming guild listings. I wanted to see about getting in on the ground floor of something,” he admitted.

  Pacifica nodded. “I can see that. That answers my next question, so I suppose I’ll move on. Do you find yourself getting along better with Maestros or Resonators?”

  “Well-” He bit his tongue as he mulled over his answer. “I uhh…” he tried to fill the space.

  “Take your time,” Pacifica said with a patient smile.

  After about thirty seconds of silence, Tristan found his answer. “Resonators.”

  “Why?” came Rebecca’s instant inquisition.

  “Uh, they’re just easier to talk to?” he stammered out.

  “Is that a question or a statement?” her expression sharpened, though it was clear she was trying to fight off a glower.

  Tristan gulped. He was sweating at this point.

  “Darn AC is on the fritz,” Shouri commented, easing the applicant’s anxiety.

  “Statement,” Tristan finally responded.

  “I see.” Rebecca nodded curtly.

  Another harsh silence followed, only broken up by the clacking of Taika’s keyboard.

  “Let’s move on to the next question; why are you the best candidate for our guild?” Pacifica folded her hands on the desk, offering an expecting smile to the man.

  Who immediately crumbled under the simple question.

  “I uhh.. well um…” he stammered, doing everything he could to avoid looking the otter in the eye. “Well, I like Resonators and I’ve worked with them for a while, and uh…”

  Rebecca removed her hands from the table, slowly sliding them onto her lap. She closed her eyes, instead focusing on the novel Taika was writing with the insane clip of notes that were being penned up nearby.

  “Thank you for your time, Mister Leary,” Pacifica spoke up suddenly. “Sho?”

  “Indeed.” Shouri rose to his feet, walking around the table and to Tristan’s side. He offered a hand once again. “You’ll hear from my Vice guild master in the coming days regarding our decision.”

  Tristan accepted the handshake but hung his head. It was obvious to everyone in the room what that decision would entail.

  Once the applicant had left the room Pacifica spoke up. “So? What do we think?”

  “Hell no, let’s get out of here,” he waved his trio out of the room.

  None of them were going to argue with that and shuffled out of the room behind their Maestro. The Lyreann Maestro Affairs Office was generous enough to lend them some meeting rooms to conduct these interviews, but they did have to vacate fairly quickly afterward.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Man, nobody is gonna actually make it to my questions, are they?” complained Rebecca.

  “People aren’t good at lying,” said Pacifica with a shrug.

  “Non.” Taika shook her head.

  “I’m not just letting any Joe in off the street. If we could find kindred spirits out there as hunters, we can definitely find them in the guild system,” Shouri stated.

  They came to a stop in the lobby, and Shouri lowered his head. “Then again…” he mumbled.

  “Maybe people like us don’t end up in the guild system?” Taika suggested.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Shouri replied quietly.

  A quick glance around the lobby told him what people thought – the eyes that lay upon them now shimmered with a sort of reverence. Now it wasn’t just his Resonators that earned attention, but he himself held his own share of the presence.

  Shouri’s gaze fell on the emblem stitched into the breast of his jacket. It was a dual crescent design, the top half green nestled into a larger brown one. A hand extended to the inside of the circle formed by the two crescents holding a small green sprout. The letters PTRS were overlaid in the bottom right corner of the emblem. The symbol of their organization they thought up after a couple of days of brainstorming.

  “A spout of new beginnings,” Taika spoke up.

  “and a helping hand at the root of our cause,” Pacifica sang.

  Rebecca coughed, her face splashed a bit of red.

  Pacifica grinned, suddenly wrapping an arm around her fellow Resonator’s shoulder. “Come on Rebby, you like it~” teased the otter.

  Poor Rebecca tried to make herself smaller, refusing the provocation.

  “Come onnnnn you said it was cute~” Pacifica continued to tease.

  “I told you that in confidence!” Rebecca hissed.

  Shouri smiled and shook his head. He pulled his glasses off and pocketed them. “Come on girls, I want to get out of this stuff and see what the others are up to.”

  “I’ll grant you this Mister Tomoshibi, your vision is grand,” Elijah spoke over the tuner.

  “Say no more, today’s a bust on your end too,” groaned Shouri, throwing his head back.

  Now back in his usual lighter clothes, the boy sat at the desk in his room at the MA Office.

  “We’re a guild now, why don’t we get a nicer room?” Rebecca complained, sitting on the desk Shouri was at.

  “MA Offices are neutral grounds,” Elijah spoke from the phone. “Even I am treated as no more as a commoner when I stay there.”

  “Bullshit. You got that lady to let me and Zino scrap that one time,” Rebecca pointed out.

  “That was merely to cover any damages you two may have caused. The fact that they were considering asking the Klein Foundation to front the cost of such incursions should more than prove their neutrality,” he countered.

  “Tch,” Rebecca clicked her tongue, snapping her head away from the direction of the tuner.

  “Do you have any good news Klein?” asked Shouri.

  “Nothing you don’t already know,” Elijah stated simply.

  There was a brief moment of silence. “You,” the Klein heir paused, choosing his words carefully. “You haven’t had the time to check the group chat, have you?” was what he decided on.

  With a big dramatic sigh, Shouri pulled a second tuner out.

  “Vince will join us when we have a proper guildhall, and oh, Emily will be back in a week. That’s news,” noted Shouri.

  “Surprised Vince’s folks didn’t kill him for getting arrested again,” Rebecca chuckled.

  “They seem like nice enough people. At least this time he was on the right side of history,” Shouri said.

  “My ears are still ringing from mom and dad screaming at us. I thought they were gonna take me away for sure,” Pacifica shuddered, remembering the verbal assault they had gotten when they finally broke the news to her parents about what they had done.

  “Anywho, I must get going. The real estate market won’t conquer itself,” Elijah cut in before a whole conversation started.

  “Wait,” Shouri spoke up.

  “Yes, Guildmaster?” said Elijah with a titter.

  Shouri squirmed at the title; one he still hadn’t grown entirely accustomed to. Strangers were fine. His friends on the other hand… well, all of them knew it was a button to press.

  “Maybe we could get something more of a fixer-upper,” Shouri suggested.

  The line remained quiet for a moment.

  “A property in poor condition that we have to fix ourselves,” Shouri clarified.

  “Ah yes… the context makes that obvious, doesn’t it?” Elijah said with a sheepish chuckle. “I’ll let our agent know.”

  “Thanks.”

  And with that, Shouri was left back with his thoughts and Resonators.

  “I have an idea Sho,” Rebecca snapped him out of his thoughts.

  “What’s up?”

  “Well, we always found more people to our uhh, taste out while hunting. Like that Solana chick and her Resonators?” Rebecca recalled.

  “Yeah?” Shouri raised a brow. He hummed and stroked his chin. “Yeah…” he muttered. “Hunters are more likely to be people who actually give a shit about others,” he mused aloud.

  “Right! That’s my thought! I mean there’s always bad apples, but letting people come to us isn’t working out,” Rebecca continued her train of thought.

  “It’s a good thought,” Pacifica chimed in.

  “So we’re going hunting tonight?” Taika asked.

  “Looks like it,” Shouri couldn’t help his smile. “Let’s get ready.”