Headmaster's Office, Oscuro Academy

Several thoughts are duking it out in the mind of the Headmaster. What to do is not up for debate, the question is how fast does he set this off? The disappearance of May can not be kept a secret for any useful length of time, as people are inevitably going to ask where she has gone by tomorrow at the latest.

But does he tell the leaders at Shade now? Is it worth more to wait to be the damage control, or to officially break the news? Doing this wrong could cause a firestorm aimed squarely at his head, and with the way Vacuans are combined with how popular May is… Let's just say that's not a good recipe to ensure his survival.

But waiting also lets someone else define the narrative. They're more likely to just consider her as just a passing news item, another casualty on the ever-growing list. That would be the worst possible outcome.
With that risk in mind, he picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Theo. We've had another Code Yellow."
"Unfortunate. I wish you and your academy better luck in-
"No, no. this one is the mother of all Code Yellows."
"You're kidding."
"Nope. She's gone."

"...*sigh* I'll get the news network on the line. You better have a plan."
"Of course."

The call quickly ends. Now all he can do is sit and wait…

️

A short time later…

Most every TV in Vacuo is currently set to the #1 TV program in the kingdom, The Town With No Name.

"Alright boys! Take ten paces up the street, then turn and shoot!"

The main protagonist is facing off against Nasty Ned, one of the most feared criminals in the whole town. They have settled on a classic duel to determine who gets to live another day.

They turn toward each other and fire! The protagonist has won!

"Caramba, that really hurt. Ohh, I'm gonna fall over now so byeeeeeeeeeeeeee…"

As Nasty Ned collapses, he can finally go back to the saloon for his next tar-

!¡!BREAKING NEWS!¡!

"The stealthy, lovable May Zedong has been reported as missing! She was last seen departing on a mission as part of Team BRNZ. With us now is the Headmaster of Oscuro Academy for some comments on this developing story."

It cuts away quickly to said academy, where the Headmaster stands at attention. It is easy to see that this was set up with extreme haste, as the camera barely has him in focus, and is also slightly tilted. Those are being fixed as fast as possible, but it still is not ironed out when the headmaster begins to speak.

"No, you are not having a nightmare. The news report is correct. I have tried to locate her, but with no success. I have left Team BRNZ to themselves out of respect for their privacy. It is as hard of a time on them as it is for anyone. She will be deeply missed here at this school. As my final statement, I ask of you Vacuans to please, please do not lash out at anyone, especially her other team members. It is not their fault. Always keep her in your hearts!"

"We will have more on this story as it develops. But for now, that is all for the Vacuo Express. We will now return you to the regularly scheduled programming."

And just like that, the cutaway is over, and The Town With No Name returns to air. But few are watching now, as the entire kingdom recoils at the devastating news.

This quickly gets repeated all across the kingdom on many smaller news stations, even making the jump to other Kingdoms. Before long, almost everyone on Remnant had either seen or heard of the sniper.

Life at Oscuro is completely changed for the next 24 hours. The usual training and target practice is quickly cast away in favor of a circle of mourning and prayer. Only the great King of Vacuo, the one that saved their homeland from domination during the Great War, enjoys any higher level of respect than this one girl.

There is very little crying in this circle, but the sadness is still like a stake stabbing straight through the heart, keeping the mood in a permanent raincloud. If BRNZ wasn't revered before this moment, they sure are now, not only getting full support from every team underneath them, but even getting an offer that was unthinkable just two weeks earlier...

️

Today it is Nolan's turn to sort through the fan mail. On the first day, even the combined efforts of all three hunters weren't enough to sort through it all. They were so overwhelmed that they had to request two days off from training to deal with this paper problem, which the headmaster was all too happy to oblige.

Luckily after those two days, it started to level off. They quickly got to the point where the three combined made quick work of the paper mess, and then they went farther, leaving only one guy behind to do the sorting. It is now Day 8 of that plan, and it is Nolan's third trip through this horde.

'Let's see… yep. More fan mail."

Almost all of it is messages of support and sometimes admiration, but so many have been sent that by this point only the first sentence is read. They quickly go into a pile, along with all the other letters, some merchandise that a scrupulous vendor started to sell shortly after her disappearance, and the many many cheap "Get well soon!" type cards.

However, there is one more pile that hasn't been talked about just yet… the love confessions. Oh yes, those have come in too. Brawnz, as leader and the objectively most attractive of the three, has been getting most of the love, but Nolan and Roy each have a couple to their name as well.

Brawnz has been feeling out several of those. Maybe that is part of his coping mechanism? Who knows. Regardless, it seems to have had no success so far. Nolan just throws his out though.

On about the 60th envelope, his hands feel a distinctly different texture, something completely unlike the other 59. He looks down and sees the distinctive gold that lines every single edge. This one is important. He carefully opens it up and begins to read:

️️️

Dear Team BRNZ:

We here at Shade Academy commend you for sticking together after the unfortunate tragedy of May Zedong's disappearance. That shows extreme toughness and motivation, both highly regarded qualities of true huntsmen.

With that, and your top performance during the first three years of your enrollment at Oscuro, we here at Shade are happy to extend an official offer to join us as an official team starting next year. We hope that you will find this opportunity enticing, and are willing to take the plunge. Although this is understandably a tough decision, we hope you make your choice quickly. The students would love to welcome you!

~Professor Theodore, Headmaster of Shade Academy

️️️

Nolan looks at it again, seemingly making sure that it was not some sort of cruel prank, and handed it off to Brawnz.

"Do we go for it?"

Brawnz reads the letter, then hands it off to Roy.

He reads it, and even he does not have a strong reaction.

"Honestly, I'm not feeling it. It would be unfair to her, and the rest of the teams to get a leg up like this."
"Yeah, it just doesn't seem right. And besides, why can't we enjoy an extra year at the top?"

Everyone agrees with Brawnz's idea. So the letter is put into the fan mail pile.

And now we come full circle, right back to the Headmaster, the one who kicked off this entire chain. But now he has another problem to tackle: What does he do with the empty spot? The tradition, as it has been for decades, has always been to just replace them as fast as possible.

Originally, the Headmaster was just going to pluck someone off the street, but doing that is a bit… complicated now. If he says that the lucky guy/gal is being selected to replace May, there is a decent chance that they will just reject it outright. And the ones who don't are probably… less than savory.

️️️

What makes things even more messy is the memorial that was set up. In one of the corners of the academy, there is now a gravestone dedicated in her memory, along with an ungodly amount of flowers spread all over it. And it's popular too. Just this week there were 5 people who visited. And that's with the "no trespassing" sign.

So just up and replacing her does not seem like the right option… Hold a contest?
Nah, that just seems too cheesy… and imagine the outcry from doing something like that…
The thoughts of Vacuans rising up against him force that little idea so far out of his mind that he can barely even remember thinking about it.

With no good options, he'll just punt on this question for now. BRN works well as a fighting unit, and they will still easily make it through the rest of their time here with no problems. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

Filler. That's all this is. But I wanted a bit more non-Chinese stuff before I really went off the rails, the next chapter will be all up in there, deep in the annals of Communism.