Everything about this school and the people in it is bullshit and I want to fight everyone here.

The entirety of yesterday was a goddamn hell spiral that started the moment I stepped foot of the airship and lost track of Kazuki, and came to a breaking point when those shitheads in the grand hall got in their stupid fight, where not only did they hit me, but also threw my headphones off my head.

Neither of them had the dignity to apologize properly, of course. Just when I was about to get my sweet release and crack a couple skulls, though, that meathead-looking asshat who was apparently faculty had to get in my way.

Since I couldn't get into a proper fight, I've been sitting on all that pent-up frustration since yesterday evening with nowhere to unload it all. I mean, I snap at Munsell all the time, but I'm not about to kick her ass or anything just because I need to blow off steam. Not committing to the "unruly asshole" bit that much. Though, if there's one bright side to this shitty initiation exam, it's that I'm finally gonna get some proper action.

That crap about getting paired with a random student still sucks. Fortunately, I think I've come up with a solid strategy to get me paired up with the only person I won't want to smash their face in constantly.

A lavender-colored wolf tail swishes in my face. "...Are you going to put me down?"

I walk over to another random spot on the roof and stomp. "You already know the answer." I say to the one person I can truly call an "ally", currently slung over my shoulder. Seriously, Munsell's been asking for me to put her down for the last half hour, like she didn't even listen to the briefing before this thing started. Is she seriously dense enough that she doesn't understand the situation? Does she seriously think either of us could be partnered up with literally anyone else here?

An image of that Arany kid flashes in my head at that thought. Shit, what if Munsell got away from me and he ends up as her partner?...Well, I'd give me an excuse to kick the shit out of him, I guess…

"I'm getting down." Is all the warning Munsell gives me before she starts wiggling her way out of my hold. I try to fight it to the best of my strength, but sadly, my arms aren't exactly my strongest limbs, and she gets herself free with enough effort on her part. Once free, Munsell landed flat on her back with a squeak of surprise before glaring up at me from her position. "You don't have to carry me around everywhere, dumbass! I can follow you just fine on my feet!"

I return her glare, looking down at her. "I'm supposed to believe that? You were the one that got lost in the forest looking for a different path!"

"I told you there was no way I was going through that muddy river! Why the hell are you always so insistent on doing things the hard way?!"

"It's only the 'hard way' because you're too much of a wuss to do anything right!"

That lights a fire in her eyes. "Too much of a wuss?! God, everything always comes back to that when it comes to me and you, huh?!" While she's going off, she rolls over on her stomach and begins to get up. "You know what, Noriker?! I'm starting to think I'll be better off with literally anyone else but you as my partne-"

It happens too fast for either of us to react, but as she's getting on her feet, her hand presses a switch in the floor that causes the part she's on to flip over, cutting off her sentence as she falls inside the tower.

What?

WHAT?!

Oh, what the hell! This is exactly what I was afraid of! I let her go for less than five minutes, and now we're separated again! And what was she saying, being better off with someone else as her partner? Has she forgotten how much of a wreck she is when it comes to talking to other people?! God, this all pisses me off so much, I need to…!

I raise my right leg and kick the ground as hard as I can. In my rage-fueled mind, I could probably kick hard enough to break the floor and get inside. Also, I just needed to vent out my frustration.

...I cooled off, kind off. Didn't get inside that easy. I stood frozen for a good five seconds, slowly comprehending the growing pain in my foot that had started to creep up my leg. The pain muting all other functions in my brain, I soundlessly stumble back and fall on my ass.

Guess I landed on another switch, since as soon as I landed, my world got flipped upside down. I manage to correct myself a bit before landing, putting myself on my ass again, but this time with a cushion. As soon as I got my wits about me, I turn to see who I landed on,

For it to be none other than that Arany brat.

After a moment, he opens his eyes and, once he recognizes me, we hold each other's gazes for a minute.

"Uh. Hey."

Great conversation starter, dipshit.

"So...we're partners."

Don't remind me, dickhead. I hear the door open somewhere close to me.

"Hey, could you...get off of me?"

Now, that's a request that actually has me thinking. Landing on my ass twice in a row came with its aches, and the pain in my leg is still there. I could walk it off, honestly, but…

"Nah, I'll sit for a bit longer. My ass hurts."

...Well, Kazuki's getting her way on this one, I guess.


The phrase "be careful what you wish for" danced in the back of my mind as I walked down the hall, my new partner ahead of me by a few steps.

"Pretty quiet around here, huh? I wonder if we're just in a dead spot, or maybe the other teams have a good lead already…" The gray wolf ears atop his head flick a bit as he speaks, probably straining his senses to get a feel for our surroundings.

Flynt Blanc, as he introduced himself, is a hard person to get a read on, I've found. I'm not all that great at conversation, and as a result, I'm pretty good at sizing people up just by observing their mannerisms and their body language, but the way Flynt holds himself is so casually guarded that I haven't been able to learn much of anything about him. Every movement he's made in the past thirty minutes since we've linked up has been devoid of any sort of tension, his walk and the way he scans his surroundings made up of fluid and relaxed motions that make his constant alertness not so obvious. They're things that speak to a certain level of experience, which is a comforting thought, but it still bothers me that I can't really make out if he's a trustworthy person using my usual methods.

"You okay, Munsell? You're pretty quiet." Flynt's voice startles me out of my train of thought and I squeak out a quick "Yeah, yeah, right as rain! J-Just keeping my guard up!" It wasn't a lie, really, just a choice not to include why I'm on guard. We're in a dangerous area, after all, so leaving the why unsaid will probably leave him assuming the obvious. I hope so, anyways.

Flynt looks at me with a bit of mirth in his eyes. If he was in any way concerned about my hasty response, he didn't show it. "Well, good idea, but maybe try and relax a bit? Being on guard shouldn't translate to jumping at your teammate's voice." He turned around to start heading forward again, but the moment he stepped forward, I heard the distinct click of a pressure plate being pressed down. "Wait!" Instinct overriding my shyness, I reach for his wrist and pull him back just in time to keep him from falling into the now-open pit before us. The two of us stumble back, standing in stunned silence before the pit.

After a moment, we walk towards the pit and peer down to see a couple of students lying in a net. I'm half-expecting one of them to call up to us, but as the thought crosses my mind, I catch a glimpse of a slight yellow glow coming from the net. "A stunning agent?" I ask out loud to no one in particular, though Flynt responded, "Well, I guess they wanted to immobilize whoever fell for the trap without actually killing them. Comforting to know, really. Even if they have no problem pitting us against the monsters known for slaughtering us."

He turns his attention to me after that. "Thanks for that, though. I guess you're a tad bit better at seeing the traps than I am, huh?" I blush in embarrassment at the praise. "O-Oh, I don't know about that," I responded, "That was only one, and I only saw it after it got triggered, so…" I watch the pit close behind Flynt, who turns around to see the floor restored again, and goes back to where the pressure plate is to step on it some more and see if it opens again. After trying three or four times, he speaks up, "Guess these switches are on a bit of a cooldown. Huh, that might be useful to know…"

I feel like I should respond somehow, but whatever words I thought I should say catch in my throat. Gods, this is the thing that's so frustrating about being me! I get so nervous around almost everyone that I can barely bring myself to speak if not directly spoken to, and even then I have to try my hardest to keep my voice steady and not come off weird to whoever I'm talking to. Flynt glances back at me with a questioning look, almost like he can hear me yelling at myself in my head.

I still can't get any words to come out, even though I'm trying my hardest to think of something to say. He seems nice, so I don't want to put him off…

"...You know what? You should take the lead."

What?!

"Wha-I-uh, I don't think that's a good idea?" Flynt smiles and scratches at his wolf ears. "Oh, don't be like that! You saw that trap before I did, right? I get the feeling you're more observant than I am, generally speaking, so it'd be better if you walked ahead so we know where to avoid!"

I'm not convinced, not in the slightest! Catching that trap was a fluke, surely? Right?

...I don't even know the answer to that one?

"Besides, I wanna watch your tail."

"...Excuse me?"

"You heard me right!" Flynt sing-songs as he runs behind me, standing a respectable distance away. "Oh, but, I don't want to stare at your butt or anything. I'm just jealous of the tail." Said tail is currently swishing around, something it does when I get anxious, and my partner's eyes latch onto it. "The way it sways is hypnotic…" He says like he's in a trance, before breaking his eyes away and looking at his own backside. "We're both wolves, so why didn't I get an awesome tail?..."

...Okay, he's weird. Nice, but weird.


As Shuichi and I entered a new room, I heard a low growling coming from my right. Instinct activating, I drew both of my blades and took a battle stance, my right sword held in a standard grip while my left was held in reverse. In the corner of my eye, I see Shuichi also on alert, though the way he keeps his hands in his pockets says otherwise.

The room is silent for a moment, until a buzzer sounded and multiple clicks sounded off, and a pack of Beowolves emerged from two openings on the left and right sides of the room, about ten in total split between the two separate groups. Scanning the approaching Grimm, I say to Shuichi, "I'll take the ones on the left." He scoffs. "Fine by me. Don't get in my way, or I'll kill you too."

If I had the time, I'd lament that I have a person like this for a partner. Instead, I turn my focus to the left group, noticing some of the Beowolves have started heading towards me. I break into a run towards them, and as soon as one of them is close enough to take a swing at me, I exploit its lowered defenses and deliver a clean strike to its neck, nearly severing its head. As another one moves in to attack me, I dodge out of the way and stab down into its head, piercing through the other side. I take stock of the three left, who are keeping a tight formation, likely waiting for me to attack so they can overwhelm me with numbers.

I change my left sword to gun form, and fire three shots into the center Beowolf. Two land in its chest while the last embeds itself between the Grimm's eyes, eliminating it. My shots also produced the desired effect, causing the remaining two to scatter in opposite directions. The left Beowolf quickly changed its course and headed straight for me, so I stood my ground and waited for it to get close enough for me to strike. Just as it was about to, though, I felt an oppressive force behind me. Glancing back, I saw the other remaining Beowolf already at my back, ready to bite down into me. I curse silently at my blunder, but I don't panic.

I don't need to. I have an out. The instant I see the Beowolf behind me, I activate my semblance, the familiar feeling of aura coursing through my body like adrenaline filling my senses. The world around me slows down, and I quickly track the trajectory of the second Beowolf's swing and duck out of the way, slashing at its exposed neck for good measure, turning towards the last one afterwards and firing a shot through its head at point-blank range.

As my semblance wears off, the world returns to normal speed and I look towards the other end of the room. Shuichi was just finishing up with his group, delivering a brutal axe kick down on the back of his last Beowolf. The Grimm went limp underneath his foot, and he punted the fading corpse away from him before briskly making his way towards the now-open exit. Without any time to process that his legs were apparently very strong, I quickly jogged after him into the next hall. Once I caught up with him, I fell into pace behind him as he silently led the way down the next few corridors, until he spoke up, "You seem on your guard."

The observation took me by surprise. Not only was he still staring straight ahead, as soon as he pointed it out, I immediately became conscious of how tense my limbs actually felt. I guess I hadn't had the time to think about it, but…"Uh...Yeah. Actually, that was my first time fighting Grimm on my own."

"It's not on your own if I was in the same room, dumbass. Or did you forget we're stuck at the hip during this thing?" My partner gruffly shot back.

"Not what I meant," I clarified. "Whenever I've fought Grimm before, my master would always be close behind. Didn't exactly have that safety net back there…"

Shuichi stayed quiet for a moment so I figured he'd just ignored me, until:

"Guess that's true. If you'd started struggling back there, I doubt I would've done anything to help you."

...a few steps minutes later, I noticed a strange indentation in the floor we were coming up on that seemed to indicate a trap.

Shuichi was walking in front.

I didn't tell him anything.

A floor panel decompressed when my asshole partner stepped on it, and with it, several holes in the walls opened up and began shooting darts. I stayed a respectable distance away while Shuichi, caught in the middle of it all, seemed to handle dodging the projectiles just fine.

Until the last one hit him square in the ass.

We both found out pretty quickly that the darts must've been laced with some sort of paralyzing agent, since Shuichi's legs gave out from under him about five seconds after the puncturing of his bottom caused him to let out a yelp a bit unbecoming of his image. Looking both ways to make sure I wouldn't fall victim to some unknown, final shot of stopping juice, I walked up to my crumpled heap of a partner on the floor, him looking quite annoyed up at me from his position. "You knew that was gonna happen."

Well, he's half right. Not that I'd admit it. "You give me too much credit."

"Why didn't you help me with the darts?" Shuichi asked, irritation clearly creeping into his voice, and a smug grin found its way across my face despite myself. "Just taking a page out of your book." He didn't respond for a second at that (Hopefully he had the where-with-all to take the hit on that one.), until he pointed out, "You know you're gonna have to carry me until I can walk again."

I'm immediately hit with flashbacks of a training exercise where I carried granny up the mountain behind the estate and back down in the span of about eight hours. Shuichi is probably heavier. The fatigue spreads through my bones almost instantly.

...revenge is bittersweet…


Flynt took a swing at the last Beowolf, his hammer impacting harshly with the side of its face, sending it rolling across the floor. With a shot already primed on my wrist crossbow, I cautiously scan the motionless Grimm bodies on the floor in case one of them still needed finishing off. It was only with the sound of the exit opening up to us that I allowed some of the tension to leave my body, lowering my weapon.

Even though our work here was done, I didn't see Flynt move at all. For a moment, we just stood in place, until he turned to me, calmly but with some concern coloring his features. "Are you okay?"

I blinked at him. "Y-Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You just looked like you were spacing out." He walked closer to me and bent over so we were at the same level, his face closer than I'd like. "Gotta make sure my navigator is keeping her head on straight, y'know?"

I'm not sure if I should take some sort of offense to that statement. It...doesn't particularly make me feel great when he calls me "his navigator", but if there's anything I've learned from the past few hours with him, it's that he just naturally ignores boundaries.

Maybe that's a whole problem on its own? I don't know, despite all my big talk, I didn't actually expect to get teamed up with anyone besides Shuichi! I've dealt with him long enough to know what he actually means when he says mean stuff, and when he's actually just saying mean stuff, and he also doesn't like close physical contact almost at all, so what am I supposed to do with a partner who's just invasive?

Before I have a chance to get completely lost in thought, Flynt claps his hands. "Well, let's get moving! Every second counts after all~!" Hearing that, I jump to attention and head out in front of him.

For the next...hour or so, we navigated corridors and trapped areas without much trouble. I've found that the design of the tower really isn't all that complicated, and the traps they have set up are actually pretty simple to spot, as long as you're paying attention. And that's the idea, I think...the traps are supposed to be easy to spot by the students who are moving forward with all their senses alert, observing and making note of every detail they find when they scan their environment.

Observing my surroundings is something I do constantly. If we didn't have to fight any Grimm, this test would be a leisure stroll. I doubt there's anything they can throw at me here that I can't find my way around until the lower floors!

...I thought that, until a one-way path led us straight into a dead end.

My entire mind went blank.

"Did we take the wrong way on a fork in the road or something?" I asked Flynt, trying to stay calm.

My partner hummed behind me, and I turned to look at him. "You know...I think…" His thoughtful expression turns bored. "We did come across a fork earlier. Before the Grimm." He shrugs at me. "Door's probably locked again by now? I don't think this is the wrong way, though?"

Not the wrong way. Is that true? The right way wouldn't lead to nothing, though. Am I missing something?

Stop.

Slow down, Kazuki. You're okay. You'll get through this.

I take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Right.

I turn away from Flynt and back to the dead end. "There must be a switch or something to open up a new path." Flynt chuckles behind me, and I'm suddenly aware he saw me in the middle of almost breaking down, and probably knew what was going on. "You check the dead end. I'll feel up the side walls."

The both of us got to work. Rather than stay embarrassed about almost losing it, my mind wanders to thinking about Flynt again. I don't think my nice-but-weird assessment of him from earlier is incorrect, really, but there's definitely more to him than meets the eye. I can't tell if the things I can't figure out about him are a result of him being cagey on purpose or if there's some trauma there, but his personality is definitely manufactured, to a certain degree.

The most authentic things I could pick out from him though came from when he silently followed behind me. I was...put off, to say the least, by his joke about wanting to stare at my tail earlier, but the way he held himself afterwards told me he didn't mean it in a sexual way at all, or even in the weird jealous way he played it off as. It was just a joke, a bit off color, but he wasn't being creepy.

Still made me uncomfortable. I should probably talk to him about it later.

Fifteen minutes, and not a single inch of this wall leads to any sort of button to press. I call back to Flynt, "Any luck?"

"Nuh-uh." He responded. "Maaaybe this was the wrong way after all."

Before I could start to have another breakdown, I started hearing noises from the dead end. I turned back to the wall and put my ear to it, and sure enough, there were people on the other side! Perfect! This might be helpful…

I started banging on the wall. "Hello! Can you hear me?! Is there a switch on your side of the wall?!"

Instead of a verbal response, I heard the sound of a revving engine, one I'm very familiar with.

I turned around and grabbed Flynt. "We need to get back."

"I-What?"


Shuichi could walk again after thirty minutes. He didn't tell me until an hour later.

My arms hurt.

Still, the walk since then hasn't been all that dangerous. I've been taking the lead since I've been able to pick out the traps a considerable distance ahead of us, and we've managed to get down to the twenty-sixth floor like this. Strangely, I wouldn't even have a grasp on our current floor if it wasn't for Shuichi. Apparently he'd been keeping track of our descent the entire time, and only thought to bring it up while I was carrying him.

Regardless, we're almost done with the first half, and it's only been about five hours. With thirteen more to go, I think we're making exceptionally good time.

...and, as much as I hate to admit it, Shuichi's not a bad partner when he actually means business…

Eventually we came up to a split path. Looking down both ways, the left path led to a dead end while the right ended in what looked like a left turn. "Least this one's easy to figure out." Shuichi said, already heading right. I almost followed after him without paying it much thought, until I glanced back at the dead end and noticed some odd characteristics in the wall's construction.

"Wait, I want to check that wall out." I called back to Shuichi, moving away from him before he could protest. As I got to the dead end and started to feel around for a button to press or something, I heard Shuichi scoff behind me. "You better have a damn good reason for wasting our time, brat."

"Brat?!" I say, turning back to him. "Where the hell did that come from?!"

"You're younger than me, aren't you? That makes you a brat."

I huff a bit and turn my attention back to the wall. "Two years isn't all that much…"

"What makes you think there's even anything to press on here, anyways? Just looks like a dead end to me."

"You've said that about every trap you've almost set off."

"Well, sorry my sixth sense isn't on point today, shitty brat."

"It's not a sixth sense, shitty bad boy! You'd be able to pick them out just fine if you just-"

A banging started coming from the dead end and a feminine sounding voice called out, "Hello! Can you hear me?! Is there a switch on your side of the wall?!"

Both of us paused for a moment, before I turned back to the wall, redoubling my efforts in searching for a switch. "There's someone on the other side! That means-"

"Move."

That's all Shuichi said before shoving me out of the way. Standing in front of the wall, Shuichi began to power up his leg bracers, thrusters spitting flames, and he threw a powerful kick at the wall that completely shattered it, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Shuichi turned back to me. "Found your switch, brat."

…I take it back. Shuichi is never not an insufferable partner.

Before I can fire back though, Shuichi shouted into the dust cloud. "Hey, Kazuki! That you over there?"

Some coughing came from the dust cloud, and a short girl came out and stood in front of my partner. She took a black cabbie hat with a red paw print decal off her head of lavender hair and started dusting herself off with it, a bushy lavender tail twitching in annoyance all the while. After she finished, she put the hat back on her head and shot an annoyed glare at Shuichi. "In the future, try not to overcompensate when someone might literally feel the consequences."

"Wha-" Shuichi sputtered at her. "The hell are you saying that for?! Last I checked, you were the one calling for help just now you dumb-"

The girl ignored Shuichi and looked my way. When our eyes met, I felt a...strange reaction, my entire body going rigid when I looked at her, my heart rate felt like it was skyrocketing, and it just kept going up when she started walking towards me.

What the hell?

"You must be his partner, then?" She asked shyly. My words don't feel like they can come out, so I opt instead to nod in confirmation. "R-Right. My name's Kazuki...I'm sorry for any trouble he's caused you. He really is difficult to put up with, but he's not without his good points…" Kazuki paused and looked back at Shuichi, glaring at us silently. "...Even if he tries his best to look as irredeemable as possible."

"I'll kick the shit out of you." Shuichi threatens, but he looks more like a kicked puppy or a pouting child than an actual threat.

This is...an interesting development.

Taking my cue to respond, I clear my throat. "I-It's fine, really. We've been getting by, even though we disagree...pretty frequently…" I scratch the back of my neck, unable to fight down the heat I'm feeling in my face. What's wrong with me? "Anyways, my name's Judas. I hope we can get along."

As I finished speaking, a familiar head of gray hair with wolf ears sticking out invaded my vision. "I knew I recognized that voice! What're the chances we'd run into each other again down here, eh Judy?"

The strange feeling from before disappears. "Oh. It's you."

Kazuki looks at me confused. "Judy…?"

"Don't worry about it." I say, pushing Flynt away from me. "Well, we went to the trouble of breaking down the wall. What's past here?" Flynt didn't react to my shove and responded, "Nothing. We were actually stuck there until you guys came along."

So, the dead end actually led to more dead ends. Great.

Shuichi scoffed and caught our attention. "I'd kick your ass for wasting time, brat, but your detour actually got me back with the only person I wanna be around here. So, this is where we part ways. Thanks for nothing."

Wha-thanks for nothing?!

"You can't just switch partners like that!" Kazuki and I shout at the same time. Shuichi didn't look like he was gonna back down, so I settled for a compromise. "Ugh, fine, since we're all here, might as well team up. That sound good to you guys?"

A sigh from Kazuki. "Shuichi's just gonna do what he wants anyways, so we might as well go along with it."

"You know I wanna hang out with my new friend after all, Judy!"

"Don't call me that! Trust me, the feeling's far from mutual."

"Oh, why are you so mean to meeeee?"

"Can it! Let's get moving!"

"Okay, okay, you don't gotta yell, you shitty bad boy!"

"I'll do whatever gets your ass in motion, brat!"

"Boys...please stop fighting…"

We're almost halfway done with this initiation test. Something tells me the company I'm in might only make this harder from here...


Ahahaha guess who uploaded two chapters and forgot to double-check the formatting hahahahhahhahahah

So, yeah, the first two chapters went up without any line breaks because I forgot how FFNet works. I fixed it the day after they went up, but it's still a bit of an embarrasing mistake lmfao.

This one was a bit of a rough one to get through. I've always had trouble with mapping out the path from point A to point B when it comes to writing, and initiation is exactly that, so I've brainstormed and re-done so many parts of this chapter over the last few months. The length of the chapter and finding a good cut-off also gave me a bit of a hard time.

Either way, it's done, and initiation should be wrapped up in another chapter or two. Let me know what you guys think of the story so far!

See you next time!