📍 City Streets
The cobblestones clacked under Kiyoshi's boots.
Beside him walked a boy — twelve at most,
beast-human, canine ears flicking at every stray sound.
Wide eyes taking in the town like it might disappear.
Kiyoshi had found him outside the bar.
Orphan. Tagging along out of curiosity,
or maybe just loneliness.
Either way, he hadn't said no.
*YANK.*
A hand seized his sleeve.
He turned.
Sakura. Arms crossed half a second later
like she hadn't just grabbed him.
"Where exactly are you going?
You just walked out. This isn't Tokyo —
there are actual thieves out here."
"I know," he said.
"Do you."
Fair point.
He scratched the back of his neck.
She was just — here. Looking for him.
That was something.
He thought about what she'd said at breakfast.
Her mother waking up to an empty house.
Nobody to call. Nobody coming.
His own parents would be worried sick.
But they knew him — if Kiyoshi went missing
they'd say he was probably fine and wait,
and they'd be right to.
Sakura didn't have that version of this.
She had a mother sitting alone
who didn't know where her daughter was
or if she was ever coming back.
He couldn't fix that.
But he could at least not disappear
into a random street without a word.
"Sorry," he said. "I should've told you."
She looked at him like that wasn't
the response she'd been ready for.
"We're going to the A.M.O. building.
Come with me — I'll explain everything on the way."
She glanced at the boy with the canine ears
standing slightly too far away,
pretending he hadn't heard any of it.
Then back at Kiyoshi.
"Fine," she said. "Lead the way."
Not warm exactly.
But not closed off either.
Somewhere in between —
the way things are
when two people are still deciding
if they trust each other.
———
📍 Streets Leading to the A.M.O.
He filled her in as they walked.
The Adventure Management Organization.
The licenses. The ranks. The system.
The beast-human boy trailed behind them,
quiet but listening to every word.
Sakura's arms stayed crossed the whole time.
Her expression softened a little, though.
Just a little.
———
📍 A.M.O. Building
The doors were twenty-five feet high and ten feet wide.
Stone. Heavy. They groaned open like something
that hadn't been asked nicely.
Inside — organized chaos.
Adventurers everywhere.
Grizzled ones with old scars. Fresh ones with new nerves.
A massive wooden board covered one wall,
rankings carved and updated in ink that still looked wet.
Kiyoshi scanned the top names.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ A.M.O. PUBLIC RANKINGS │
│ Top Adventurers │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. Rayan Asmiya ( Human ) │
│ 2. Tagato Harlos ( Dwarf ) │
│ 3. Nanime Elfior ( Elf ) │
│ ... │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
No older noble names. No royal guards.
Either they didn't bother with public boards,
or they kept their power somewhere harder to read.
The line for the test snaked through the hall.
Kiyoshi and Sakura stood in their patched-up clothes,
drawing sideways glances from every direction.
Inside, the ranking board was still being updated.
More names. More results.
Yamu and Sumu came back from the test hall first.
Heads low. Not looking at anyone.
"E ranks," Yamu muttered, kicking at the floor.
"Barely worth the ink."
The boy behind them — Kavato — hadn't moved.
Still that same chin-up confidence.
He looked at Kiyoshi.
"Let me go first.
If those two only got Es,
you might not even make it to your test."
Kiyoshi felt something firm up in his chest.
He wasn't sure if it was pride or stupidity.
Probably both.
"Fine. I'll bet C or B, minimum."
Kavato smiled. Extended his hand.
"Kavato Ramiya.
You've probably heard of my family."
Something flickered behind his eyes again.
Gone before it settled.
Kiyoshi shook his hand.
"Kiyoshi Cari."
He glanced around once — no guards, no escort.
A Ramiya heir standing completely alone.
That was strange.
He stored it away next to everything else
he didn't have answers for yet.
"We shall see," he said.
———
The wait was long.
The hall rang with steel and bursts of light,
each test announcing itself whether you wanted to hear or not.
Kiyoshi stood in line and thought about nothing
useful at all.
Each of them placed their hand on the crystal ball, then it show there rank and glowed.
———
📍 A.M.O. Steps | Results
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TEST RESULTS │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────────┤
│ Kavato │ E rank │
│ Kiyoshi │ E rank │
│ Sakura │ B rank ← !!! │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────────┘
Sakura walked out and the gangs descended immediately.
Sakura walked out of the hall
and two adventurer gangs immediately moved toward her,
tossing out offers like she was already spoken for.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GANGS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Flame Bladion │
│ Gallant Gang │
│ Iron Fury │
│ Yamogi Gang │
│ Warisus Gang ⚠ criminal syndicate │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
She shook them all off.
One by one, with the kind of patience
that looked polite and wasn't.
Meanwhile Kiyoshi and Kavato sat on the steps
and said nothing for a while.
Then Kavato nudged him.
"Guess we're the rejects."
"Guess so."
"You need anything — just ask.
I'm the runt of the Ramiya litter.
Feel like they'd rather I disappeared half the time."
Kiyoshi looked at him.
Behind the bravado, something pulled tight.
A rope holding more than it showed.
"I don't buy that," Kiyoshi said.
"You've got something ahead of you.
I can feel it."
Kavato laughed. Short. Sharp.
"Yeah, sure. Keep dreaming."
He stood. Brushed off his pants.
Started down the steps.
Halfway — he glanced back.
A smile. Surface only.
Then gone into the crowd.
Kiyoshi watched him leave.
Noble kid. No entourage. E rank he didn't expect.
A smile that didn't reach his eyes.
There was a story there.
He filed it away.
———
"Sakura. Let's go."
She was still at the bottom of the steps,
finally free of the last gang.
Rubbing her temple like something behind her eyes
had decided to be inconvenient.
"Show some respect." She didn't look up.
"I'm a B ranker. You could at least —"
She stopped.
Her hand dropped from her forehead.
She was looking at something he couldn't see.
Something with a faint blue tint,
hovering right in front of her face.
"Blue screen?" Kiyoshi said.
"I can't see anything."
"I can."
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SAKURA — STATUS │
├─────────────────┬───────────────────────┤
│ Rank │ B [ Level 1 ] │
│ HP │ 100% │
│ MP │ 500 │
│ Skills │ 0 │
│ Storage │ 5 │
│ Title │ Dark │
│ Type │ Assassin │
└─────────────────┴───────────────────────┘
Kiyoshi blinked at the empty air in front of her.
Then his own screen flickered into view.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ KIYOSHI — STATUS │
├─────────────────┬───────────────────────┤
│ Rank │ E [ Level 6 ] │
│ HP │ 100% │
│ MP │ 100 │
│ Skills │ 0 │
│ Storage │ 2 │
│ Title │ — │
│ Type │ — │
└─────────────────┴───────────────────────┘
He stared at the MP.
"Why is mine so low?"
Sakura scanned hers.
Something in her expression shifted — less irritated,
more like someone reading something important carefully.
"MP is Magic Power. Mana.
Skills drain it. The stronger the skill,
the higher the cost."
"And if it hits zero?"
"E rank — you're paralyzed for a month.
Can't move. Can't fight. Can't do anything."
Kiyoshi looked at his number again.
Sakura had five times that.
And she was B rank on her first day.
He looked at his Type field.
The dash where something should be.
"Rest restores it," she added.
"Potions too, if you have the money."
He did not have the money.
He had one gold coin and a sword
nobody had assessed yet
and a rank that said he was barely worth the ink.