Throughout the duration of the Beginning of the New World, more commonly referred to as "The Rapture," a number of settlements sprung to the surface to shelter the remnants of humanity. A majority of them hadn't the strength or resources to survive for long when faced with the Amalgamations and the cut-throat nature of the world, and the few that did could only last for so long before they broke down, internally or externally.

  However, despite these difficulties, there were two settlements that managed to not only survive, but thrive in this new world, going above and beyond to become global superpowers.

  One was the Western Union: a gathering of nations that preside over a majority of the western portion of the super-continent, as the name implies.

  The other was the Order of Rejuvenation, which, while having a few branches scattered nearby, primarily ruled over a section in the east.

  With both factions sporting incredibly powerful military forces, the resultant stability and security made it possible for some semblance of the old world's modern society to shine through. Many commodities such as cellphones, music, games and so on had returned. Even things like...

  Chime chime~

  Cafes.

  "Here you go, Ms. Joy. One latte macchiato with a slice of fresh vanilla sponge cake."

  Almost as soon as he placed the steaming mug down in front of her, she picked it up and took a long, slow sip, breathing a sigh of approval right after.

  'I guess I made it right. That's good. She always leaves good tips, so it's only fair that I make a good cup, right? N-Not to say that I wouldn't do the same for any other customer, but still!'

  "Wonderful. You have a real way with coffee, love. I can't count how many times I've had you make this same drink for me, and it still feels new every time. You know, the offer always stands for you to come work for me. I could always use someone of your talents." As she made the comment, she gave him a look.

  In response to that, while his face heated up, his eyes seemed to change. Once bright green irises that he had in common with the woman in front of him quickly faded out in favor of light pink in one, and yellow in the other. That seemed to be the intended result behind her comment, as she let out a light chuckle.

  "Haha~ That's something else that'd be nice to have around. I've never met someone with eyes quite like yours!"

  "Eh-hehe... W-Well, not to be rude, b-but District 3 is a bit far for me... B-Besides, I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find someone better than me! A-And on top of that, I wouldn't wanna accidentally break one of your expensive vases or paintings or anything! I-I mean, I couldn't afford to fix or replace a single one of them in several lifetimes, even if I got more jobs than I already have, a-and--"

  Chime chime~

  However, before he could go on with his nervous, sweaty rambling, the sound of the bell by the door chiming swiftly caught his attention. He quickly snapped his head back to the entrance, spouting a quick, "Hello, welcometoMiramon's, pleasetakeaseatandI'llbewithyouinasecond!!!"

  In response to his barely intelligible garble, he heard the new customer let out a loud, hearty laugh as he made his way closer.

  "Now, now, Agatha, let the poor boy breathe! Hahahaha!"

  "Oh, Mr. Muhlfeld!"

  The man who had walked in was Nolan Muhlfeld. A fairly decorated Pack Leader within the Order's Stray Hunters.

  Off appearances alone, one would assume the towering, muscle-bound man was a hard-ass; a wild animal ready to rip the head off anyone who even mildly inconvenienced him; however, at heart, he was a jovial, kind-hearted person. As displayed by his boisterous trademark laugh.

  "P-Please, take a seat! I'll be with you in a second."

  "No need for all the formality, Liam." Mrs. Joy cooed, waving over to the other empty end of the booth she sat in. "Come sit with me, Nolan. It's been so long since you last visited, let's catch up!"

  Without hesitation, Nolan walked over, sliding into the booth with the woman, "I see you're as chipper as ever, Agatha. I'm sure that's been doing wonders for the young barista's nerves."

  "Nonsense! I'm practically Liam's favorite customer. Isn't that right?" She asked the brunet with a grin, however, rather than answering her, he would focus his attention on the new entry, avoiding eye contact more than usual.

  "So, what can I get for you?"

  "Hey, don't you know it's rude to ignore a lady when she's trynna prove a point?!"

  With the order received, Liam nervously laughed his way to the counter.

  Meanwhile, Agatha sighed, turning her attention back to Nolan. "Well, anyway... It really has been quite some time. Has the Guild been giving you so much work you couldn't even drop by and say hello?"

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  "Something like that... I've been putting in extra hours these past weeks, hoping to get promoted so I could make some more money to get Jenny into one of the colleges in District 12, or at least around it."

  "Oh," Liam hummed, returning to the booth with a caramel cappuccino in a tray, topped with a generous dusting of sweetened chocolate powder. "How has Jennifer been? It's been a while since we've seen you, but with her it seems like it's been forever!"

  While Liam placed the mug down, Nolan turned to him with a quirked eyebrow, dropping his friendly smile.

  "Hm? I've never heard so much interest in your voice before. Is there something you wanna tell me, Liam?"

  Yellow and pink returned to his irises at the man's comment, anxious despite knowing the scowl on his face was anything but genuine.

  "P-Please don't start as well. I can only deal with one of you at a time..."

  Both Nolan and Agatha would get a laugh out of that, with the former taking a quick sip of his drink in-between.

  "Hahaha~ Sorry, sorry! Jokes aside, she's been well. Top of her grade, making her parents as proud as ever." He said fondly. "And, like I said, with her nearing her college days, I want to make sure she makes it into the best one possible."

  "And that's where the extra hours come in. Aren't you a role model? Working so hard even at your age." Agatha chuckled, poking and prodding at her sponge cake.

  Nolan grumbled in response, "...Aren't you older than--" but shut up quickly after the woman fixed him with a glare. Clearing his throat, he moved as swiftly away from the comment as possible, putting one hand into the pocket of his jacket. "So, anyway, some extra elbow grease and goodwill later, and I find myself with... this!"

  He would then pull his hand free from his pocket, happily presenting a laminated card to the two.

  Underneath a picture of Nolan, the insignia of the Stray Hunters' Guild, and his name, was his rank. His new rank.

  Muhlfeld, Nolan

  Rank: Pack Leader, 2nd Class

  "Congratulations!" Liam cheered, "That's when the money starts getting really good, right? S-So I've heard."

  "You'd be right. Only two promotions till I hit Tertiary and maybe I can make it to an early retirement, haha!"

  "So, you hanging up the cape for a bit to celebrate?"

  "I wasn't going to at first, but the brats at the Guild wouldn't stop hounding me until I accepted, so I'll be taking a few days off."

  "Perfect!" Suddenly jumping out of her seat, Agatha would run around the booth, grabbing Nolan's arm and dragging him onto his feet, showing a surprising amount of strength as the more muscular of the two protested.

  "Wait- What the- Agatha???"

  "Come on, I've been waiting for an excuse to get your workaholic self onto a dance floor. We're hitting the nearest club, ASAP! We can even drop by the guild and pick up your trainees."

  Though Nolan dug his feet, Agatha still managed to push him closer to the cafe's exit, laughing excitedly.

  "Wait a second-- I still have reports to make--"

  "Then you can do that when we stop by the guild~" Although, before they left, and with Nolan gripping the sides of the doorway, Agatha turned back to the speechless barista, "Oh, right. Before we go, Liam."

  She would then reach into her purse, pulling out a sizeable wad of bills, not bothering to count them before laying them down on a nearby table, "Some extra for the phenomenal service! ...And the floor!" she added on, briefly glancing over to the skid marks on the once-clean tiles.

  "O-Oh, uh... T-Thank you! Have fun, you two!"

  "L-Liam, help, please! I can't deal with Agatha and the Guild in the same day, I can already feel my brain going numb! Huh--?"

  Without warning, Agatha put her hands at the man's sides, tickling him to make him let go of the doorframe.

  "Enough of that, you big baby, let's go party!"

  With the two out of the door, Liam could only wave confusedly, slightly concerned for his senior.

  Now with the cafe emptied, he turned to the stack of money that the woman had left on one of the tables, walking over and taking it into his hands. As he counted the money, his brain temporarily short-circuited.

  "...Th-This is two-hundred notes... E-Everything only came up to f-fifteen, i-including Mr. Muhlfeld's drink..."

  District 3 was full of heavy spenders with deep pockets, but Agatha Joy was definitely the most... frivolous...

  Well, after that whole,,, thing with Ms. Joy and Mr. Muhlfeld, not many people came into the cafe.

  I guess that's lucky for me. I spent most of the rest of my shift trying to process the fact that one of our regulars decided to leave one-hundred and ninety-two notes as a tip...

  'I know she's rich, but, geez...'

  At first I thought keeping it would be too greedy ─ I should definitely give it back the next time I see her ─ but... knowing her she'd probably just laugh it off and tell me to forget about it...

  Not that I'm ungrateful or anything! It's a lot more than I deserve, sure, but God knows I could use the money...

  But anyway, I don't have a shift at the bar tonight, so that means I've got the rest of the day free.

  Problem is, I've got nothing to do...

  It's not like I could go home right now. It's only four PM. If I spent the rest of the day lazing around, I'd feel like more of a good-for-nothing than usual...

  Maybe I could take on a quick mission?

  There were a few job listings available on the guild app earlier, although knowing how these things usually go, they've probably been picked clean...

  Ah, well. Not like I have many other options, and some extra money is always good to have. I might as well check.

  I just gotta grab my phone━ ...Where's my phone?

  W-Where the heck did my phone go?!

  No no no, there's no way I lost my phone! I always put it in this pocket where the hell could it have━

  Oh... It's in my other pocket...

  ...Eh-hem... Anyway, let's see what's up for grabs!~

  Hm...

  Oh, there's one! "Low-tier Amalgamations sighted near the borders of the Guardhouseeee━" And someone else took it...

  Come on, did you have to take that one specifically?

  It's not exactly hard to be stronger than me, y'know? You could have taken one of these other listings that are totally out of my league!

  Sigh... Well there goes that plan.

  ...I could go... get some food...?

  That actually sounds kind of fun. I could head over to that restaurant around the corner, get something light like a slice of cake and catch up on a book on my phone━

  Wait, wait, wait... What time is it?

  ...16:33.

  So that means visitation is in half an hour! I could just go over to the hospital to visit Emily.

  It has been a couple of days since I dropped bye... Some older brother I am, leaving my little sister on her own for so long. And instead of thinking about that I'm over here making plans for lunch by my lonesome.

  Not to mention I didn't even think about texting Adam to see if he's doing alright!

  Man, I suck...

  But that's fine. It shouldn't take long to get to the Fifth District if I take the maglev. I could use some of the money Ms. Joy gave me to buy her a gift as an apology, can't I?

  Yeah, let's do that!

  Operation "Brotherly Apology" is a-go!

  BEEEEEEP!!!

  "GAGH! S-Sorry!!"

  Oh, God, I was doing that whole mental monologue in the middle of the crosswalk...

  That's really embarrassing...