"Hey, you- you just said that you have a powerful Matriarch." Tatiana came closer to Ana and introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Tatiana and-"
"Ah, second weakest." Anya pointed at Tatiana.
"What!?! I'm not weak! I'm just- ugh!" She immediately stopped herself from losing her composure, and slightly glanced at Ana who was looking at her blankly. "I mean, I'm still learning and I've come to this academy to gain experience and knowledge, so even though my skills are a bit rusty at the moment, I do plan to improve and become one of the best, no, THE best, soon."
"Hah! You and the best? Stop dreaming, you foolish girl!" Dima had a sudden change in demeanor towards Ana. "Master D-rank, please forget about her, and do not involve yourself with lowly trash like that." Dima rubbed his hands as he cozied his way to Ana. "Instead of her, obviously, I am quite experienced when it comes to judging who-"
"Says the one who was just insulting us." Toti chuckled from behind Ana.
"Ugh, I mean, ahh…, Master Toti, that was just a misunderstanding, please do not hold it against me-" Dima desperately tried to redeem himself.
"Trash." Anya pointed at Dima this time.
"Anyway!" But Tatiana cut over. "Like I was saying, I am very much willing to learn and incorporate myself in the role of hunting, so I believe I am quite capable of being a good friend."
The reason everyone was trying to lick Ana's boots was because it was the crux of the competition here, to get a contract from a good matriarch, and where else would be easier or a better place for a newbie hunter to search for a good matriarch than in their class, where a 'D-ranked hunter' was proclaiming by himself to have a 'powerful matriarch' backing him.
And such is the shrewd way of making friends here, if you do not have looks or money or power or anything worthwhile, just get a strong matriarch as support and you're set as the most popular kid in class.
And ofcourse, just hope that your Matriarch doesn't cut your tongue for abusing her name.
"He has a matriarch contract?"
"What is his name?"
"I have never seen him before, who is he?"
"Look, he easily beat up Dima."
"Why is he standing with that weirdo though?"
The first year hunters had gathered around Ana and his group and begun to chatter among themselves.
"..." And Ana only stared at Tatiana without saying anything, clearly realizing that he got a little carried away because of his useless pride.
"I-I may not have multiple connections like him- but I-I have insight and I have studied chess ever since I was a child, so I'm pretty good rated at it", Tatiana was saying that, unlike Dima who claimed to have multiple connections, she was better at strategizing and in providing data on matriarch battles.
"Uhm, look everybody, I understand that you all want to befriend him, but-" Toti was trying to calm the rising fires that were spreading to the nearby students who had also come closer, in hopes of understanding and connecting with Ana.
However, a screen message popped up infront of Ana's eyes, which made him react swiftly.
He walked towards Tatiana, and after putting a hand on her shoulder, he faintly said something, so that no else could hear anything.
Tatiana's eyes widened in response, as Ana gave her a condition and walked away alone from the open field.
"Wait! Don't leave me!" Toti ran after him, cutting through the crowd that was suddenly very eager to ask him who the new guy was, trying to catch up to Ana without falling behind.
Dima on the other hand clicked his tongue and kicked the dirt on the ground, before turning around and walking away as he shouted at the gathered crowd. "What is it? Have you all never seen a D-rank before?!"
The crowd had different responses, some mocked Dima, some wondered who Ana was, some claimed that he was lying, and some, who were standing far far away, talked among themselves about the new grey haired guy.
"What do you think about him, Feya?" Sergei asked the girl standing beside him.
"..." But Feya only looked at Ana stoically, without any comments, maybe trying to assess his words and strength.
"I think he's all talk and no show." Lara, a strong hunter girl herself, who was also standing beside Sergei, replied in her stead.
"We'll see if he's telling the truth soon." And Garold, on the other hand, didn't really indulge in matters that were below him.
"Haha, you mean the Matriarch Supremacy Tournament?" Sergei seemed to like what Garold was indirectly hinting at, for it was actually an unpromised battle between Garold and Sergei, to see who would be the only standing contender in the upcoming Academy Matriarch Tournament.
"No, the Dungeon Practicum." Garold, however, didn't think Ana was worth the mettle, and he turned around upon seeing the instructor coming. "If he survives that, then maybe I'll consider fighting him."
"Hahaha, scary, very scary." Sergei tried to make light jokes to calm the tense air that had accumulated around these top first year hunters when the words 'Matriarch tournament' and 'Dungeon Practicum' came up. "Am I not right, Nikolai?" Sergei then turned the flow of the conversation towards a guy who was standing a few feet away from them, behind a tree, and silently staring at Feya.
"Nikolai? What do you think?" Sergei called him again.
Nikolai, with his long ash hair covering half his face, and his extremely muscular body, sent sharp death signals towards Sergei with his murderous eyes after being bothered twice.
But Sergei only smiled back at him, for it was not Sergei's nature to fight everyone over everything.
"He'll die soon." Nikolai, on seeing Sergei not back down, spoke his opinion and turned around too, but not before looking at Feya one last time.
"Ah-hahaaha." Sergei, who had tried to ease the atmosphere, had in turn made it more cold and icy, so he only scratched his head and laughed meekly.
"Everybody gather around!" Luckily for Sergei, the instructor's loud voice came soon and ended their monotonous discussion.
All the students, except Ana and Toti who had left, made a straight line infront of the instructor as was their usual routine before the physical education classes started.
After seeing that everybody was in their places standing in the attention position, the instructor spoke again,
"As some of you might be aware, one of your fellow hunters died last night."
The crowd did not erupt in gossip this time, as they were strictly disciplined to stay silent when the instructor spoke, but internally most of them were wondering who it was, while some had already figured out that it was Klein.
The instructor then asked them to maintain five minutes of silence for their fallen comrade before informing them of the activities that they would be performing today, which was mostly just strength training and agility exercises.
The class then continued as usual without Ana and Toti, except for one person, 'the class weirdo' who, just like she does every day, gave the excuse of feeling unwell to escape the arduous training, and sat down in her usual spot, looking towards the direction that Ana had trod towards.
"Mhmmhm." Anya happily sang lullabies by herself, as she looked towards the place where Ana's back had last been seen, smiling like a child, while she whispered under her soft breath. "Butter Butter Butter."
Her eyes were sparkly, and her glossy lips were like an unsaid warning, but inside her beautiful visage, was a bright and radiant gloominess that would lay red rot to every crimson death.
"Hey." And as Anya was enjoying it all alone, Tatiana's voice reached her ears.
Anya smiled as she looked towards the 'amber haired second weakest girl', who had never bothered to pay any attention to Anya before, suddenly becoming very interested in having a conversation with Anya, so much so that she too had taken a little off time by giving the same excuse of feeling unwell.
"I-I…" Tatiana swallowed her pride. "I want to be your friend too…" She said as she crossed her arms and averted her eyes from Anya.
Anya smiled again, understanding that her old best friend had yet again given her another gift.
"Sure." Anya quickly accepted Tatiana's confession.
Tatiana, who didn't think it'd be this easy, became jolly at once, her joy of being one step closer to Ana, and in hindsight, getting closer to a contract, was going smoothly and successfully.
"But." Anya didn't finish just yet. "Anya wants something."
"Huh?" Tatiana, who was almost jumping in joy, suddenly came back to reality upon hearing Anya's new condition for friendship.
"Go bring Anya some cigarettes." Tatiana's new friend gave her a small task, a task that she would start doing from today and be continuing till a long, long time…