The examiner began reading the first profile, but seemingly just looked at the goal's section, before handing it back.
The examiner laughed, "Oh, I see. Another saikyo wannabe. I wonder what rank this one'll get. C or D. What was this loser's name again?"
The guard checked, "Akuma Kuro."
The examiner froze. He had heard that family's name before. "K-Kuro? Did you say Kuro?"
"Yes", the guard checked again, just to be sure.
"We ought to be careful with this one. Who's the other?"
"The youngest daughter of the Mori clan."
"How old are they?", the examiner suddenly became interested.
"Both fifteen."
"Wow, we keep getting 'em young. I guess none of them can wait to join us."
...
Akuma entered the examiner area. In it was a solitary girl - the examiner was clearly late.
As Akuma approached the girl, something felt off.
She had perfectly normal brown hair, was in perfectly normal clothes, and was absolutely normal - but she couldn't've been normal.
Akuma was absolutely confident of that.
It wasn't until she flicked back her hair that he noticed. Strange ears - she was an elf.
"Hey", she spoke in a polite, friendly voice. "I'm Takara Mori, of the Mori clan."
Akuma reached out his hand, "Akuma Kuro, of the Kuro clan." He made a point of including that.
She had obviously heard of the clan, yet still willingly shook his hand.
"Must be hard for you, huh?", Akuma had no clue what she was referring to. "I mean, living with the Kuro clan. I heard they were pacifists - what are you doing here?"
Despite the rude nature of what she way saying, to Akuma, it all sounded as polite - almost like a princess.
"Oh - I'm here for a job", he had been slightly stunned by her question. No one else had really cared to ask.
He wasn't sure why, he wasn't normally that awkward, but something had come over him - something different.
"Well, good luck", Akuma admired her genuine voice.
"You too", for some reason, likely for the same reason that he was so stunned, Akuma couldn't help but be polite to her.
Was it a skill? No. Surely not.
No such skill ever existed. It had to be something else. Something more natural.
"The examiner is taking forever", Takara complained, making small talk.
Akuma laughed and faintly smiled, "Yeah."
Despite the sheer mundanity of their conversation, Akuma couldn't help but feel that this mundanity was different from all other mundanities. Better than all other mundanities.
He truly enjoyed the conversation. More than most.
It wasn't long before the examiner arrived and ruined all that.