His perseverance was failing; Zenith was winning.

  How long was this line?!

  “NO! YOU CAN’T SEND THIS LETTER!! FOR THE 100TH TIME, ANYTHING BEYOND GRAMARDI TO THE WEST NEEDS A FUCKING STAMP FROM THE CAPITAL!!!” The man behind the counter had been yelling since he entered, not at the same person, thought to this one he had been yelling for the longest it seemed.

  “But I’ve already told you, I don’t have it, so just send it. I’ll pay any extra I’ve gotta.”

  “IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY; IF I SEND THIS, THEY’LL JUST SEND IT BACK HERE, GET THE STAMP, AND PUT IT HERE!!”

  “But I already added a stamp, sir.”

  “PUT IT OVER IT!!!”

  “But that’s not how it works.” Leaning to the side, Luca could see the man, a feathered; a bird-man with white feathers and a long orange beak that had the tip of it bck; his eyes were bloodshot, he was tall and clearly very angry.

  “YOU ARE GONNA TELL ME HOW IT WORKS NOW!??!!” Luca could swear he saw the feathers fall off of him as he dealt with this one. How long was this going to take?

  “Well, I just don’t understand the problem, it’s just a letter to a friend, is it so hard to just send it?”

  “YOU AREN’T FOLLOWING THE CODE; THE RULES HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED IN ORDER FOR THE LETTER TO REACH IT-”

  “But can’t I just skip it?” The silence was almost deafening; the bird-man froze and his eyes twitched, then Luca heard his calm voice for the first time.

  “Is it an important letter, sir?”

  “Huh? Oh no, it’s just to a friend who’ll be back next week; I need to ask him if he’ll be back Tuesday or Wednesday.”

  “And you acknowledge that you haven’t followed the w for sending letters to the west??” Luca would’ve taken a step back if he didn’t have someone behind, the employee seemed like he was going to explode.

  “What, the stamp thingy you kept saying? Yeah sure.”

  “Okay then, give me the letter.”

  “Oh! You’ll send it?”

  “SURE.” He smiled and took the letter with his gray wings. The sight confused Luca, but it seemed like he could operate them like hands, at least, not like he knew how that would work.

  With that done, the next person proceeded, and he was second in line. Luca felt like his free time wasn’t being so free; he still had to go to his room and brush his teeth after the breakfast, which made him realize he had forgotten his toothbrush. The realization made him groan.

  “I’m sorry, are you bored of waiting, sir?” The mailman snapped and was now talking directly to him, his blue shirt with an envelope symbol contrasting with his white feathers. "Well, don’t worry, we open at night, just come back then and stop FUCKING COMPLAINING, CAUSE IF WE START COMPLAINING, I’M NOT STOPPING!!!”

  “S-Sorry I just-”

  “NO, NO PLEASE, FORGIVE US FOR LIVING IN THE SAME WORLD AS YOU!” He just wanted to get the letter papers, but Luca felt like if he said the wrong thing, the bird-man would treat him like a crumb. “LET’S STOP AAAAALL BUSINESS UNTIL MR. PROTAGONIST HERE GETS WHAT HE WANTS.”

  “P-Please I di-”

  “Who the fuck do you even think you are huh?” He was leaning over the counter so much that Luca actually had to lean back so that the beak didn’t poke him. “What could POSSIBLY be so important that you need to make everyone aware of your dismay, huh?”

  “... I-I need letter paper…” He was sweating, the man looked like a coastal bird, and yet Luca felt like he was talking to a monster. “T-They told me I’d get it free an-”

  “OOooooh, you think you’ll get things for free huh?” His smile sent a shiver down Luca’s spine. “Well, only Zenith’s guild members get it free, mister, so I’m afraid you either PAY OR GO HOME.”

  “B-But I’m in the guild, s-sir.” His anger expression softened, more into a confused one.

  “What?” When he leaned back, Luca quickly patted his pockets, looking for the one the badge was in, finding it, he grabbed it with his trembling hands and presented it, the man inspected it and then looked Luca in the face, in disbelief.

  “I-I’m new…” The man looked at the badge, then at Luca, then at the badge again, and then at Luca again. Finally, he groaned and leaned back over the counter again.

  “Agh, TOMOKO! Come here and bring empty papers, envelopes and stamps, 30 of each, NOW!” He yelled to the side, where no voice replied but a groan and some shuffling could be heard. The man focused once again on Luca. “Go to the other side of the counter; my subo- employee will take care of that for you, and don’t bother me again.” With that, the man redirected his attention to the woman in front of him once again. Luca was a bit stunned, but, after a second of thinking, he complied and followed the instructions, standing on the other side of the counter when he heard a woman's voice yawn and a figure walk up.

  “Kaay, don’t yell at me…” The sight made Luca stiffen up as the girl walked up. “And I was having such a nice nap too, whaddaya want?”

  In walked a young woman, around Luca’s age, dressed in the same blue shirt that the bird-man was wearing; her hair was amber and fell to her middle back in a sort of organized mess; her face was round and her eyes red, above her head stood two ears, like those on a fox, though every other part of her face indicated she was human, which made her different from other beast-men he had seen, including the doctor. Luca’s train of thought was immediately interrupted, and his body went into overdrive upon inspection of her body, while a bit on the chubby side, it presented a sight he wasn’t able to bear.

  “Wha- I’VE ALREADY TOLD YOU; 30 PAPERS, 30 ENVELOPES, 30 STAMPS, NOW!!!”

  No, he’d bear it, Luca closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was in control; he was fine. It didn’t matter that her uniform shirt was straining because of the size of her bust, or her bottom pushing her mini-skirt backwards, or the fact that when she turned it made the aforementioned skirt swish and give a glimpse to her rear, which was under two fluffy tails, again like those of a fox; that didn’t matter, he was in control.

  “Jeez, fine, I’m here; you don’t have to scream it.” She turned back and walked off sight again, which gave Luca time to breathe.

  “Calm down, calm down.” He took a couple deep breaths and whispered to himself, both things not too noticeable because of the boss’s yelling. He thought about things to de-arouse him—gross things: animal corpses, the stench of an outhouse when one cleans it, the sight of the succubus dust incident. But finally, what fully did the trick was thinking that at the end of the day, he didn’t have to be nervous; she was a person, like he and everyone else, and she probably wouldn’t be fine with being looked at that way either. All his life, Luca had heard his mother and sister compin about men being perverts, and he resented the idea of becoming one himself, so to avoid being a creep, he’d calm down; he’d be normal, no matter how voluptuous or beautiful she was, he wouldn’t get nervous over lust; he knew his nervousness came from somewhere else when he talked to pretty people, so he’d calm down this time.

  “NOT TO ME, YOU DUNCE, TO HIM!!!” The yelling brought him back from his short meditation, the guy was starting to get annoying.

  “OKAAAY, jeez, rude.” The girl walked over with the stack of paper and envelopes and a little bag. “Are you the one who asked for this?” She lifted all the things, giving him a full look.

  “A-ah, yes, thank you... c-can I get like a bag or something?” He was still flustered, but not because of her body; he was doing fine on that part, which encouraged him to do better.

  “Aaaaah? Suure, give me a sec.” She left the things and walked over to the back once more, to avoid looking at her ass, Luca gnced at the line; he saw multiple men shamelessly staring at her ass. When she fully left sight, all the men eventually met eyes with Luca, who was wearing an angry frown, all of them turned, not scared by Luca, but embarrassed at having been caught. “Kaay, all ready.” She appeared once more with a paper bag and started slowly stuffing everything inside.For some reason she was putting every paper one by one and apparently pcing it in a certain way, which made it so that she took longer.

  “Th-thank you very much.” When he thanked her, she stopped and looked up at him.

  “Oh my gods! You are welcome!” She csped her hands together and smiled at him, as if he had done a favor to her. “That’s so nice; people usually just mumble a “thanks” when they leave!” She seemed genuinely happy, which in turn made Luca smile.

  “Well, you went through the trouble so, haha…” He rubbed the back of his head; he still needed to dominate the whole “talking to new people” business.

  “Yeah! It’s okay though, it’s kind of my job, hihi.” A good point, but he wasn’t exactly gonna take the gratitude back. As she stored all the papers and envelopes in the bag, in an assumed very neat fashion, Luca’s eyes wanted to drift down, but instead he looked around, and down, and everywhere else, why was he so horny? He had gotten off that very morning, thanks to the- Don’t think about that, don’t think about that, don’t think about that. “Oh, you should probably prepare the money while I do this, it’s gonna be like a silver or something.” She spoke while pcing and setting correctly the first of the envelopes. “Hey Gus? How much does 30 of this cost?”

  “I DON’T KNOW WHAT PLACE YOU MEAN, MA’AM! THERE ARE A LOT OF REGIONS TO THE NORTH!” Luca hoped there was a doctor nearby for the man’s apparent soon to be heart attack.

  “I-It’s fine; I‘ve been told guild members get these free.” He spoke as he showed the badge again, the woman side-gnced at him, then at the badge, and then turned her head to face him again. With wide eyes, she stared at the badge, and her hands, frozen in the action of putting another envelope in the bag, dropped said envelope as she gasped slowly.

  “You are in the guild?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Uh, novice but yeah, I st-” A squeal pierced his ears before she covered her mouth, stopping it.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry everyone, sorry Gus.” Everyone had turned to look at her, but she apologized on time, and they all went back to what they were doing, mainly waiting or yelling. Luca felt his jaw unclench as his ears rang a bit. “Are you really a guild member? For real real?” She was now apparently beyond her task and instead leaned over the counter, completely enraptured by the idea that he was in the guild.

  “Yeah, like I said, I joined only yesterday, but um...” He felt weirdly uncomfortable, she was clearly filled with admiration for a strong new member of the guild, but he joined without any issue; he didn’t have the studies or the abilities of a true member, not yet at least.

  “That’s so awesoooomeeeee!” She stepped back into the counter and giggled. Luca felt guilty, feeling so gleeful for a guy who just had luck, and yet he felt worse about lying to her, so he raised his hand to interrupt her.

  “S-uh, sorry to say, ma’am but-”

  “Tomoko! Tomoko Kyushutsu1pronounced TO-mo-ko KEW-shut-su!” She grabbed his hand and started shaking it, to which he could only respond by shifting his hand in hers. After shaking it properly, he let go, but she didn’t. “You are strong, hihihi." She giggled, but it didn’t seem like anything was funny to her.

  “Ahaha…” Calm down, control yourself, calm down, control yourself, calm down, control yourself. “W-Well thanks, but, sorry to say, I’m not really a full full guild member.” She didn’t respond, but she did tilt her head, confused. “You see, I got accepted, but I haven’t trained or gone to the university... never even asked really.” She opened her eyes wide and finally let go of his hand, leaning back into the counter. “So, sorry to disappoint, but yeah.”

  A full minute of silence passed; she simply stared at him, eventually Luca got worried.

  “Tomoko! You better not be scking off; give him his shit and go back to sorting.” The boss didn’t yell but was still very angry. Looking back at Tomoko, she was now putting the items in the bag once again in the same neat fashion, but not looking at them. Luca felt awkward, but it was better than lying.

  “S-Sorry, I shoul-”

  “I don’t get it.” She finally spoke, tilting her head to the other side while putting the things in the bag. “What do you mean no studies or nothing?”

  “Well, I’ve never studied the dungeon or magic or anything, or trained or even fought anyone really.” He shrugged. “S-Some high-ranking guy just invited me to join, and I did…” She kept looking at him with the same expression, he was getting hot again, but out of embarrassment, not arousal. “W-What about you? What do you do?”

  “I go to uni.” She said, in a very dry voice, as she finished putting the small bag in the big one.

  “Oh… cool, which one?”

  “Zenith 's.” Ah.

  “Oh, cool! I-I’m actually, uh, rooming with a guy at the university too.” He smiled awkwardly as he tried to reach for the bag; she was acting weird, and Luca finally deduced why. It was because she was studying and putting in so much effort, and yet he got in without trying. In all fairness, she was right to be mad at him. Luca just wanted to get the interaction over as soon as possible. “Anyways, thank you again for the-” As he reached over to grab the bag, when his hand wrapped around the handle, hers wrapped around his, keeping him in pce.

  “Hang on, so you didn’t have to pay or ask or anything? You just… like, got in?” He didn’t need her to remind him he wasn’t worthy.

  “Y-Yeah, basically.”

  “Huh…” She then grabbed something from under the counter, and according to the sound, started writing something. Luca was nervous, her hand was soft and warm, and his own hand was inches away from her bust, which stood unmoving from the tightness the shirt had it in, all paired with the embarrassment he was not used to feeling, made for a very strange feeling that he didn't enjoy. “Like, in the stories you mean? Like the guy with no arms, or the dragon dy and all?”

  “Yeah! Yes, yes, like that.” Luca had always loved the stories of legendary heroes more than most other things, hearing them and imagining more; that was really the only thing he did when he didn’t have anything else to do, the only other thing that he wouldn’t feel guilty about doing when he wasn’t helping. “I helped the previous director of the university with a thing, and he invited me so... yeah.”

  “Oh, well, that’s also very cool!” She finally smiled, regaining the happy demeanor she presented before, which allowed Luca to breathe again. “Well, nice to see that the guys in the legends are nice.” She took her hand back and giggled, Luca felt his heart start beating faster, so he quickly grabbed the bag and started walking back.

  “Haha, well, I don’t know about that, but thanks, Tomoko.” Her name was pretty strange, but he wasn’t going to question that now, as he went to turn to leave, however.

  “Wait! You forgot a paper!” Had it fallen from the bag? It seemed smaller as she waved it around.

  “O-Oh right.” He got near and opened the bag so she could drop the paper inside; however, as he did get closer, she then grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to the counter, leaning over it again to be near his face.

  “Hope I get to see you again, Mr. Got-in-without-even-having-to-ask.” She spoke in a sultry tone, her voice barely above a whisper again and her breath hot against his face, as she let the paper fall in the bag, she let go of his hand, which made Luca stumble backwards.

  He wanted to say something, but instead a shaky ugh and a weird sound came out, so he turned and left as he felt his face get warmer and warmer and as he heard her giggle drowned out by the bird-man yelling.

  Once outside, Luca slumped over and put his hands on his knees, catching his breath. The turn from the embarrassment, to her closeness and the warmth that brought, made sure that he relished the feeling of the cold breeze on his face. As he sighed in relief, he controlled his breathing and gnced inside the bag.

  He was right, she was writing something, and looking inside it was a small piece of paper written in red ink, which read:

  “My break is half an hour after 3 pm

  I hang out in the back alley

  hope to see you there sometime <3”

  Luca knew he shouldn’t go there; he wouldn’t do it today, of course, and he should focus on the guild, sex was prohibited anyway, so he didn’t have anything to do with her, nor a retionship to hear her giggle more, nor sexual acts to see her body out of the uniform. And yet with all this in mind, as he stuffed the note inside his pocket and closed it for security, Luca, tried as hard as he might’ve, couldn’t get rid of the smirk and the blush that had arisen from reading the note.

  Time: 9:30