Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

83: Papers, Please!

"You are certain you want to choose this agency as your place for a work-study?" Madara asked Elise as they traversed the bustling hall of the building. "I don't want you to be limiting yourself just because we're familiar. I'm sure you could reach out to other, higher-ranking agencies if you wanted to."

She clutched her folders tighter, the value of the single paper with an approval stamp sealed within it making the item seem heavy. "I'm sure, Madara-sama. Even if you're not as highly ranked, you're still Top 10. Nearly Top 5 even."

"I suppose so," the man mused as they entered the elevators.

Elise used the hand not holding her paperwork to hold the doors open for a poor intern, holding a towering stack of documents as they stumbled into the elevator. The hero took three-quarters of the papers from him, and he wheezed out a grateful sigh.

"In either case," Madara said to the girl. "I can get everything you handed me done and sent to U.A. at the end of this week. Will that be quick enough?"

"That's plenty of time, sir. Aizawa-sensei gave us a two-week limit if you need more time."

The doors opened to the first floor and another waiting intern. Madara handed his share of files off to them, not straying his attention from her as the intern pairs toddled off. "No need. It's only right that I do so since you've already put much effort into this. We'll be honored to have you with us again for your work study."

"Thank you for the invitation you gave me," Elise said, mentioning the packet that her teacher passed to her not long after her contact with Astoria.

Speaking of the woman, she was there to greet the pair as they entered the grand receptionist area. Busy in a conversation, Astoria didn't notice them until they were right by her side. She jolted upon seeing the Madara and Elise but soon recovered as she finished her conversation and turned to them.

"Please excuse me. I didn't realize you two were here."

"It's quite alright," Madara reassured. "I know you've been busy."

"God knows we all have," Astoria lamented. She turned to Elise and smiled. "Hello, Wing-chan. How have you been? Busy at school?"

Elise smiled back at the woman, the excitement running through her veins at the prospective success making it a little more genuine. "A little bit. But not as busy as everyone here, I'm sure. Thank you so much for making time for me."

Astoria waved a hand. "Oh, you've thanked us so many times already, sweetheart. You don't need to. Now have you two wrapped up everything you've needed to do?"

"Yes," Madara said while Elise opened the folder in her possession to do a final check. "Anything else you need, Wing?"

"I don't think so," the girl murmured as she finished her checkup. "All of these look good. I'll give them to Sensei when I get back."

The hero nodded. "Good, good. If anything, please contact Astoria or me."

Elise dutifully nodded, only noticing a pair of younger-looking heroes hovering just behind Madara. When he turned, they immediately straightened, and the girl stepped forward.

"How can I help you two?" Madara asked.

"I-Uh, We were wondering if we could talk to the U.A. student!" she said. "We were just curious about some of her experiences at the school."

Madara looked at Elise. "Well, that entirely depends on Wing-chan."

"Uh," she began, caught off-guard. "I'm okay with that, as long as it's not interfering with anything, Madara-sama."