Reincarnated: Help The Loser!

Chapter Nine

She ignored the looks as Seven looked around with excitement as they walked into the giant building. All around them were Adventurer hopefuls, ages from eighteen to their thirties. "This is it! We are going to be Adventurers! We are going to form a guild! We are gonna make friends and parties! So many parties!"

Noah laughed loudly as he patted his head, "Seven, calm down! We still have to go through testing and get a license, but have no worries, we can do this." He pumped his fist into the air with a grin. "We studied, we trained, we did everything for this test. Now we just have to see if we can pass. If not, we can try harder next year!"

{Hehehe, don't worry, host! We can cheat on the written test! Easy!} Seven told him mentally, giggling lightly. Noah stumbled, before he moved to the side, smiling at the pretty white haired man who glared at him. Noah gripped his bag straps, straighten them out. {So all you have to worry about is the physical part, okay?}

{No, no need for that, Maia's memories are good enough. I have faith in us, we will only cheat if we can't pass next year, okay?} Noah scratched Seven's chin, ignoring the disappointment coming from their bond. Noah looked at the numbers and letters on the lockers.

"A-4-18, A-4-19, A-4-20!" Noah insert a bit of his magic into the small gem before putting in a code. It popped up, showing a couple hooks and a big space to put his belongings in. Noah unhooked the straps before shoving it into the locker. Clicking his tongue, Noah struggled with the carrier. "One sec, I am gonna slip it off-huh?"

Noah looked behind him, Pretty Boy! He grinned at him brightly. "Thank you, I am N-Maia! Nice to meet you!" Noah held out his hand, the other one held Seven up. "This is Double O' Seven!"

The pale man looked at his free hand weirdly before shaking it with a blank face. "Salutation, I am Jacque Hearne."  Noah could help but feel like Jacque was judging him, despite the small polite smile he gave. But he couldn't do much about that, mostly because he didn't know why he would, let alone cared about his opinion.

If Noah tried to care for every stranger's opinion about him, his self-esteem and happiness would be crushed beyond repair. So Noah moved on and went to get his test room number with a spring in his step. Seven's happy mode infecting his host's emotions, after all, how hard could this be? Its just a small test.

-x-

Seven sweated as his host stared blankly at the thick packet seating on their desk. This test... the book never mentioned anything about this! The two thought together unknowingly with a dark cloud hanging over their heads.

Seven felt like crying when his host went to the very back and look at the last page number. 578 pages, his poor host had to finish this in six hours with no breaks. Seven wanted to complain to the administrators about how harsh this test is, his host should at least get a bathroom break and a lunch one too! {What do they even do with all of the paper after this?!}

Seven quickly looked it up in this world's database with a silent prayer to all of the previous testers. {They copy it, then they recycle it into paper for the next test. On the Internet and forms, they say that if you eat the paper, you can test the despair and tears of previous testers.} Seven sniffled before looking down at the monster. To think their first hurdle would be this terrible, Seven tried not to tremble and show fear in front of their enemy.   

And the letters... they are so small!!

-x-

They were practically crawling out of the test rooms, their hands cramping, head pounding and their eyes dry and red. Noah felt like a zombie shuffling around with its herd as they all headed to the lunch room. Where free food was given out and near bathrooms which already had long lines.

Even with Maia's body which can go ten hours without going to the toilet, they felt like they were about to burst. Fortunately, Noah lucked out and got a room close to a restroom. One he had shamelessly ran to as soon as they were let free. He felt like he was in high school all over again.

Everyone dead inside, hoping they had scraped through testing as they all ate a terrible unhealthy dinner. God, Noah missed this feeling, if only he had his friends here. Then he can tease them about not studying or for worrying too much about it. Oh look, he made himself sad.

He huffed and shoved the slightly below room temperature salad into his mouth. Seven chewed on his own food, Beast Partners were able to choose from a small selection of food, which Seven had no problem with eating. In his mind, he was technically their Partner, so this food was his and his stomach can eat anything.

A tray was dropped lightly on the table next to them, making them look up with food hanging from their mouth. It was Pretty Boy, Jacques or something like that. Noah quickly swallowed the food and wiped off his face. "Hey, what's up, my dude? How was it? You think you pass or scraped by?" 

"I passed, of course," he said smoothly before taking a bite of his fruit salad. Noah gave him a thumbs up before he continued to eat with no manners. "I must ask, but why in the world did you have your Beast in a pet carrier? Especially such a high leveled one?"

"Because I don't like walking, humans never care when they are in big crowds! I would rather be carried and sleep," Seven answered him honestly. His little hands feed him more of the chunky soup he got, making little satisfied sounds between bites. "I don't know why others get so grumpy, I heard this one Beast curse out his human because she had put a leash on him. He's blind! She just wanted to guide him better in the city!"

Seven started to gossip about the other partners he had seen on the street. He didn't understand why Beasts made such a big deal out of collars, it was just a Tag to show that you are already Partnered with a human. He was extremely happy with his own collar, in his mind, it meant that his host didn't want anyone to steal him.

"Calm down, remember that not everyone thinks like you." His host said quietly, Seven blew a raspberry before going back to his food. "I know that you are proud of your collar, but for others, it might make them feel like they are being looked down on by people. It's okay to have different opinions, but it's not okay to spit on others' views." Seven slumped forward as he chomped down on his spoon.

{ Unless their opinions totally fucking suck. Like people who say rape is the fault of the victims or that saying no means yes. Those you can shit on, for all I care.} His host added mentally, Seven only nodded, feeling upset by the fact that his host scolded him in front of one of the Supporting Male leads. Not that Noah knew that. They have a horrible time with names, especially supposedly fictional people.

-x-

A pebble hit the water,
making small waves. Underneath the waves,
fish swim away,
the seaweed continued to sway.
The Sea life is strong,
a little pebble is nothing.
It will take more to destroy,
more than a pebble,
Perhaps a whirlpool?

What are they? Will they be nothing but a small wave? A small stone that only forces fishes to change  their direction? The Universe wonders silently as it looked on.