The male stranger told Midori to get me off of the ground, which she did by pulling me up from the collar of my shirt in a manner that almost resembled a lioness picking up her cub.

I dusted myself off and went to check up on Aviorah, who was now coming to.

I crouched a bit and poked her on her left arm with my right index finger.

"Nap time is over, Aviorah. Don't you know it's rude to sleep on the job?"

She sat up and rubbed the left side of her head.

The male stranger said, "Good, now that everyone is wide awake and functioning, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Samba Morikawa, the person in charge of the entire organization as of recently."

He is roughly around 6'1, pretty average build, with short jet black hair that was neatly combed, and dark blue eyes and tanned skin.

Oh, this guy is the top honcho of the place. So Midori wasn't messing with us when she said that he wanted to meet.

I looked at him suspiciously and said, "We barely spent a day in training, so what's warranted this sudden summons?"

Aviorah glanced at me then focused her attention on Mr. Morikawa.

She and I seemed to be on the same page when it came to me asking that question.

Samba Morikawa laughed and replied, "No need to be on guard, Mr. Amaya and Miss Himeragi."

I side-eyed Midori, who stood to the left of Samba, and said, "Well, it's hard to do that when we were basically attacked by that person over there."

Midori pouted her lips and interjected, "That person has a name you know, so you might as well use it."

Aviorah folded her arms and said, "Why would we acknowledge a potential crazy person?"

Samba turned his head to Midori, "Maybe you went too hard on them. These children are obviously scarred now."

She sighed, "I don't see what's so special about this Ayato Amaya kid. He barely even held his own during our light spar."

Huh? Was that a spar? In what universe is that considered one?

He chuckled and said, "Please forgive Midori. I instructed her to be your mentor and she just wanted to test you."

Aviorah replied in an annoyed tone of voice, "Some test that was."

"So back to why I summoned you here. Mr. Amaya, I am very much interested in this unique ability that you possess. Neutral Aura is something that has piqued my interest for a while now, and seeing someone with it is just astounding to me."

Huh? Was that all?

I nervously scratched my cheek with my index finger and said, "Are you planning to dissect me?"

Samba jokingly replied, "Now now that will be a last ditch effort."

I am not sure if that is a joke, but ok, let's roll with it.

"Ok, that's good to know."

Samba then clasped his hands together as if he was about to say a prayer, "I want you to work under my personal oversight and the supervision of Midori Nishi."

Aviorah butted in and said, "We haven't even completed training as yet."

Samba placed his hand under his chin and replied, "Good point. So Midori will teach you the rest of the basics, and then I'll be sending you out on a trail run. If you are successful, then I will permanently instate you as junior investigators, but right now, I will temporarily grant you those positions."

Midori deeply exhaled out of her mouth, "Why am I stuck babysitting?"

"Midori, aren't you just two years older than Mr. Amaya and Miss Himeragi?"

Pardon me? She's only 20 and already a special-class investigator.

Midori kept quiet after hearing that.

I asked, "What happens if we fail on the trail run?"

Samba smiled and said in a serious voice, "You'll get kicked out of the organization. We, at Umbella, desire competent individuals who can handle these threats. If you can't perform well, then you leave. It's very simple."

That makes no sense. We were doing great in training, and he brings us out here to tell us that if we fail even once, we will be fired. Does everyone get that treatment, or is it just us?

Aviorah instantly accepted the offer, as if she was eager to begin the process of investigating witches.

Well, there goes my chance to think it over. I am immediately put in a possibly complicated situation because of a decision made by a hasty female. I guess I have no choice now.

"Fine, we accept this offer, but only on the condition that we get free lodging along with a possible pay raise in a timely fashion."

Samba laughed when he heard that, "That sounds reasonable for someone who agreed to something without much thought."

I sighed, "Well, if I had turned it down, I might have gotten the wrath of this new person in my life."

Samba poked me with his elbow and said, "I see you're learning to navigate through the world of females pretty well."

I believe it's more along the lines of: I want to avoid any drama between us because, after all, if we're not in sync, we can't be of use to each other.

"Alright now, Midori will get you the standard uniforms and begin to speed through what you need to learn."

With that said.

The room twisted and warped for a few moments, then we were in a completely different location from the Umbella building.

Is his magic type something along the lines of time and space manipulation?

We were in a generously sized apartment. The colors of the wall matched the furniture, along with different abstract paintings hung up on the wall. Whoever decorated this went for a relaxed feel, and they very much succeeded in doing that exact thing.

Midori plopped herself down on the white leather couch and said, "Welcome to my house and just know that if you break something of mine, then I'll break something of yours."

Welp, even though she said that with a relaxed face. I am pretty sure she can easily do that based on our previous encounter.

Aviorah took a seat on one of the chairs that had the same white leather and melted into it.

Midori crossed her legs and said, "We shall begin our speed run in a few minutes, so you can mellow out for the time being."

I am not sure if I can mellow out when I don't know what to expect from this so-called speed run..