Noctura

nine

seunghoon

"WITH GREAT honor and pride, I promote all of you to rank one senior officers."

I stand up with a few other men and women as the rest of the division claps for us.

We each walk up to Director Hamada and shake his hand. As we do this, he gives us a pistol and knife with a special holster for both.

After receiving my weapons and holster, I walk over toward Teagan, who's smiling at me.

"Congratulations!" She says, giving me a hug.

I hug her back and then smile back at her. "Thanks."

"How does it feel to be a senior officer?" She asks.

I laugh. "Well, it doesn't feel any different yet."

"You get to carry a gun now," she points out. "That's gotta be different."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I grin as I put the holster on and slip the pistol and knife into it. "I'm just so excited. I finally get to go out on the streets and do some real investigating and maybe even some fighting."

Teagan smiles. "I'm so happy for you, Seunghoon."

"And you're also happy that someone who believes you about the Alliance is finally able to do more street research about it, right?"

She chuckles and shakes her head. "You know me pretty well already, Seunghoon."

We laugh together quietly as the director continues giving others promotions.

There's a small ceremony every month for promotions. Those promoted to rank one senior officer or rank one soldier get to go through the ceremony, shake the director's hand, and senior officers receive a gun and knife.

Once the ceremony is over, everyone heads back to work.

Teagan walks me over to my desk since it's only ten and her shift doesn't start for a while, but mine is already going on.

"You really didn't have to get up and come here for the ceremony," I tell her. "It's not actually that big a deal."

"I know," she says honestly. "But, I'm new here and I want to make a good impression."

I nod.

"So, I know you've probably already had dozens of meetings about this, because I know I have, but I was really shocked about the arena burning down."

I let out a long sigh. "Don't even bring it up. I can't believe that whole time, there were Nocturas right under our noses, being bought and sold for some stupid monthly fight."

Teagan nods. "I just don't understand how we missed it. These Nocturas were being traded all around us and we had no clue."

"Yeah, you're not the only one who's noticed that."

She shakes her head. "People are scared, aren't they?"

I nod. "Yeah, they are. They're thinking, if the AAN couldn't even figure out Nocturas were being traded directly in the city, how are they supposed to trust in us to destroy all the Nocturas?"

"I know," Teagan agrees. "That's why we have to do something. And fast."

"It's just... difficult," I tell her. "We need to come up with some kind of way to detect Nocturas. We've tried the blood and saliva, but there's no visible difference. Obviously the only thing is their eyes, but how are you supposed to get a person mad enough for them to change if they're a Noctura?"