"Alright, today is 10th of May. Today's employee review will be on Hiroshi Yasuda." Edith started, professional as ever, with Sophia and Kat relaxing in her office's couch.

  "He has been around for week and half, what do we need review him for?" Kat asked in anger. "Usually we do these bi-monthly."

  "That's true." Edith admitted, "However, that doesn't reduce the importance of this review. Having close ties to us in the force makes him notable target to Chuvaki, and him being one of the best Tamers in just that time isn't easy feat to achieve."

  "Well, you did pick him out by yourself. And I can agree to an degree, he isn't just anyone you could have picked off the streets." Sophia noted, in her goth clothing today.

  "Says you." Countered Kat with a small crack of a smile, getting annoyed look from Sophia before struck back with. "Unlike you, I know thousands of different people, I know out of experience, than out of egotism."

  "Alright, calm down girls. Katariina, you were his trainer for the week. How would you say his performance went?" Edith asked, while taking pen and paper ready for writing.

  "Mediocre. While he did greatly in critical works, and did well with wild monsters, he was much more reserved and guessing in works with humans and calm monsters, giving him below average scores." Kat reported, with the other girls agreeing on the observation.

  "Yes, it is clear he has some social problems." Edith noted down, as Sophia was quick to add. "I presume that's due to his upbringing. During his teens he was locked out of social interaction to be working hard to take care for his... absurd amount of sisters. By his words, this was most likely the reason why he has these social problems, but I have suspicions there might be more to it."

  "Define 'absurd'." Kat wanted to confirm. "12 sisters, and only one he has spoken of in good light was his eldest, who was forced to work during the day."

  Nods of agreement was given on defining it as absurd.

  As silence fell, and with time to think of how Hiroshi has been to them in that time, there were clearly notable moments.

  "But even still he is so darn kind!" Sophia spoke up, clearly getting flustered from memories from bloodsucking.

  "KIND!? He is clearly disguising his disgusting perversion! No way a man who was raised with so many siblings wouldn't have thoughts of living in such harem!" Kat argued against her claim, keeping her skepticism high.

  "DON'T ACT LIKE YOU ARE BETTER THAN ME! You cared about him enough to protect him!" Sophia brought up, which got Kat's face turn red from flustering and anger "Oh, you asked for it."

  "ENOUGH!" Edith shouted, trying to get order back into the room, but seems it backfired as their attention moved to her, making them to think of something they haven't taken note of before.

  "W-what is that look for?" She asked in cold sweat, as both stared at her with morbid curiosity and wonder

  "Where did you find him?" Sophia asked, as it brought fluster on Edith's face, asking that out of nowhere.

  "For a tattletale, weird how you haven't told us how you ended up witnessing the truck accident, and being so confident knowing him." Kat joined in, as if conspiring to reveal her secret.

  "Hey, calm down!" Edith said, but their focus only got harder on her as she tried to escape the questions, however, her defenses were low, and she accidently slips out. "I got him where you find your usual dates, ok?"

  "Dates?" both of them repeated in question, and tried to rack what she was implying.

  ...

  "SO YOU ARE TELLING US YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH THIS GUY!!!" Both shouted in absolute shock, as Edith was shook off his office chair by their mix of emotions

  "It's so annoying to keep healing you, man." Ingolf complained, once again working hard to patch Hiroshi up, with new van full of relaxing wild monsters.

  "You get to heal me, but I get to suffer from it! I offered you to be bait couple times already." Hiroshi argued back, himself not happy with his training.

  "As if, with you around, they seem much more active!" Ingolf noted, only proofing his point.

  "Alright, I think we should come out clean about the injuries." Azhar declared, clearly not having to enjoy them arguing every time, as both gave baffled looks at him

  "THEY WILL KILL US!" Ingolf and Hiroshi shouted out. expecting fully Edith as a judge would utilize Kat to be the executioner for their misreporting.

  "But what if he ends up badly enough having to go to hospital, or even dying out in the forest." Azhar added, making both realize the extent he was worrying.

  "I know it isn't optimistic view, but this is still training for Hiroshi and these few days, he has done and gotten into trouble more than any Tamer before." he explained, making the two reconsider their position on it.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The two decided to agree on the plan for now, but the air was very anxious between them, as they started to head towards the station.

  "When Hiroshi looked at you, he acted weirdly flustered, but you have to inform us if you are doing these kind of stunts." Sophia outcried, clearly displeased by her hiding all of the information about the date, which she had finally spilled.

  "And the fact you let in someone that absolutely will be an pervert." Kat noted, even if baseless, "There are no other than cowards or perverts in such dating websites."

  "I am sorry I didn't inform you. It just didn't seem notable, I thought I lost my chances with him." Edith said, joining them on the sofa, dropping her professional act, as she was flustered.

  "Still, we have to be careful with him, who knows what he will do when he feels save enough." Kat continued on her accusations.

  "He is more likely to end up violated, than to violate any of his fosters." Sophia argued back, as the debate started again, leaving Edith give a tired sigh.

  Kat got up, taking a confident stance, as she argued back "You must be kidding me? Olivia is innocent girl and while Nata may be energetic, she actually seems to respect him."

  "But that respect is something we should be afraid of as well." Sophia argued back, standing up as well, and taking a firm stance ready for trouble. "It gives her confidence to do something troublesome."

  "Stop defending that rotten man, or did he pay your respect with his blood?" She said, taking offensive stance.

  "Oh, you dirty harpy!" Sophia said in anger, as she summoned flames from her hand, and as they were about to start a fight, the office door was opened, with trio of men looking in confusion after hearing and now seeing commotion.

  "Uhh... we have a report." Hiroshi muttered awkwardly, before three of them got snatched by the girls and dragged into the office, as the door was locked behind them.

  Sitting on sofa other side of coffee table, all three felt lightly awkward as it looked more like interrogation scene was prepared in just matter of seconds..

  "So, more bandages on you it seems." Edith spoke up, taking note of his leg, which got injured on the recent baiting.

  "Y-yes... and still feeling healthy." Hiroshi muttered out, trying to keep straight face. He couldn't help but lie, especially with their intense glare on them, and not even couple minutes ago seeing Kat about to fight, and Sophia using magic like it was nothing.

  "Ingolf!" Sophia spoke up, getting yelp from him. "As a ex-paramedic, is his statement a lie?" she asked, with ominous glint in her eye.

  "NO! ALL HEALTHY AND JUST MINOR SCRATCHES!" He shouted with full force, also too pressured to come out clean.

  "You girls worry too much" Kat stated calmly, bringing the mood to be more grounded, which for Hiroshi was surprising. "Azhar, I trust you will spill the beans." she asked calmly.

  "Our apologies but we did misreport injuries." Azhar spoke straight and honestly, as Hiroshi and Ingolf were worried what will come of this.

  "Ah, I see." Kat exclaimed calmly... before her stare targeted Ingolf, and without words, she grabbed him by shirt collar and dragged him out of the office while he was left crying, leaving rest by the coffee table awkwardly silent.

  "May his spirit rest in peace." Azhar chanted with small prayer. "A-anyways, thanks for coming out clean." Edith stated, hoping to calm the mood and change topic.

  "After all, on the field work for Hiroshi might have been death sentence with his... surprising skills, so we will be stopping the training on that for now." Sophia explained, which Azhar agreed on.

  "He has gone through a lot, and I was hoping to agree on it as well. I won't hang on the details, but Hiroshi has been durable beyond expectations, and you already know how well he has worked as a bait." Azhar reported, which Edith was happily writing down into the report.

  "...but where is this coming from?" Hiroshi asked, which quickly quieted Sophia, as she felt awkward to consider she was defending him for him a moment ago.

  "I worry for you. You are an exceptional Tamer, so keeping you healthy is top concern of mine." Edith said to pull attention from Sophia while trying to be professional, but a fluster on her face spoke much more to her reasoning.

  Before Azhar could say anything as he took note of the fluster, Sophia quickly picked him up and left the room, clearly things were getting too awkward for them to stay in, while Edith and Hiroshi talked.

  Hiroshi was left confused as with it, he was left with Edith, trying her hardest to keep professional act up.

  "So, how has fostering been for you?" she asked, light blushing which was getting harder as she tried to dig up her her curiosities off him.

  He was surprised on the question, but noticing her fluster, he worried if there might have been something Kat put into her mind.

  "It has been fine. Olivia has settled in pretty fine and a good buffer, yet Nata still has complications with her feelings. But overall the girls are healthy and happy." Hiroshi admitted, Which gave Edith a nervous gulp in response.

  "So, have you been on dates with them?" she proceeded to ask, which got a heavy fluster from him.

  "In a proper one? No, not really. I was pretty focused on my work, and while they seem to care for me, it isn't that deep, you know." he said with awkward laugh, as he knew it was partial lie, Olivia clearly was more on friend relations, but Nata has advanced on him even just on the first week, and with Olivia her attention giving has been much more than he expected.

  As the room fell silent, air left awkward as both stared at each other, trying to find answers for what was going on in their minds.

  "Alright, seeing field work is too dangerous, and patrolling isn't your best work, we might have to keep you in emergency only." Edith explained, only crushing Hiroshi further on what was going on.

  "So, I am not suitable for the work?" he asked, wanting to affirm what she said.

  "Quite opposite, your skill is better used for specific troubles." She corrected, "You will be one of our aces."

  "I see... I guess that makes sense." Hiroshi noted, understanding what she was getting at.

  "But what does that relate to fosters and dating them." he asked as she brought them up before, which quickly flustered her up.

  "N-nothing. Forget I asked you." she quickly coursed the subject away. "But you are free to visit the station any time, and we don't mind you helping Olivia in teaching. Our hands are starting to get full to thanks to the new monsters we have to take care of. Oh, and don't forget to take your uniform and gear. You own them now, and don't forget them when called to work."

  "Thanks, I won't" he noted, but seeing she didn't want to speak deeper, he got up and headed off. Leaving Edith awkwardly look as the door was shut in front of her.

  '...why couldn't I ask him?' she wondered, frozen in despair, only to be found by Sophia and Kat when they finished their stuff.

  "At least he will be out of trouble for time being." Sophia admitted, hearing he took the emergency work.

  "Surprising he hasn't even tried to advance on the fosters. I wonder if he is plotting something." Kat questioned herself.

  As they were reassured, both stared at Edith with worry, as she was sulking by her work-desk. "Yes, it's good."

  'Man, how can a representative shrivel up so hard in front of a single man.' she thought to herself in misery, as doubt started to settle into their relationship.