The proctor leaned back slightly while mentally preparing himself for the answers.

Nobody could perfectly cater to all their Familiars' needs… that was simply a myth. Different Familiars had different requirements, different temperaments and different expectations.

The purpose of this particular question was to reveal exactly that… to find the cracks in the bond, the small resentments and the minor complaints that could be addressed then address them and see if they could be worked through while if it was really bad then the student would get their Familiars taken and their License suspended however all four Familiars simply looked back at their Master and Koya met their gazes calmly.

The proctor immediately raised his hand.

"You don't need to get permission from your Mas—" the proctor started.

"Master," Cinder interrupted as her voice dripped with confusion and mild offense. "Did you really bring us here just to answer questions from a senile old man?"

She glanced back at the proctor with her silver tail lashing.

"What sort of stupid question is that?" Cinder continued.

"Right," Rion agreed immediately as her mane sparked with small flames. "He might actually be crazy… maybe someone hit him in the head or something. That's why he's acting like this."

"Master," Kiri said, standing up on her hind legs and shadow-boxing the air, "If you want, I could punch him in the head and knock all the sense back into his skull."

Tiny bolts of lightning crackled along her small fists as she demonstrated her punching technique and the old man ran a hand down his face slowly.

"Oi," the proctor said tiredly. "Have you ever heard of the phrase 'Don't pick on the elderly'?"

The proctor could feel through his detection ability that all the Familiars genuinely loved their Master as the bonds were incredibly strong… possibly some of the strongest he'd ever assessed but weren't they being just a bit too rude about expressing it?

Kiri turned to face him directly with her weasel face twitching with barely contained aggression.

"You're exactly like those 'elderly' in my clan," Kiri said. "They always used being older as an excuse to bully the younger members and steal our resources."

The old man immediately raised both hands up in a placating gesture, as if to show he was completely innocent of such crimes.

'I'm supposed to be the Familiar Whisperer…' the proctor thought in despair. 'I've assessed thousands of Familiar bonds over my career. Why are these particular Familiars so complicated and disrespectful?'

Koya let out a small sigh.

"You all should calm down," Koya said mildly and the proctor felt a wave of relief wash over him.

'At least the Master is reasonable,' the proctor thought. 'At least one person in this examination room has some sens—'

"He really is senile after all," Koya observed casually. "I mean, who else wouldn't wear a cap or hat to cover their balding head? It's just common sense."

A vein bulged visibly on the old man's forehead and his eye twitched violently.

'These are just how kids are these days…' the proctor told himself, forcibly restraining his rising blood pressure. 'They're disrespectful… rude and have no respect for their elders. I will not lose my composure… I will not lose my composure… I will NOT—'

He took three deep breaths.

"Now," the proctor said through gritted teeth, "what about you, Student Amagi Koya?"

He fixed Koya with a firm stare.

"Do you love your Familiars?" the proctor asked and Koya didn't even hesitate.

"That's a no-brainer," Koya said simply. "I love each one of them very much."

The warmth in his voice was genuine and unmistakable and the proctor's expression softened immediately despite his anger then he turned to look at the troublesome Familiars with a warmer smile.

'See?' the proctor thought. 'This is what a proper assessment is supposed to sound like… Mutual affection… Clear bonds… This is really nice.'

"Now," the proctor continued, feeling more optimistic. "For my second question. Can all of you demonstrate your basic affinities for me?"

Cinder tilted her head.

"Demonstrate as in fire an attack?" Cinder asked for clarification and the proctor nodded.

"Exactly. Just a simple display of your elemental control."

"Where should I fire it at?" Cinder asked, looking around the blank white void and the proctor gestured broadly.

"Anywhere is fine, as long as it's not directly at me," the proctor said then he added with a slight chuckle, "You can even aim at your Master if you feel like it, though I don't recommend it."

Cinder's eyes lit up with mischief and she smiled… it was a distinctly troublesome smile and then she took a deep breath with her small chest expanding.

Cinder opened her mouth and released a concentrated stream of crimson flames.

The fire roared out in a tight flamethrower beam, shooting upward at a steep angle and the flames were beautiful… crimson flames with blue edges, they were incredibly hot and well-controlled for such a young Familiar.

The proctor watched with genuine appreciation.

"What a wonderful show of abili—" the proctor started to praise then he sniffed.

Sniff sniff!

The proctor paused mid-sentence.

"What is that smell?" the proctor asked with his nose wrinkling and he looked up.

The very top of his head where his few remaining strands of hair clung desperately to his scalp was on fire.

Small orange flames flickered across his balding crown with the hair crackling and curling as it burned and the proctor's eyes went wide.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU AIM THERE?!" the proctor shouted, slapping at his burning head frantically and Cinder shrugged with her expression completely innocent.

"I was trying to help you out," Cinder explained. "You know, finish the job. A clean look… You look more professional now Mr. Old man."

The old man successfully put out the flames on his head, leaving even less hair than he'd started with. He was visibly trembling with barely-contained fury and his hands gripped the edge of the desk so hard his knuckles turned white.

The proctor took a long shuddering breath then he stood up from his chair.

"You know what?" The proctor said. "I tried to be nice."

He stood up from his chair with slow movements as his hands clenched at his sides.

"I tried to be professional," the proctor continued, his volume rising steadily with each word. "I tried to conduct a proper, respectful examination according to official ALI Academy standards!"

Spikey, sensing the incoming explosion, began slowly unwinding from the proctor's neck.

"I explained complex Domain theory even though it wasn't part of the required curriculum!" the proctor's voice climbed higher. "I spent valuable mana using my specialized speech-granting spell so you could all communicate clearly and honestly!"

He was pacing now while gesturing wildly.

"I asked fair, reasonable questions designed to assess bond strength!" the proctor continued, his face turning progressively redder. "I created a SAFE, CONTROLLED environment for testing! I was PATIENT! I was UNDERSTANDING!"

His voice cracked slightly on the last word.

"And what did I get in return?" the proctor demanded, whirling to face them all. "DISRESPECT! Constant, unrelenting, creative disrespect! From EVERY SINGLE ONE of you!"

He began pointing at each offender individually with his finger shaking with righteous fury.

"YOU!" he pointed at Cinder. "You deliberately set my hair on fire! Not accidentally… DELIBERATELY! You admitted it was intentional! The little hair I had left is now GONE! ASHES! Do you know how long it took me to cultivate those last precious strands?!"

Cinder looked completely unrepentant.

"YOU!" he pointed at Kiri next. "You threatened physical violence against an exam proctor! You offered to punch sense into my skull! That's assault! That's a criminal offense! I could have you expelled for that!"

Kiri shrugged, still clearly willing to throw hands.

"YOU!" he pointed at Rion. "You called me crazy! You suggested someone had hit me in the head! You questioned my mental faculties during an official examination!"

Rion's mane sparked with tiny flames as she was entirely unbothered.

"And YOU!" the proctor pointed at Riffi, who'd been quietly sitting there. "You just watched! You could have stopped them! You're clearly the most mature one, and you did NOTHING!"

Riffi sighed, she wanted to cuddle with Master… not deal with old men.

"And YOU!" The proctor's finger swung to Koya and shaking violently. "You! The Master! The one who's supposed to set a good example!"

His voice reached a new peak.

"You called me SENILE!" the proctor's voice echoed through the entire Domain. "You made fun of my BALDING HEAD! You questioned my ability to control my own Familiar! You compared me to your Familiar's abusive clan elders! All of this! In MY Domain! During an OFFICIAL ACADEMY EXAMINATION!"

The proctor's breathing was ragged now with his chest heaving with exertion.

The snake… Spikey had fully unwound and was now floating at a safe distance, clearly wanting no part of this meltdown.

Koya raised one hand tentatively. "To be fair—"

"NO!" the proctor cut him off immediately. "No 'to be fair'! No explanations! No justifications! I don't want to hear it!"

He pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his sweating forehead with his glasses fogging up slightly.

"In thirty years," The proctor said. "In THIRTY YEARS of assessing Familiar bonds at this Academy, I have never… NEVER been treated with such blatant disrespect by students and their contracted creatures!"

He paused, taking several deep breaths to calm himself.

"I've dealt with aggressive Familiars," the proctor continued, counting on his fingers. "I've dealt with rebellious students… I've dealt with bonds on the verge of collapse… I've dealt with dangerous creatures and incompetent Masters. But this? THIS?"

He gestured at the whole group.

"This is a special kind of trouble!" the proctor declared. "You're all perfectly synchronized in your rudeness! It's like you've trained specifically to be as disrespectful as possible while still maintaining excellent bond strength! It's actually impressive in the worst possible way!"

The proctor's chest was heaving with exertion with his face completely flushed then, abruptly, he deflated. His shoulders sagged and he sat back down in his chair heavily, suddenly looking every bit his actual age.

"But you know what?" the proctor said quietly, adjusting his singed glasses. "Despite all of that... despite the rudeness, the disrespect, the literal assault on my person..."

He pulled out a glowing evaluation crystal from his desk drawer and tapped it.

"I'm giving you the highest possible marks," the proctor said tiredly.

Koya blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes, really," the proctor confirmed. "Because the bond strength between you and your Familiars is genuinely extraordinary. The mutual affection, the instinctive protectiveness, the perfect synchronization of your rudeness… it all indicates an incredibly healthy and strong relationship."

"In my thirty years of assessing Familiar bonds," the proctor continued, "I've rarely seen connections this powerful. You clearly treat them well, they clearly adore you, and you all function as a cohesive unit."

The proctor stood up again.

"That said," the proctor added. "I don't like any of you. Not even a little bit. You're all terrible, rude, disrespectful individuals who have given me stress-related symptoms that will probably last for weeks."

He raised both hands and began channeling mana.

"So get out," the proctor said flatly. "Get out of my Domain before I change my mind about those perfect scores."

His palms began glowing as he prepared to forcibly eject them from the Familiar Haven space but before he could complete the spell, Koya suddenly raised his hand urgently.

"Uh, sir?" Koya called out. "Wait, hold on a second."

The proctor paused with his eye twitching. "What now?"

Koya pointed at the golden light still suffusing the Domain… the spell that allowed Familiars to speak in human language.

"Can I get a scroll to learn this skill you're using?" Koya asked. "The one that makes Familiars able to talk? You said the Domain amplifies your spell, right? So there must be a base spell version I could learn."

The proctor stared at him in disbelief.

"You..." the proctor said slowly. "You have the audacity... after everything that just happened... to ask me for teaching materials?"

Koya nodded earnestly. "Yeah. It seems really useful."

The old man's eye twitched violently then, moving with sudden explosive speed, the proctor reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a dusty skill scroll, and hurled it at Koya's face like a throwing knife.

"HERE!" the proctor shouted. "TAKE IT! JUST TAKE IT AND LEAVE!"

Koya caught the scroll smoothly out of the air with one hand.

"Thanks," Koya said genuinely. "I really apprecia— Return!"

All four of his Familiars immediately transformed into streams of golden light and shot back into his chest, absorbed back into their contract space and the light faded, leaving only Koya sitting alone.

"ENOUGH!" The proctor roared and he brought both palms together in a sharp clap that echoed through the entire Domain like thunder and the white void shuddered.

"EJECT!" The proctor commanded and the Domain obeyed instantly as reality warped around Koya. The white space compressed inward, folding in on itself like a closing fist.

The floating books vanished… The golden light disappeared… Everything compressed toward a single point then Koya was violently expelled.

The transition was not gentle.

One moment he was standing in the white void. The next moment he was flying backward through the air at tremendous speed with the normal world materializing around him in a disorienting blur of color and sound.

The examination room door burst open with explosive force.

WHAM!

Koya's back slammed into the concrete wall of the corridor outside with bone-rattling impact and the force was so great that cracks spider-webbed out from the point of impact, and his body actually embedded slightly into the wall itself, creating a small crater.

Dust and small chunks of plaster rained down around him… For a moment, Koya just hung there, imprinted in the wall like a cartoon character then gravity remembered to work.

Koya peeled away from the damaged wall and dropped to the floor, landing on his feet with ease. He rolled his shoulders experimentally, testing for any injuries.

Behind him, the examination room door slammed shut with a resounding bang, and he heard the very clear sound of multiple heavy locks engaging from the inside.

Koya brushed plaster dust off his shoulders and looked down at the scroll still clutched in his hand which was a skill scroll for Familiar Communication magic.

A small smile crossed his face.

"Hey," Koya said to himself, his voice echoing slightly in the empty hallway. "At least something was gained from that crazy interaction, right?"

He tucked the scroll safely into his storage ring and started walking down the corridor, leaving the crater in the wall behind him as evidence of what happened when you annoyed a Domain-capable proctor too much.

'I should probably practice this spell before trying it in public…' Koya thought. 'Familiar Communication magic could be really useful during combat situations. Or just for everyday conversation with Cinder and the others.'

All in all, despite the violent ejection and property damage, he considered it a successful examination.

His ALI phone buzzed insistently in his pocket… it was probably Mio or Ichinose asking how the test went and whether he needed anything.

Koya pulled out the glowing device and opened the messaging app.

[Mio: How did it go? Did Riffi behave herself? Did the examination go smoothly?]

[Ichinose: Koya-kun! Are you finished? I'm waiting outside the main wing! 💕]

Koya's fingers hovered over the virtual keyboard.

How exactly would he explain what had just transpired in that room? That his Familiars had insulted a veteran proctor repeatedly? That Cinder had literally set the man's remaining hair on fire? That he'd been physically ejected from a Mini-Domain and embedded in a wall? And still got perfect marks?

Actually, on second thought, maybe honesty wasn't the best policy here.

[Koya: Got perfect marks, everything went fine. I'm heading out now.]

Behind him, some shouting could still be heard from inside the locked examination room as the proctor's voice was muffled but unmistakably angry.

"...THIRTY YEARS! THIRTY YEARS AND I GET SET ON FIRE!"

Koya's smile widened slightly as he pushed open the exit door.

…Yeah, it was definitely a successful examination.