Joseph carefully placed his railgun into it’s protective case, as he knew the griffon that would transport him to the Academy was not the most gentle. He nearly lost all his gear last year, and Joseph did not want a repeat. This time, he’d secure all of it on the griffon. The apartment he had rented out for himself was pretty much a mess, but he wouldn’t be back for another year, so it didn’t matter. At least, that’s what he had been telling himself for the past three years. Sporting his magic resistant cloak, he locked the door and walked out on the street.

It’d been quite some time since the war, but the West coast was still trying to recover. Joseph was probably in what was Los Angeles, which at the moment only had a few residential structures and markets. There was a military base down a few blocks where he worked, where he had spent the most of his summer training. After all, if this gatekeeper stuff didn’t work out, it was nice to have a backup plan.

The griffon arrived and gave a small caw in recognition. Joseph brushed it’s neck with his hand and mounted it. They immediately flew away, headed to the Academy of Arcane Arts. 

“I wonder how the freshmeat.. err… the first-years are doing.” The griffon let out a caw in exasperation at the mere mention of first-year. “Heh. Yeah, they’re probably a bunch of bumbling idiots. But, I guess I was a first-year too at one time. Wonder what crazy shit they’ll do this year?” Looking back, all the first-years usually did stupid shit all the time. Joseph was no exception, but still, it was quite irritating to watch. Maybe this year would be different, but that would be probably very wishful thinking.

And finding the school covered in snow from what seemed to be the remains of a snowball fight, Joseph already knew who the culprits were.

“Fucking first-years and their bullshit.” Joseph heard a few murmurs of agreement from the fourth and fifth-years. It looked like it would be the same old same old. Oh well. Being mentally retarded might be second nature to first-years. 

He took his rifle out of his case and slung it on his back, and headed towards the assembly hall. Joseph was already pretty late, so he might as well not dawdle around. Besides, it seemed that everyone had already made acquaintances.