"Director, here are today's documents for review!!"
A cheerful voice accompanied the gentle placement of a stack of documents two fingers thick onto Luo Shu's desk.
Hearing the voice, Luo Shu—who had been grimacing while signing financial reports—looked up to see Kei Shirogane's vibrant face.
The sight of the girl's youthful, collagen-rich, rosy-cheeked smile lifted Luo Shu's mood considerably.
Pushing the reports aside, Luo Shu smiled at Kei Shirogane:
"Kei, here to play?"
"Not exactly here to play..." Kei scratched her cheek awkwardly.
After all, lately, whenever she came to the Hidden Management Department garrison, it was usually because Chika Fujiwara had called her over to play virtual Pokémon battles, so she rarely visited Luo Shu's place.
Now that Luo Shu assumed she was here to play games again, Kei Shirogane felt somewhat awkward.
Would Luo Shu think of her as a bad kid who only cared about playing?
Worried by this thought, Kei Shirogane couldn't help but explain softly:
"I do have proper business today."
"Proper business?" Luo Shu looked puzzled.
"Yes, this morning I had an appointment with Maya for martial arts guidance, in the afternoon there's Natsuki's magic combat class, and in the evening there's adaptability training with the Skill Demon Gods... I am making an effort, you know!!"
Watching Kei count off her schedule on her fingers, Luo Shu couldn't help but click his tongue:
"Are you always this busy?"
"Not usually. Normally, I have free time in the evenings."
As she said this, Kei suddenly realised something was off—how had the topic shifted to her training schedule?
Seeing the conversation derail, she quickly forced a change of subject:
"Wait, Director, I came today because there's something important I wanted to ask you."
Luo Shu blinked, moving the documents Kei had brought over in front of him as he said:
"What's so important that you had to come ask me in person? Couldn't you have just messaged in the group chat?"
"No, saying it in the group would feel a bit embarrassing... and what if you were busy..."
Kei spoke somewhat sheepishly, but soon brushed past that and asked Luo Shu directly:
"I heard... that you were recently targeted by the Shinomiya family heir..."
Hearing this, Luo Shu instantly understood and glanced at Kei:
"Did Chika tell you that?"
Kei's expression stiffened slightly at the sudden interruption, then she nodded.
Seeing this, Luo Shu's lips curled slightly as he asked with a smile:
"You wanted to ask about Kaguya Shinomiya?"
Kei's eyes widened in shock:
"Director, how did you know?!"
"Guessed."
Luo Shu chuckled, looking thoroughly unsurprised.
The Shirogane family's infamous fixation on Kaguya Shinomiya was a running joke Luo Shu was well aware of.
Now that Luo Shu had guessed her question, Kei couldn't hold back any longer and began 'probing' for details:
"Recently, Chika has been acting all nervous, barely even playing games, just mulling over something. When I asked her about it today, I found out it was because Senior Shinomiya had some... unpleasantness with you over family matters..."
Here, Kei couldn't help but glance at Luo Shu before cautiously asking:
"Director... how are you planning to handle Senior Shinomiya?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu looked at Kei with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
His Familia member, whom he hadn't seen in ages, was here to ask about an outsider?
What kind of situation was this?
Couldn't Kei have come because she missed him, at least a little?
Luo Shu thought rather narcissistically before sighing:
"Didn't Haruno and Hayasaka already explain the outcome in the group chat?"
"Kei, didn't you see it?"
Kei froze: "Ah... is checking phones allowed during study time?"
Luo Shu: "..."
Where did this well-behaved child come from... Oh, she's mine... Never mind then...
Luo Shu internally complained before explaining to Kei Shirogane:
"Don't worry, Kaguya Shinomiya is fine. If nothing goes wrong, Hayasaka will probably have her join the Familia too."
"Eh? That Senior Shinomiya actually..." Kei Shirogane was utterly stunned by this revelation.
Seeing her reaction, Luo Shu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow:
"Is it strange for Kaguya Shinomiya to join the Familia? Is she particularly powerful or something?"
"Of course she is?" Kei Shirogane asked back in confusion: "Born into a prestigious family, consistently ranked first in the entire school, won national awards in calligraphy, archery, flower arrangement and even piano..."
As she spoke, Kei Shirogane noticed the subtle expression on Luo Shu's face and realised something was off about her words.
Was Kaguya Shinomiya impressive?
Of course she was - by student standards.
In normal society, Shinomiya's achievements were certainly commendable, but only at the excellent level. In the mystic side, apart from archery and her family background, none of her skills were particularly useful...
And as for family background, the Shinomiya family didn't seem deeply involved in the mystic side either.
Thinking this, Kei suddenly felt Kaguya Shinomiya seemed rather... ordinary.
No, that wasn't right... Kei shook her head frantically, her small face tense.
It wasn't that Shinomiya was too ordinary, but that the people she'd been interacting with lately were too extraordinary.
In the mornings, her martial arts instructor Maya Natsume - who could freely control the energy in her body to shift between child and adult forms, and had mastered the Natsume family's secret techniques - naturally outclassed Shinomiya by several magnitudes in martial arts.
Her afternoon teacher, Natsuki Minamiya, was officially recognised by the Japanese government as a National-Level Sorcerer, the compiler of international textbooks on spatial and necromancy magic, and proposer of numerous mystic theories.
As for evenings, Dr Tabane Shinonono, who helped adjust her Skill Demon God, was the eccentric genius who single-handedly developed Hero Rank mechanical armaments.
Put simply, it wasn't that Shinomiya was weak, but that the women around her - no, around Luo Shu - were too strong.
This realisation suddenly made Kei feel somewhat inadequate.
"Director, am I... quite ordinary too?" Kei asked cautiously, her face a mix of complexity and distress.
"Not at all." Luo Shu shook his head before saying very seriously: "In my eyes, Kei-chan is super cute..."
"Cute?" Completely unprepared for this response, Kei's cheeks instantly burned crimson.
Before Luo Shu could tease the flustered girl further, the office door automatically swung open as Yukino Yukinoshita entered with documents:
"Director, we've received correspondence from the Underworld demons about... Hm? You two...?"
Taking in the scene - Kei leaning on the desk with flushed cheeks and Luo Shu's serious expression - Yukinoshita seemed to instantly understand something. She turned and exited, closing the door behind her.
Just before it shut, her calm voice drifted through:
"Kei-chan, let me know when you're done confessing. The Director still has urgent work to attend to."
Hearing this, Kei Shirogane immediately slumped onto the desk, then slid to the floor, her face bright red as she whispered:
"Come back, Yukino-nee, I really wasn't confessing!!"