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From six in the morning until nine, the sun's angle shifted from fifteen degrees to forty-five degrees above the horizon.
In the high-level director's office at Itogami Island's Special Security Force headquarters, a certain gothic girl who'd been working all night finally straightened up from her desk, leaning back in her office chair with a long sigh of relief.
"Finally done with everything. I'm dead tired..."
Natsuki Minamiya's desk was now piled high with file folders—all reports about the spatial chaos on Itogami Island during that hour between six and seven last night. It had taken her an entire night plus half a morning to finish them all.
After all, as a senior Attack Mage for the Special Security Force, her job was handling problems that regular officers couldn't deal with.
Which meant she had to write the reports too.
Still, handwriting everything was exhausting. She couldn't remember ever being this tired before...
Natsuki couldn't help complaining internally.
In the past, since her body had been sleeping in the Prison Barrier, what appeared to others was a thought-body constructed from her magic power.
Though her delicate magical manipulation meant the thought-body could function like a normal human—eating, drinking, even sleeping—it was still fundamentally a thought-body. With enough magical power, it could work indefinitely.
Like pulling an all-nighter handling Security Force work, then showing up fresh at school the next morning—no problem at all.
But now she was using her actual body. While witches could do things normal people couldn't thanks to magical enhancement, they were still made of flesh. Keep pushing like a thought-body and adverse reactions would eventually appear.
Like now—even though there was only a solid wall and tall bookshelf behind her, Natsuki could almost see heavenly light shining down from above.
"This is the 'transcend mortality if you don't sleep soon' rhythm..."
Natsuki sighed helplessly, abandoning the idea of grabbing coffee and pushing through.
Since the Prison Barrier no longer existed, she had to learn to live like a normal person.
Sleep when tired, eat when hungry.
Conveniently, as a senior Attack Mage, she had a break room next to her office. Though being a workplace break room meant the bed wasn't as large or comfortable as the one at home, it would have to do.
With that thought, Natsuki called out:
"Astarte."
Creak—
The moment she spoke, the office door pushed open from outside. A blue-haired girl in a maid outfit appeared in the doorway, expressionless.
"[Query], What are your orders, Director?"
"No orders. Just need you to stay in the office."
Natsuki yawned, pushing herself up from the chair and pointing at the desk.
"Take my place here for a while. I need to rest. Stay here, and if anything comes up, wake me in the next room."
"[Confirmed.]"
Without unnecessary words, the blue-haired maid came behind the desk and sat down, watching as Natsuki left the office.
"..."
The already quiet office fell completely silent.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Three seconds passed.
At the fourth second, golden light suddenly rippled through the office air, and a youth's figure appeared directly.
"Huh? Why are you here, Astarte? Where's Natsuki?"
Landing, Bokue Keikain looked around curiously.
After all, every previous visit had found Natsuki behind that big desk, either frowning over documents or writing furiously.
But now Astarte sat in Natsuki's place, just sitting there—like a college student leaving a doll to save their library seat.
"[Affirmative], The Director worked all night and is currently sleeping in the break room next door."
Astarte nodded in response.
"So if Master needs to see the Director, you can tell me first—"
"Oh, I'm not here for her."
Bokue walked straight to the desk, gently patting the blue-haired maid's head.
"We agreed I'd charge you up, remember? Forgot?"
!!
Hearing those words, the perpetually emotionless Astarte seemed to widen her eyes slightly.
Though an artificial life form, she wasn't completely without feelings. It was just that no one had taught her, so even when she felt something, it showed only faintly, making it hard to notice.
Now, the blue-haired girl's eyes showed emotions called "happiness" and "anticipation."
But quickly, Astarte looked troubled.
"[Command conflict], One minute ago the Director requested I watch the office and report any issues, so Astarte cannot leave until the Director wakes—"
"Then we'll do it right here."
Bokue waved his hand, and the pile of documents on the desk lifted through spatial manipulation, moving to the sofa against the wall, clearing a large space on the desk.
"This works, right?"
"...Mm."
Having experienced "charging" before and knowing what came next, the blue-haired maid nodded, a faint blush coloring her usually expressionless face.
❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁
Meanwhile, in the familiar hotel suite bedroom, after a morning of fierce battles, the gunpowder smell had grown even stronger.
The curtains remained tightly drawn. Having finished her "morning exercise" and cleaned up, Yuuma Tokoyogi sat on the bed's edge, dressing herself before turning to look at the twelve-layered beauty lying motionless in champagne liquid, her kimono belly so swollen the obi wouldn't tie.
The short-haired girl smiled triumphantly and waved.
"Alright, I'm going to see about breakfast. You just keep lying there."
With that, she rose from the bed, hands in pockets as she walked out without looking back.
"Yu... ma..."
Only after the short-haired girl vanished from sight did Aya Tokoyogi finally move slightly, grinding out hateful words through clenched teeth.
Again... she'd transferred everything from her own womb into hers, then used spatial power to seal the only exit, making it impossible to expel anything...!
Pop.
Without warning, the spatial seal locking her gates suddenly released.
The next moment, before Aya could react, the fierce tide burst through the barrier and surged forth.
"Wait—!"
Realizing this violent release was more than she could handle in her current state, Aya tried to slow things down.
But unfortunately, it was already too late.
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