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Back on Itogami Island—
As lunchtime quietly passed, the sun's angle shifted slightly westward outside the windows.
In Natsuki Minamiya's office, Bokue Keikain sat quietly behind the desk, having taken Natsuki's place to handle official duties.
Though "handling official duties" really just meant casually flipping through the documents on the desk, his eyes not even focusing on the content.
After all, Natsuki had already pulled an all-nighter finishing everything last night, and today Itogami Island remained as peaceful as ever, so there were no new reports to write.
In this quiet atmosphere, the rich aroma of coffee wafted through the air.
Looking up, it was Astarte.
Still wearing her unchanging maid outfit as always, she approached the youth with a tray carrying what appeared to be freshly brewed coffee, leaning down slightly to place it by his hand.
"Your coffee, Master."
"Oh, thanks."
Bokue was slightly surprised.
He didn't have a coffee-drinking habit, but since Astarte had brought it over, he might as well have some.
"Wait... this isn't Natsuki's cup, is it?"
Bokue lifted the coffee cup without drinking, just carefully studying the exquisite patterns on it.
This was Natsuki's private office, and as a Special Security Force Attack Mage, she theoretically belonged to the enforcement division with no real need for receiving guests. So everything in this office aside from work supplies was without exception Natsuki's personal belongings.
"[Affirmative.]"
The blue-haired maid nodded expressionlessly, though her gaze shifted slightly from Bokue's face downward toward his collar, as if noticing something else.
Sure enough, the next second something seemed to move inside the youth's loose shirt, making muffled sounds of protest.
"Ah... seems Natsuki doesn't like that."
Bokue naturally noticed the movement in his shirt too. He put down the cup and looked back at the blue-haired maid beside him.
"Sorry Astarte, could you change the coffee to a different cup? A disposable paper cup would be fine."
"[Affirmative.]"
Since he'd asked, Astarte didn't insist further, taking the coffee cup and leaving.
After Astarte left, Bokue brought his hands together in front, pressing through the thin shirt against the small gothic girl's tiny shoulders inside, beginning to control his movements again.
"Didn't expect you to regain consciousness so quickly. Let's continue then—after all, we need to get you back to normal Attack Mage work as soon as possible, Natsuki-chan."
"Stop... stop...!!"
Barely managing two syllables, Natsuki—conscious for less than ten seconds—was once again completely overwhelmed by that chaotic, intense rhythm.
❁❁❁❁
However, perhaps because this entire floor belonged to Natsuki, the simple task of getting a disposable paper cup took Astarte considerable effort, even requiring a trip to another floor.
By the time the blue-haired maid returned with a paper cup full of hot coffee, the office had returned to quiet. Bokue still sat behind the large desk, casually reviewing the reports.
"[Report], Master's coffee has been changed to a new disposable cup."
Pushing open the office door she'd closed when leaving, Astarte entered with the tray and approached the youth.
"Mm, good."
Bokue took the paper cup and sipped the dark brown liquid, then gently patted the small girl's form under his shirt at his chest.
"Just to be clear, I didn't use your coffee cup."
"..."
No movement came from within.
Looks like she'd lost consciousness again.
Bokue thought to himself.
"[Report], there's one more thing."
Astarte suddenly continued speaking flatly.
"When I went downstairs to the break room for paper cups, I saw through the window that Miss La Folia and Miss Kirasaka are approaching from the street outside. I assume it's about Miss Kanon Kanase. They should arrive within one minute."
"One minute? Then I should first—"
Bokue was about to say he'd put Natsuki in the break room next door to lie with Aya Sendoki. After all, Sayaka and La Folia were definitely here to see Kanon, who was currently in the underground medical facility of this headquarters building, which required a pass to enter.
The pass itself wasn't a big deal—he could just issue one directly.
The problem was if Sayaka and La Folia came together, he couldn't just sit in the office uninvolved. He'd definitely have to go down with them.
And with Natsuki currently inside his shirt—her small frame wasn't noticeable when sitting normally, but standing and walking would be another matter entirely.
But this thought came too late.
"Sorry to disturb you, Attack Mage Minamiya—"
"Good afternoon, Miss Minamiya~"
Just as Bokue was about to stand and teleport to the break room, the two girls' voices came from outside. The door Astarte had left half-open was pushed fully open.
Sayaka and La Folia entered one after another, freezing slightly when they saw not the familiar gothic girl but Bokue behind the desk.
"Huh? Why are you here, Bokue? Where's Attack Mage Minamiya—"
Not expecting to meet him here, Sayaka was surprised but also unconsciously happy.
Bokue drew out an "uhh," quickly organizing his thoughts before improvising:
"Natsuki pulled an all-nighter because of yesterday's incident, so she's taking today off. I'm covering for her."
"Covering?"
Sayaka still looked puzzled.
"But you're not a Security Force Attack Mage, Bokue. How can you cover—"
"What's the big deal? It's not that hard."
Bokue shrugged.
"Just writing reports and stuff. Nothing difficult about that."
"..."
Well... that was true.
The War Dancer thought about it and found she couldn't refute that.
After all, he was the acting head of an entire Onmyoji clan. Even if he hadn't written reports, he'd read countless ones. He should've picked it up just from observation.
And mainly, yesterday's incident was essentially caused by this guy anyway.
"Right, you're here to see Kanon, aren't you Sayaka, La Folia? Wait a moment, I'll write you a pass to go ahead. I'll finish the last bit of reports here and come right after."
Bokue spoke seriously while pulling out a blank temporary pass form from the drawer, filling it out quickly and signing Natsuki Minamiya's name with practiced ease.
"There, that should do it."
"..." Sayaka looked at the temporary pass in her hand, mouth twitching.
"So why did you sign Attack Mage Minamiya's name?"
"Should I have signed mine instead?"
Bokue raised an eyebrow.
The War Dancer took a deep breath: "I mean, isn't this forgery—"
"It's not if you don't get caught."
That was Bokue's answer.
Sayaka had nothing to say to that.
Moments later, after temporarily sending the two girls away, Bokue pulled open his collar to look at the gothic girl inside his shirt—completely wrecked and unlikely to regain consciousness anytime soon—and said regretfully:
"Looks like this is all we can manage today."
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