Salute to everyone slacking off at work.
Asou Akiya pushed his work aside and lay on his desk, catching up on two hours of sleep.
Mori Ougai appeared at the Port Mafia headquarters with a slightly different look. He had shaved his beard clean, dressed himself neatly, and was holding the hand of a lively, adorable blonde little girl.
Elise gently pushed the door open and peeked inside. There, a black-haired young man was lying face-down and fast asleep.
A black coat covered his shoulders. He wasn't particularly thin, his build balanced between muscle and delicacy, but anyone who underestimated him because of his appearance would simply become the next stepping stone beneath the reputation of the "Analyst."
Elise sensed Rintarou's subtle mood and adorably looked to the side. In the corner of the doorway sat a long-haired girl in a kimono, a novel resting on her knees.
Elise smiled at Ozaki Kouyou. She was just about to speak when Kouyou stopped her by placing an index finger against her lips.
[Whatever it is, wait until he's awake.]
[Okay.]
Elise stepped back outside, and Mori Ougai closed the door behind her. If he hadn't noticed the silent presence of Ozaki Kouyou, he felt that the scalpel in his pocket would have been itching to come out. He really wanted to eliminate one of the greatest obstacles standing in his way of rising to the top.
But if he did that, his apprenticeship plans would be ruined!
[The optimal solution... The optimal solution...]
Mori Ougai muttered inwardly, maintaining an utterly harmless expression on his face.
"Elise, let's go meet the boss."
Elise was wearing the brightest red dress in her wardrobe. She gathered the hem of her skirt in one hand and cheerfully replied, "Okay!"
Mori Ougai and Elise stepped into the elevator.
Inside the executive office, Ozaki Kouyou tightened her grip on the pages of her book before slowly relaxing her fingers.
"That doctor... gives me a bad feeling."
She didn't know whether it was merely her imagination, but she had sensed a trace of malice directed toward Akiya-san.
"Don't worry about them." Asou Akiya buried his face in his arms, his hands slightly numb. "Kouyou-kun, do you have a sleeping pillow? My face hurts from sleeping on it."
Ozaki Kouyou said, "No. You can go sleep in the lounge."
Asou Akiya stopped pretending to work. He sat up straight and headed toward the lounge, pounding his arm to get the feeling back into it.
"Thanks for standing guard for me, Kouyou-kun."
As he passed Kouyou, Asou Akiya braced his hands on his knees and bent slightly at the waist, giving her a gentle smile.
"Why don't you have Randou-san stay with you..." Ozaki Kouyou hesitated. "Your lover is very strong."
"What you mean is that he's 'terrifying,' isn't it?"
Kouyou choked, remembering the scene of the boss's death and Randou manipulating him into "coming back to life."
"If he were here, you'd be frightened and wouldn't dare come to me, would you?" Asou Akiya said gently. "Randou is rather reserved and cold toward outsiders, but he's very good to me and to the people I care about. I can't clear up your 'misunderstanding' all at once, so I'll have to let you get to know him little by little, over time."
Ozaki Kouyou turned her head away awkwardly. "Akiya-san is the truly terrifying one."
Asou Akiya smiled indulgently. "Is that so?"
Before the lounge door could close completely, Ozaki Kouyou suddenly became more lively.
"What happened to the cat in the office?"
The sound of Asou Akiya collapsing onto the bed came from inside the lounge.
"I gave him to my son, who's on vacation at home, to look after!"
Faced with this side of Asou Akiya, Ozaki Kouyou finally felt at ease.
Ironically, she had come to protect Akiya-san, yet in the end, she was the one who found a sense of security by staying at his side.
Ozaki Kouyou was left alone with her thoughts, murmuring to herself, "Akiya-san is far too domestic."
Under his influence, the Port Mafia had gradually ceased to be the den of monsters she once saw it as, and she was slowly beginning to regain a sense of belonging.
Could this place... be home?
She gazed out at the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows, thinking of the boss's current methods of management—rational and ruthless.
Perhaps she really was being too greedy, to think that things could somehow become even better...
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
After enjoying his morning nap, Asou Akiya glanced at the clock. It was ten in the morning. In a little while, he could start looking forward to lunch...
Well, that was how things would go according to the normal routine.
Asou Akiya rolled over like a carp and got out of bed, patting down his black suit.
After putting on his coat, he stood before the fitting mirror in the dressing room. The marks around his neck had healed by the end of June, and no one had suspected anything was wrong with him. Even Mori Ougai, who had noticed that his neck was injured, had been successfully misled by him. At most, Mori would assume that he and Randou had been playing some kind of choking game.
Randou had ended up taking the blame for all sorts of things.
He'd have to settle the score with him when he got home.
Asou Akiya couldn't help laughing at the memories of what had happened in June. He took the red scarf from the wardrobe and draped it over both sides of his collar without tying it.
Then he decided to pay a visit to the boss's office.
It was time to pay a little attention to what had been happening in the Port Mafia lately.
This organization...
He couldn't change the future by simply leaving it alone.
The Port Mafia boss' office occupied the top floor, offering a sweeping view that could stir a ruler's desire for control to its fullest.
Whenever Mori Ougai came here to see the recovered boss, he would mentally devise assassination methods. Beneath his meek, harmless smile as a doctor lay his determination to take part in the "Tripartite Framework."
Mori Ougai's gaze swept across the bright floor-to-ceiling windows, and the boss, Inayama Kigoro, noticed.
"Mori-sensei, you seem to like the windows in my office."
"Yes. Your office is quite magnificent, Boss; Yokohama looks beautiful from these windows." Mori Ougai, who was measuring his blood pressure, praised him half sincerely and half as a formality. "Being able to wake up to a view like this every morning is wonderful for both body and mind. No wonder your health has been improving."
Inayama Kigoro chuckled.
He was no longer terminally ill or beyond saving. He could more or less tell that the private doctor he had hired had a few ulterior motives of his own. But it wasn't anything worth worrying about. Darkness would always bring out the desires hidden within people's hearts.
"How's my blood pressure?"
Inayama Kigoro hadn't put much effort into maintaining his disguise. He was relying almost entirely on Randou's editing.
Elise, whom he had brought with him, was far bolder than he was. She had pressed herself against the glass, looking outside.
When Inayama Kigoro saw her, he gazed at the little girl kindly without reprimanding her. Children this young rarely appeared in the boss's office, and it had been a long time since he'd spent any time around one.
Mori Ougai was slightly surprised.
This was completely different from the boss he had encountered before.
The madness of an aging man...
He used the thought as a warning to himself.
He must never become a second Inayama Kigoro.
Moreover, the old man had only improved somewhat. He hadn't become a completely different person!
Inayama Kigoro held firmly to his authority over the Port Mafia, allowing no one to touch it. At most, he had lost the violent temper and madness that had plagued him during his illness. His actions toward Yokohama still had a negative impact.
Ordinary civilians outside the organization were absolutely terrified of the Port Mafia.
"Surprised by my temper?" Inayama Kigoro said as he continued working. "I've always been an irritable old man, and I often lose my temper over matters within the organization. I'm only a little more amiable toward doctors."
Mori Oigai: "You're the Boss, after all; The master of this organization."
"Mori-sensei, you're quite a smooth talker. Your words are sweeter than Akiya-kun's. Don't be fooled by how good Akiya-kun is at comforting people; He never says anything he doesn't truly mean."
Mori Ougai: "..."
So you're saying everything I say is insincere?
The door to the Port Mafia boss's office opened from the outside.
Not a single guard announced his arrival. They all simply stood outside with their heads lowered, their eyes fixed on the floor.
Asou Akiya strode in wearing a black overcoat. A red scarf hung around his neck, its long ends trailing down and creating a striking contrast against his pitch-black suit.
A gun was tucked beneath his suit, and he hadn't been required to surrender it. Compared to his usual self, there seemed to be something subtly different about the man today.
The doors were wide open, the guards stepped aside, and no one announced the boss's visitor.
Mori Ougai froze in place.
What level of trust was this? Does he really still have a chance?
Mori Ougai remained motionless. Elise's smile never faltered as she hopped over.
"I'm Elise, are you Akiya-san?"
Asou Akiya was surprised to see Mori Ougai and Elise. They had been here this long and still hadn't left?
He gave Elise a gentle smile. "Hello, little girl from Mori-sensei's household."
After greeting her, Asou Akiya turned toward Inayama Kigoro behind the desk.
"Boss, how are you feeling?"
"Excellent."
The white-haired, black-coated Port Mafia boss laughed heartily, his words carrying a deeper meaning.
"Better than I've ever felt, by countless times, Akiya-kun."
Across from him, Asou Akiya had no interest in playing along. He skipped over the subject and said, "I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Could Mori-sensei step out for a moment?"
Mori Ougai nodded and tactfully called for Elise.
"Elise, let's go."
The two of them left the boss's office together.
A second before the door closed, Mori Ougai turned his head, stealing a glance behind him from the corner of his eye.
Inside the boss's office, Asou Akiya stood with his back to him, blocking the boss from view. He stood perfectly straight. Compared to the supposedly frail "Analyst" described in the rumors outside, he looked far more like a pillar of the Port Mafia.
Natsume-sensei, you've certainly given me a difficult problem.
How could he possibly wrest power away from someone like that—someone who had no desire to rise to the top, yet could not be killed?
How far was Asou Akiya from the position of Port Mafia boss?
Just a single step.
Coming back to his senses, Mori Ougai was shaken to the core as he remembered the man's origins as a non-ability user who had clawed his way up from the bottom.
Through sheer intelligence, this man had shattered the hierarchy that placed ability users above ordinary people...
You should be working in politics!