……
“Miss Hua Ye, this is everything I learned about the duties of the Defense Office after communicating with its other members, along with my personal understanding of the role of Defense Office Advisor.”
Kivotos, 7 PM, D.U White Bird District, outskirts of the Holy Tower, top floor of the new Defense Office building.
The evening sun had long since set, and the tranquility and dimness of dusk had taken over Kivotos.
Beyond the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, the city gradually lit up with the lights of various shops, company buildings, and office towers.
In the warm white light that had just automatically turned on, Sensei sat steadily in the armchair, leaning forward with a serious expression.
Meanwhile, Hua Ye, casually glancing at the Shittim Chest attached to his chest, propped her elbow on the armrest, pressed her cheek with a fingertip, squinted her eyes, and pondered her response.
This guy had just briefly summarized the four main responsibilities of the Defense Office he had heard:
Public order in the D.U. District, academy disciplinary investigations, security assessments, and data compilation.
He also shared his thoughts on the current duties of the Defense Office…
Roughly speaking, questions about personnel deployment authority, and confusion regarding the duties of the office director and advisor.
She unconsciously tapped her cheek, thinking about how to answer.
Her final conclusion was to respond based on her own experiences and the memories that had already been restored.
So she first explained roughly the authorities she held based on her current situation—
Excluding the special academy SRT, these included personnel deployment authority related to defense, the authority to mobilize and dissolve armed forces from various academies under special circumstances, cross-academy law enforcement and punishment authority in cases of disciplinary violations, and so on.
As for the advisor’s duties…
She hesitated, somewhat conflicted about whether to tell the advisor.
Although his current position was advisor, his official role should be Sensei, so now he was essentially a temporary worker in the Defense Office with power but no backing or foundation.
But in the end, she sighed and said to him,
“The position of advisor was originally created by the Student Council President because I couldn’t handle the excessive workload of the Defense Office alone. So, following that logic, what you should enjoy is… authority… on the same level… as… mine?…”
Explaining it this way, she seemed a bit too dangerous.
If all authorities could be justified as “I can’t handle it so I need to share power with the advisor,” a rather dangerous situation might arise…
With two top leaders, the Defense Office would likely become very troublesome.
Two tigers cannot share one mountain, after all.
To avoid being stripped of too much power before she could figure out how to live peacefully, she added another sentence,
“But the prerequisite is that I need to ask for help. Hmm, that should be it. For now, just help with paperwork.”
Hua Ye wasn’t entirely sure, but if power were to be divided, it would likely be split in half, with each half interwoven.
So, following that idea, she simply temporarily limited the advisor’s duties to document processing—
This way, at least she could review what the advisor wrote and signed under the pretext of checking.
A moment later, thinking about what she needed to say, she suddenly remembered something and, narrowing her eyes, calmly spoke,
“Also, this suppression seems to be related to the guys from Abydos—the Abydos school emblem was identified on the tanks driven by the Helmet Gang. Advisor, you just said you planned to start with the monthly academy spot checks, right?”
Sensei nodded.
He had also noticed that during the breakout led by the Helmet Gang, the tank’s front armor bore a triangular school emblem with a sun symbol inside.
The Helmet Gang only knew these tanks were prepared in advance, parked in various rooms in the Black Market.
At the appointed time, they would know the locations of the rooms, and that was it—
They knew nothing else.
Sensei pondered for a moment, then lifted his head and replied calmly,
“The Black Market and Abydos are both suspects in this riot. Although we’ve completed the suppression, the subsequent tasks are not over. We must find the true instigator before the next possible riot.”
The warm white light flowed from the simple recessed light fixtures overhead, gently draping over petite Hua Ye’s pure white uniform adorned with gold studs, and over her uniform skirt lined with a starry blue hem.
She rose from her chair, her starry blue tie hanging naturally with the light.
With both hands on the desk, she leaned forward, and Hua Ye’s emerald-like green eyes opened wide, looking at Sensei with a smile and satisfaction.
“So, Advisor… this month’s investigation will start with Abydos Academy. Hmm, and also mobilize police officers and the person in charge to investigate the Black Market.”
Neither of them said it explicitly, but they both shared a common suspect—
Kaiser Group.
Hua Ye’s reasoning was that, as the host of the Black Market, how could Kaiser Group, an entity that seemed to embody the dark side of this city, not have ambition and desires?
Moreover, it remained to be seen whether those small companies rioted because of the “anti-merger bill” they mentioned in their communications or because Kaiser incited them.
Also, the explosion of the building suspected to be the commander’s location was too coincidental.
It had exploded right in front of them just as they arrived at the Black Market and were about to search it.
It was like a show of force aimed at her and the police—
Though she thought the kids hadn’t noticed that at all.
Sensei’s thinking was more specific.
During the process of persuading the Helmet Gang, the leader had unconsciously told him a lot about Kaiser.
—
“Sensei, people like us are really easy to deceive… If you encounter Kaiser’s robots, don’t believe a word they say! We’ve done several jobs for Kaiser Group, and every time they found various reasons to delay paying our commission, or they’d hire robots to double-cross us! Hmph, in our line of work, Kaiser Group is known for being untrustworthy!”
But they were still the most generous clients.
Most of the Helmet Gang’s large-scale tasks were organized by them, and although sometimes they didn’t pay after the fact, they could be quite generous during the operations.
‘If a guy like that hadn’t gotten involved in a big incident like this, it would be strange instead. Deceiving kids, taking advantage of their innocence…’
Sensei pondered his own job issues.
Meanwhile, Hua Ye sat back in her office chair, picked up a pen, propped her chin, and thought about what to write in her report—
The suppression was complete.
As a major event, she would likely need to submit a report to the Student Council President.
Rather than waiting for her superior to assign tasks and add a bunch of extra requirements, it was better to strike first and finish it quickly.
But regarding the report…
This incident was clearly not over yet…
So she could only submit an “investigation pending” application…
The warm white light from the top-floor director’s office of the new Defense Office building flowed out through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling onto the quiet street—
The outskirts of the Holy Tower were sparsely populated.
The new base was in a once-abandoned building.
The only thing worth mentioning about this place was its proximity to the borders of various academies, allowing quick access to each academy by tram or other transportation.
In the light, seeing that Hua Ye seemed to have finished her thoughts and was about to start writing, Sensei suddenly remembered her earlier words and said to her with a smile,
“Miss Hua Ye, can I watch how you write your report? I’ve done it outside, but I’m not sure if it’s the same in Kivotos. To make it easier to help you with paperwork in the future, may I watch?”
Hua Ye instinctively wanted to shake her head in refusal—
‘No way, how do I write this now? I just learned it from those files! What does he think I was reading those files for? If he learns my half-baked writing style, it’ll end up a mess! I should wait until I’ve fully recovered my memories before teaching him…’
But just as she was about to shake her head, Hua Ye’s stomach made an embarrassing noise.
Guruguru…
Obviously, someone had rushed to the Student Council meeting too early in the morning, been occupied with the riot suppression at noon, and spent the afternoon figuring out the Shittim Chest’s usage and her own duties with the advisor…
So she hadn’t eaten anything all day.
Under Sensei’s warm gaze—
Which carried a hint of teasing but more regret at not having noticed her—
Hua Ye blushed, a rare occurrence.
It was probably out of shame, embarrassing herself in front of a subordinate or colleague.
But then she reasoned that the advisor probably hadn’t eaten either, and suddenly felt it wasn’t a big deal.
It was just her body couldn’t help it;
She was still the dignified Defense Office Director, Buzhihuo Huaye.
So she gave an embarrassed cough, muttered an apology, and staggered to her feet, intending to go downstairs where she had confirmed there was a break room with a refrigerator, to find some food for herself and the advisor.
Distracted by hunger and slight hypoglycemia, Hua Ye didn’t have time to think about whether, as director, she should be doing this.
Sensei also stood up, gave a warm smile, moved faster than her, helped her back into her seat, left her with a “Sorry, I’ll be back soon,” and quickly walked away—
Probably to find food.
“Hey… Advisor… remember to tell the others… work overtime tonight… organize the materials on the companies involved in the riot and the Helmet Gang…”
Hua Ye said weakly, her voice trailing off, directed at Sensei’s disappearing figure in the elevator.
Sensei made an OK gesture and disappeared into the descending elevator.
Then, lying back in her office chair, Hua Ye closed her eyes, placed her hand over her face, and breathed slowly.
Her body, still that of a young girl, now felt the exhaustion that had been suppressed by extreme focus, finally sending signals to her brain after her stomach had growled.
—Every muscle ached, especially her legs and hips, likely from sitting on an uneven and uncomfortable helicopter for a long time, then walking all the way back to the new Defense Office base, leaving them stiff beyond belief;
Her tongue and lips felt a dry, splintery sensation, and when she pressed her lips together, they were dry and sticky;
Her stomach was completely empty, constantly sending sharp pangs of pain.
Even her thoughts had begun to slow down from insufficient sugar intake.
She had been able to hold out and not feel it before, probably because she was too focused.
“Gu… ah… my body… is so weak… not really suited for fieldwork…”
In the past, she had been more of an office type…
How did she get through overtime back then?
Did she just tough it out with this frail body, relying on coffee to stay alive?
She sighed again.
Kivotos…
Federal Student Council…
Big corporations…
Kaiser Group…
Abydos trafficking…
Troublesome…
But…
Having someone bring her a meal…
Not bad…
In the past, she was the one bringing meals to seniors and bosses…
Now…
Not bad…
With her slowed thoughts, she slowly closed her eyes again, and in a daze, thought about the report, the application to inspect Abydos Academy this month, and Kaiser Group…
Waiting in a haze for Sensei’s return.