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nSeigi slowly lowered his sniper rifle. As he did, he shook his head with a bemused smile and said, “Do these girls even need security?”

nSince the time the girls left the building, he had been trailing behind them staying just out of sight.

nAs usual, he was kitted with battle equipment. His sniper rifle, a Thompson Contender for a side arm… And for this environment, he even carried a pair of machetes in case things went south and he had to resort to melee.

nIn terms of clothing, he was wearing his usual black longcoat and combat boots attire. Usually, he would have chosen camo or clothes that would blend in with the environment, but his new job gave him access to fancy tech that made him invisible to any onlookers.

nWould have loved to have that back in the days he was roaming around the deserts fighting for justice.

nHeh. ‘Justice…’

nSeigi shook his head and then focused on the girls.

nRin was having fun dismantling the Ussuri bear corpse, expertly skinning its fur while occasionally taking blood-splattered selfies with her phone.

nShu was pouting and focusing on eating.

nYuri was pointedly ignoring everything around her and focusing on cooking.

n…And Chihiro looked shell-shocked, twitching and instinctively reaching for something on her back.

nProbably the gun that Seigi took away from her.

nTurned out to be a good call. Seeing how she was reacting, one of the girls would have gotten seriously injured.

nBut for the most part…

nSeigi pulled out his phone and called the mainline in the onsen while keeping an eye on the girls.

nAfter a few rings, someone picked up and a voice that sounded eerily similar to his own answered.

n“Hello?”

nSeigi adjusted his phone and then said, “Mura-san?”

n“Ah. Seigi-san. Did something come up?”

nSeigi stared at the towering bear quickly being dismantled by Rin and said, “…Something, yes. Are you and Cherry short on meat by any chance?”

n“No, but we could always use more supplies. Did you chance upon big game while escorting the girls?”

n“More like the big game had the bad luck of running into the girls. Anyway, bring a big wagon or truck if you have one. There’s a brown bear for you to pick up.”

n“…A bear?”

n—–AI|IA—–

nAlphy’s room. At the moment, she and Asako were seated around a low table, enjoying the complimentary breakfast brought in by Suzume’s adoptive mother.

nThe breakfast wasn’t anything too fancy, consisting of smoked fish, some pickled vegetables, and a bit of miso soup.

nAsako stifled a yawn and then poured herself some green tea. Since she just got up, her hair was a bit frizzy and her kimono was a bit haphazard, just tossed on without much thought since it was easier than changing into proper clothes.

nAlphy smiled as she watched Asako.

nUnlike Asako, Alphy got up early and had already changed into proper clothes. A white blouse, jeans, and her favorite loose hoodie… It was a bit mismatched from the surroundings, but Alphy was cozy, so it didn’t really matter.

nBesides, the kimonos reminded Alphy a bit too much of the old days, so she preferred her current clothes.

nAlthough that blue kimono really did suit Asako. Maybe it was because Alphy was used to seeing her in normal clothes? For some reason Alphy couldn’t help but keep watching Asako.

nAsako noticed Alphy staring and then blushed. “W-What? Something on my face?” She set her cup down and brushed away her bangs. “Is it my hair? Argh, I knew I should have showered first.”

nAlphy giggled and said, “No. I just think Asa-chan is cute in the morning.”

nAsako rolled her eyes and said, “You think I’m cute whatever I do, don’t you?”

n“Mmhm!”

nAsako paused, her cheeks turning a few shades redder, and then she cleared her throat and said, “A-Anyway… What do you want to do today? Should we take Rin out and go exploring? This place is pretty big, so there’s probably a few cool places we can go.”

nAlphy smiled at seeing Asako flustered and thought about teasing her a bit more. But she decided that’d be a bit too mean this early in the morning, so she didn’t. Instead, she said, “I was thinking we should spend some time getting to know our kouhais better.”

nAsako blinked and said, “Oh. Right, we should probably do that, huh?”

n“Asa-chan… Don’t tell me you were planning to ignore them?”

nAsako shrugged and grabbed a piece of smoked salmon from the breakfast platter and said, “They’ve been ignoring us, haven’t they?”

nAlphy puffed her cheeks and said, “Asa-chan. You’re a senpai.”

nAsako popped the salmon into her mouth and chewed it for a bit. After swallowing, she shook her head and said, “Yeah, yeah… If it makes you happy, we can do things with the kids. I was planning for us to have some fun times together though…”

nAlphy’s eyes lit up.

nAsako noticed and quickly said, “Us as in you, me, and Rin! Like a group trip! Not… I mean… Ugh.” She grabbed her tea and quickly drained it in a panic before coughing and spilling some on her clothes. “Gah! Hot!”

nAlphy giggled and then handed over a napkin. “You should be more careful, Asa-chan.”

nAsako dabbed the tea away and glared at Alphy. “I blame you, Miss Perfect.”

n“I love you too, Asa-chan.”

n“Tch.”

nAlphy smiled and then started grabbing some food for herself.

nAnd then a small chime echoed in the room. Alphy’s phone.

nAsako blinked and then said, “Who’s texting you this early in the morning?”

n“I don’t know. Papa?” Alphy took out her phone from her pocket and said, “I told him we were going to be on a trip though and he said he was fine with not calling… Oh. It’s Rin.”

n“Sis?” Asako frowned and said, “What’d she say?”

nAlphy opened the text message. As she read what it said and saw the attached picture, she blinked, wondering if she was seeing it right. And then when she realized she was, she laughed.

n“What? Let me see.” Asako scooted around the table and leaned over to look.

nAlphy held out her phone and said, “It looks like our little sister decided to try and get some loot in real life for once.”

nIt was a picture of Rin. The surroundings were pretty normal. There was a small stream in the back and it looked like she was standing in a small clearing.

nBut the picture itself definitely wasn’t.

nFirst of all, Rin’s clothes were bloodstained, with a few crimson drops still drying on her face. Second of all, there was a long bloodtrail dragging off to the side behind her. Third of all… and most importantly, Rin was holding a giant bear pelt over her head. One with a head that looked big enough to snap Rin in half if it took a bite.

nAs to the text message…

nRin

nLook, Onee-chan! I skinned a bear! Do you think Mister John can help me make a hoodie out of it?

nAsako stared at the picture and text message for a while. Then she blinked and slowly said, “I… guess Sis inherited a lot more from that bastard than we all thought…?”

nAlphy nodded. “That, or Papa gave her something weird by accident.” She tucked her phone away and said, “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

n“…I can see John doing that.”

nAlphy giggled.

n—–AI|IA—–

nMyth Incorporated HQ. John’s office.

nThe giant piles of paper sitting on his desk were cleared away, everything read and dealt with after a long night.

nIf John was being honest, it wasn’t that bad. Compared to the reports about stupid young masters starting up clan wars, kidnapping mortals as concubines, or other dumb things that came about as a result of people thinking violence and power abuse solved everything, sorting out business affairs and hiring people was a cinch.

nIt made John wonder why he was avoiding it in the first place… And then he remembered that he was trying to relive his youth when he got back to Earth.

nCouldn’t do that when dealing with paperwork and being a responsible adult.

nBut anyway, all the logistics were taken care of now. With Jenny’s help, John had confirmed retaining Fae and Co. Law Offices as counsel to deal with legal, and they’d be sending over somebody before the new year to help sort out opening branches overseas.

nJohn had also finished hiring some people to help out with social media for each of the girls in Prototype.

nFor Asako, it was obviously the Three Musketeers. GoldenOrca, FailureFox, and StraightGarbage were officially Community Managers and full-time mods in Asako’s streams. They were also on payroll and would be starting orientation with the new year.

nFor Alphy, Alfis_Knight, Alfis_Couch, and Alfis_HotCocoa would be helping out. The latter two were still in high school though, so it would be mostly part-time. As for Alfis_Knight… Well, his main job was body-building, but he was more than happy to help out.

nIt was a bit annoying talking him up into accepting a reasonable salary when he kept wanting to work for free though. But it just went to show how devoted Alphy’s fans were.

nAs for Rin… There were a few different people who were interested, but they were all proper members of society who had a day job and were super busy.

nBut that was fine. John decided that he’d handle Rin’s affairs personally. It was the least he could do since she took a chance on him… despite John being super shady and irresponsible the entire time they knew each other.

nAltogether, things were squared away for Prototype now. And since Kai had come on board along with the three members of Mystic Bouquet to help as mentors for Prodigy, that was squared away too.

nWhich left the glaring problem that had been left unresolved since a certain pair of divine beasts ran off with their new girlfriends: structuring Myth Incorporated into a proper and legitimate company.

nAnd the first step to do that… Well, it was about to start right now.

nJohn crossed his leg and leaned back in his chair. Lacing his fingers together, he swept his gaze across the room at each of the staff members currently on payroll at Myth Incorporated.

n“So. Shall we begin the first official staff meeting?”

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