Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Personal Secretary

This isn't exactly a good deal.

Tokisaki Kurumi pretended to look over the documents while thinking things over.

It seemed that because she, this "butterfly," had flapped her wings, the course of events had changed. Originally, this task was given to Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, but now it had been assigned to her instead.

However, she wasn't the type of transmigrator who strove to keep the storyline intact. If the plot changed, then so be it. While it might cost her some advantage from knowing the original story, with her Spirit powers, she wasn't exactly a pushover. Worst case, everyone would rely on their own abilities.

Her concern was that if the plot altered too much, she might be unable to complete the system's assigned missions.

The North American Gifted Organization, the Guild, wanted to capture Nakajima Atsushi and had entrusted this task to the largest crime syndicate in the area, the Port Mafia.

In the original storyline, the Port Mafia's repeated failures to complete this task led the Guild's leader to run out of patience and personally come to Yokohama to capture Nakajima.

If events followed the original plot, the Guild would arrive in Yokohama, giving Tokisaki Kurumi the opportunity to complete Sub-Mission 2: defeating Guild members.

But now, because of her involvement, the one assigned to capture Nakajima was herself.

If she did successfully capture Nakajima and handed him over to the Guild, they wouldn't cause trouble in Yokohama, making Sub-Mission 2 impossible to complete.

This was not an outcome Tokisaki Kurumi wanted.

So, to complete Sub-Mission 2, she would have to intentionally "fail" to capture Nakajima.

However, if she did that, Ogai Mori might notice her deliberately slacking and cease to trust her.

While Tokisaki Kurumi didn't particularly care about others' opinions, completing her main mission required the Port Mafia's support. Thus, gaining Ogai Mori's trust was quite necessary.

If possible, she'd prefer to decline the assignment altogether.

Unfortunately, she couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse to refuse.

Out of options, the only thing she could do was accept the task for now and figure out a plan later.

She closed the file in her hands and, smiling, said, "Leave it to me, Mr. Mori. I'll do my best."

"Excellent. In that case, please take this." Ogai Mori pulled out a black phone and handed it to her. "This is the organization's official contact phone. Use it if you need support or to report back. If I need you at headquarters, I'll contact you through this phone as well."

"Oh? It does look a bit different from regular phones," Tokisaki Kurumi said, turning it on only to find it had only a handful of basic applications. "It's not bugged with trackers or listening devices to monitor my every move, is it?"

"If it were someone else, I might have done so," Ogai Mori replied candidly. "However, with someone like you, Miss Tokisaki, who can read memories, I wouldn't make such a basic mistake that would damage our trust."

"Trust…huh?" Tokisaki Kurumi looked at the man before her deeply. "Though I don't believe I'll ever fully gain your trust, please try to earn mine as best you can, Mr. Mori."

"I'll do my best," Ogai Mori replied with a shrug. "Though I don't think gaining Miss Tokisaki's trust will be an easy task."

"As long as you sincerely try to impress me, I don't believe it will be difficult," Tokisaki Kurumi said teasingly. "If once doesn't work, try twice; if twice doesn't work, try a third time. After all, now that I'm yours, time is the least of our concerns."

"Miss Tokisaki, please don't tease an older man with a fondness for little girls."

Ogai Mori showed a helpless expression as he stroked the sulking Elise's head. "Elise is quite jealous, you see."

"Oh, my apologies. I nearly forgot about Mr. Mori's...special preferences." Tokisaki Kurumi smiled. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

"One moment, Miss Tokisaki."

"Yes?"

"It's about your personal secretary." Ogai Mori looked somewhat helpless. "Until recently, we only had one guerrilla captain, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, so there was only one secretary—Ichiyo Higuchi, whom you met yesterday."

"Yes, a very gentle woman, though she doesn't quite seem suited to the Mafia."

"I thought the same, yet, for some reason, she's stayed with us, even though I've hinted she could leave the organization," Ogai Mori replied. "Anyway, my original plan was for her to support both Akutagawa and you, but last night she declined the offer, stating that assisting Lord Akutagawa already left her drained, with no energy to help anyone else."

"Too bad. We had a pleasant conversation in the car yesterday. I thought we'd get along well."

"It seems she disagrees. When I asked about working for you, I could hear her voice tremble." Ogai Mori said flatly, "Miss Tokisaki, could you perhaps avoid scaring my employees? I assure you, psychological trauma is difficult to treat."

"Well, I don't recall scaring her at any point," Tokisaki Kurumi tapped her chin playfully. "Maybe it's just a misunderstanding on your part, Mr. Mori."

"Let's go with that."

Ogai Mori didn't press the matter further and instead spread a stack of photos across the table. "It's not a big deal if Higuchi can't assist. There are plenty of capable people in the organization who could help. Please choose a personal secretary from among them."

Tokisaki Kurumi's first instinct was to decline.

Firstly, she didn't need a secretary to assist with missions; her combat style meant that anyone else would simply be a hindrance.

Secondly, she didn't want someone under Ogai Mori's influence constantly at her side. The sly fox would surely have this "secretary" monitor her every move.

If he managed to catch her slipping up, things could get troublesome.

Just as she was about to refuse, her gaze fell on one of the faces in the photos—a face she recognized.

After a brief hesitation, she ultimately chose not to refuse.

"Considering that I'm not very familiar with the Port Mafia yet, having a personal secretary would indeed be helpful."

She picked up the photo of a girl with vacant eyes and, smiling, said:

"Then, I'll go with this one."