“Missy, the North American sponsors have made new demands for product placement in the promotional video.”
“OK!”
“Missy, here’s the letter from Headquarters about the Board of Directors questioning the GSAC project budget overrun.”
“Ignore it!”
“Missy, this is the final draft agreement with the Tokyo Metropolis government regarding the New National Stadium Renovation Plan. It needs your review and signature.”
“Approved.”
“Missy, this is the Security Department’s risk assessment report on potential incidents caused by Superpower Users participating in the competition…”
“Read!”
Jiang Jian Yue discovered a theory: When you deal with matters recklessly, by the time you reach the fourth, the first one will grow legs and come back to haunt you.
She named it the “Jiang Jian Yue Theorem.”
“Tell the sponsors… if they insist on inserting .ysxt promotion… just get lost!”
“If you don’t sponsor, there are plenty of others who will.”
Morita Aoya, who had just returned from the old residence, intercepted the reply agreeing to the placement, and hesitated as he looked at Jiang Jian Yue buried in the pile of documents.
“Missy, you don’t need to handle everything like Nine-Tails. You can delegate some tasks to me.”
“Get out!”
Because she had just dealt with a Superpower User’s corpse, Jiang Jian Yue, still in an irritable state, glared fiercely at Morita Aoya.
Morita Aoya instantly felt a chill in his heart—so this is what it feels like to be hated by Missy?
He quickly bowed and backed out, but at the entrance, Jiang Jian Yue called him back.
“Socializing, organize the manpower, recall, Dark Crow Unit, surveillance, delay, KILL, don’t be soft, document sorting, understood, leave it to me, this and that, got it?”
Jiang Jian Yue’s ability to organize language was as messy as her brain at the moment.
She packed a stack of papers and business cards into a plastic bag and threw it to Morita Aoya.
Yet, unexpectedly, Morita Aoya understood. There were three main instructions.
The first: Socializing is his responsibility.
Because the Global Superpower Arena Challenge involved too much networking and negotiation, Jiang Jian Yue, a minor with severe language organization disability, was obviously unsuited for it.
The second: Organize the manpower—especially recall the elders in the apartment, regardless of whether the bodyguards and maids matched the profession, watch the Homecoming Faction members with the Dark Crow Unit.
If anyone delays or causes trouble, kill them directly.
The third: Sort the documents into something she could understand at a high school level—Morita Aoya knew she certainly couldn’t make sense of the reports from the legal advisors she held.
“Understood!”
Morita Aoya froze for a moment, then nodded deeply.
The oppressive atmosphere of the past few days was swept away.
He had also been treating Missy as a clueless child… making the same mistake as Nine-Tails Seiji.
Morita Aoya returned to the entrance as the next batch of staff carrying documents came up from the elevator—this time, budget statements.
Would you make a female high school student look at these?
But now his own task was heavy, and Morita Aoya had no time to stay on the fifth floor giving Missy advice.
After some thought, he contacted the head maid, Akimoto Miki, who was still in the apartment.
Although she worked as a maid now, she was once a top student from Nagoya University—though her major was “Social Infrastructure Engineering.”
…In other words, civil engineering.
***
Maria sat in the first-floor hall of the apartment, watching the busy staff discussing matters before her.
Currently, the first floor of the apartment was filled with temporary partitions and office furniture, dividing the space into different zones.
To be precise, ever since Nine-Tails Seiji moved in, not just the first floor, but the entire apartment had practically become a “Company,” bustling with GSAC-related business.
The dismissal of Nine-Tails Seiji hadn’t affected the work.
Part of the reason was Jiang Jian Yue’s seamless takeover, but more so because all Homecoming Faction members, originally tasked with expanding their sphere of influence and recruiting local muscle, were recalled and redeployed to the GSAC project.
Out of boredom, Maria asked the head of the publicity department what he thought about Missy dismissing Nine-Tails Seiji and taking over as the leader of the Homecoming Faction.
The long-haired man thought for a moment and answered, “Of course, it’s a good thing. We unconditionally support Missy.”
The answer was somewhat unexpected.
“The Missy we knew before was no different from Nine-Tails in our eyes, just a kid. Her Constitutional Value was only sixty at most, pretty ordinary and usually stayed at home.”
Constitutional Value… Sixty… Only?
As a Japanese, Maria instantly felt a bit ashamed.
If her grades hadn’t been so poor and she couldn’t find a proper job after high school, she wouldn’t have gone to Africa to learn French and ended up joining DRG.
“Missy had no ambition or ability—this was basically recognized throughout Central Africa. Among her confidants, the only one considered formidable was Morita Aoya, the rest were bodyguards and maids.”
“But no one expected—no one expected—the Nine-Tails Seiji, whom we pinned such high hopes on… cough… what I mean is, since Missy is ambitious and forceful, she’s the natural choice for leader…”
“There’s no one more suitable than Missy. Compared to those of us who left Japan early, she’s lived in Japan for seventeen years…”
When it came to life in Japan, Jiang Jian Yue was already a veteran to them.
“Maria!”
Mark stood on tiptoes at the entrance, calling out—because of the partitions, the first floor had become a maze, with a sea of heads and documents everywhere you looked.
Maria wound her way to the entrance and asked, “Did you bring the stuff?”
“It’s already on.”
The two went to a temporary prefab beside the apartment.
Opening the door, they found seven men and women inside, all wearing Suppression Shackles around their necks.
This was a GPRI specialty brought from Lake Toya, used to restrain Superpower Users—if Saori Saiyonji wore one, even a raging inferno would become a windless cigarette lighter.
These people were Superpower Users who supported the Homecoming Faction, but their commitment to the “Enterprise Nation” ideal wasn’t that strong.
After the Destruction of GPRI, they joined DRG not long after—Nine-Tails Seiji offered them benefits, so they chose to protect him.
The greatest source of instability in the apartment, aside from the regular bodyguards and Homecoming Faction members, was these Superpower Users loyal to Nine-Tails Seiji himself…
According to Koji Hattori, after Missy stormed the apartment and injured Nine-Tails Seiji the night before last, these people flew to Japan the next morning.
However, because Maria was present, unnecessary battles were avoided.
Her ability was Cognitive Shielding.
With the prisoner Truffle, who wore a humanoid Mind Bug System Detection Device, all the hidden Superpower Users on the periphery were identified and subjected to Cognitive Shielding.
The group returned to the apartment easily. After the Homecoming Faction higher-ups chose to submit, these people also gave up resistance.
They were all brothers from the main family—no need for bloodshed. As for the unlucky soul who got shot in the conference room…
Everyone tacitly ignored it.
Still, Missy didn’t fully trust these people yet, so it was best to keep an eye on them for now.
***
The time pointed to eleven at night.
The conference room lights were still on, and a heated argument was breaking out inside—the team handling broadcasting rights negotiations and the team in charge of technical venue support were fighting over a technical compatibility issue, nearly coming to blows.
Several minister-level figures waited in the hallway with thick folders, their faces filled with anxiety.
Jiang Jian Yue sat behind her desk, an internal memo spread out before her, the writing blurring before her eyes.
The sound of the quarrel in the conference room, suppressed coughing in the hallway, the monotonous air conditioning…
Her temples throbbed. Her stomach churned—not from hunger, but pure exhaustion and frustration.
She was back in her corporate worker Jiang Jian Yue mode—spiritless, unable to muster energy, and at her most emotional, wanted to punch the world apart.
She had thought it was a side effect of acquiring abilities, but by now, those had almost disappeared—she realized she genuinely hated work.
It’s back.
All of it is back.
That familiar feeling…
The fifth floor, once a warm little home, became cold and heartless after it turned into Jiang Jian Yue’s workstation.
As long as her butt touched the chair, she was wrapped in a DEBUFF—drowsiness, IQ drop, blurry vision, and unable to understand people.
She suddenly stood up.
“Missy?”
Akimoto Miki, who was standing guard, looked over.
“Off work.”
“Eh? O-off work?”
Akimoto Miki didn’t react at first.
The argument in the conference room instantly quieted, and several uncertain gazes darted over.
“I’m off work!”
Jiang Jian Yue stared straight ahead, walked out of the conference room to the elevator, and pressed the button.
The elevator doors slowly closed, shutting out the curious stares.
The floor numbers began to change.
Jiang Jian Yue leaned against the cold metal wall, took a deep breath, then exhaled.
Her legs nearly buckled—she almost knelt in the elevator.
Damn…
It’s my period…
She pulled her phone from her storage space, barely used today.
As soon as it connected to the signal, a barrage of notifications exploded—Yuki Asahi’s calls and messages.
She hadn’t responded to any of them.
Her finger paused on Yuki Asahi’s name but ultimately didn’t call back.
Ding—
The elevator doors slowly opened—not on the fifth floor, but the first.
Jiang Jian Yue stumbled out in a daze.
The first floor was still busy. Staff drank energy drinks as they worked.
Ah, screw this!
“Enough! Everyone, off work! Now!”
***
Yuki Asahi sat on the floor of Room 2103, back against the cold floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside was the dazzling Tokyo night, neon shimmering, cars streaming.
He had sent countless messages to Jiang Jian Yue—asking what she wanted for dinner, whether they should shop for a washing machine together, even sharing an online joke he’d mustered the courage to send.
All vanished into silence.
Just as he was now forbidden from even approaching the outer wall of Jiang Jian Apartment.
Koji Hattori had come by in the evening, explained briefly:
“Missy is… a bit busy. A lot going on at the apartment.”
Koji Hattori didn’t elaborate.
He knew.
The fact that Yue returned to the apartment should’ve been a happy thing.
But he also understood what it meant—the 2103 room, overlooking Tokyo, might only be a brief stop in Yue’s life.
Her real home was the familiar Jiang Jian Apartment.
“She won’t come back, will she…”
Yuki Asahi buried his head in his knees.
At a time like this, there should be a flower for plucking petals, to see if Jiang Jian Yue would return.
A sense of loss coiled around his heart like vines, aching.
He remembered her kiss, her pale face, her hand on her lower abdomen, her rare vulnerability in his arms…
All those fleeting moments, like fragile bubbles, had burst.
Still, wasn’t that fine?
Yue had gone home—it was something to be happy about.
No more worries about rent, no more lack of a washing machine or fridge, with maids coming and going…
If he still hoped she’d humble herself to co-rent with him, he’d be too childish!
Yuki Asahi forced himself to stop thinking about pointless, chaotic thoughts.
After composing himself, he walked into the open kitchen and picked up the ingredients he’d bought today—for two people.
Since there was no fridge, he decided to cook all the ingredients for two servings.
In the pot, spinach and meat soup boiled—Jiang Jian Yue liked meat, spinach was for her iron intake during her period…
But now…
Forget it.
He straightened, watching the boiling soup.
At least finish this meal.
Even if… even if she never returned.
This dinner for two would serve as a proper, not-so-messy ending to their brief “cohabitation.”
He picked up a spoon, tasted the soup—the flavor was just right. His skill hadn’t deteriorated despite his mood.
At that moment—
“Ding-dong—”
Yuki Asahi’s heart jumped. The spoon fell back into the pot, splashing hot soup on his hand—he didn’t even notice.
He snapped his head toward the entrance.
Could it be her?
The thought sparked a frail, burning hope.
He almost stumbled, hesitated with his hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and slowly opened the door.
Outside, under the cold corridor light, stood a weary Jiang Jian Yue—alone, without bodyguards or anyone else.
Her tired blood-red eyes reflected the boy’s face—worry, shock, and a touch of relief.
She still carried the chill of the night air, lowering the temperature at the doorway.
They stared at each other in silence.
Time seemed to freeze for several seconds.
Where did she go?
Why didn’t she reply?
How was the apartment?
A thousand words clogged his chest.
But seeing her exhausted face and pale lips, Yuki Asahi swallowed every word.
He steadied himself, forced a gentle smile, and stepped aside.
“Welcome back.”
Jiang Jian Yue nodded slightly, silent, and walked in, closing the door behind her.
She crossed the entryway straight into the living room.
The warm kitchen light and the smell of food seemed to relax her tense nerves.
“Food…”
“…Ready?”
“Almost. Soup’s about done. Rice just finished too.”
Yuki Asahi quickly followed, worry on his face as he looked at her pale profile.
“You look terrible—are you really okay? Still… not feeling well?”
Anyone would look like this after a day of work.
Jiang Jian Yue shook her head lightly, eyes fixed on the bubbling soup, as if mesmerized by the steam.
Then, with a magician’s flourish, she pulled out two cans of beer, tilting her head.
“Drink?”
…Senpai, we’re minors!
What’s wrong with being minors?
Japan is weird—minors can date and rent hotel rooms but can’t drink?
Also, call me Yue!
That was just me being edgy before please don’t let anything bad happen to them