A dark and mysterious place.
In a location no one should carelessly glance into, a girl leaned back in her chair with an arrogant expression. A hazy shadow covered her pink hair.
“Is there really no one I need to deal with? I’m disappointed in the standards of Sky Island.”
Leonard, who stood tilted in front of her, glanced over. After casually flipping through a thick report, he began to skim read it.
“Well, the administrative staff must have filtered them out, so isn’t the result obvious? If there’s an issue, you should just recruit new staff.”
“Director of Inspections, that’s a foolish thought.”
The girl shook her head while resting her chin on her hand. Her pink eyes grew darker as if looking far away.
“It’s meaningless to evaluate their level whether the staff performed well or not. To me, no matter how good they are, they feel incompetent. If I apply such harsh standards, none of my limbs could withstand my sincere restructuring.”
One of Leonard’s eyebrows raised.
“Speaking of which, you restructured the Knight Order and then poached the high-level personnel to your Merchant Group. Can you really be that blatant about your greed? Even if it’s already done, it’s like splitting the spoils of war.”
“Oh, the Knight Order. Do I really have to explain even that?”
The girl let out a small sigh.
“A bloated government organization is hard to adjust without a significant trigger. But just because the opportunity arises, it’s not right to cause a major incident. The government isn’t a private sector; even minor noise can have an unnecessary impact on society as a whole.”
With a gesture, she pointed arrogantly at herself.
“The action I took was labeled as a restructuring due to warnings so that the Knight Order could learn their place, but it’s closer to a transfer.”
Her resting posture shifted languidly.
“I moved personnel from the Knight Order to Craft Merchant Group, meaning moving a part of a government organization to a public enterprise. I planned to monitor social repercussions and adjust afterward. Misjudged personnel deemed unnecessary will be returned to the Knight Order.”
“Oh, I see. If power privatization occurs, it can operate that way.”
The girl sighed again.
“Director of Inspections, do I really have to explain such basic strategies? Just make simple inferences yourself.”
Leonard’s eyebrow raised again.
“Hey, how is this simple?”
The report was closed hastily.
“And what’s with your tone today? Did you eat something wrong?”
“Ugh.”
Her pink eyes gazed into the distance.
“Indeed, this place doesn’t match my level. They can’t even handle minor strategies.”
“Level, this is quite something.”
Suddenly, the door swung open. A strong light invaded the dark, mysterious place. The demon girl who opened the door looked surprised in the halo.
“What are you doing in the dark?”
Footsteps headed toward the window. A gesture pulled back the curtains of the student council room. The dark interior instantly brightened.
Bright sunlight overwhelmed Pastel.
“Ahhh! It’s blinding! My eyes…!”
Her eyesight dropped to 0.1!
Pastel frantically shielded her face with her arms.
“I’ve had too much photosynthesis!”
Not a good environment for cherry blossoms!
Elly also opened the window for ventilation.
“If you come early, ventilate first.”
The demon girl looked at the struggling Pastel and then glanced at Leonard. Their gazes met, creating a subtle tension between the inspector and the inspected.
Elly’s gaze shifted. She glanced at the report on the desk.
“What were you doing?”
Pastel rubbed her eyes. Tear welled up in her eyes, still unaccustomed to the sunlight.
“I was implementing the secret dark schemes of the great Pastel!”
Melissa even doubted, wondering if that’s what the imaginary evil Pastel felt like.
“What’s that?”
Elly looked incredulous. Her gaze turned toward Leonard.
Leonard met her eyes without answering. Then he turned to Pastel and rotated toward the door.
“I’m leaving.”
“Take care!”
Pastel waved her hand while rubbing her eyes.
As Leonard left, Elly glances at the inspection report again, a curious look on her face.
Did I inspect Elly again without realizing it?
Poo-poo.
The good Pastel doesn’t do such things to her friend.
“This time, President Horace decided to hand over the bankrupt merchant groups to Craft Merchant Group. Did you check if there are any suspicious groups among them? If there happens to be a connection to the cult, it means the cult has intruded into my line. If I remain unaware and they nibble away at important links, it would be extremely troublesome.”
“Oh, that.”
Elly’s expression shifted, pricked by Pastel’s concern, as she had secretly infiltrated and become irreplaceable in the administrative sphere.
Pastel chuckled.
“Of course, Elly feels differently! We’re friends, right!”
Yep, yep!
Upon hearing this, Elly hesitated as if a thought crossed her mind.
“This isn’t some kind of intention; it’s just a simple question. If we’re no longer friends, what will happen?”
“Eh?”
Pastel’s eyes widened.
“That’s a question without intention, right?”
Suddenly filled with worry.
Elly grew tense.
“You said it yourself. If you can’t trust someone through actions and words, let’s build trust based on mutual interests. So, you should be aware of the risks of betrayal. There might be situations where your intentions conflict with the realities benefiting you. We need to share the exact risks to avoid misunderstandings in our judgments.”
“Thinking about it, that makes sense!”
Wow, such an insightful and valid statement!
Could this be a conversation with a friend that prioritizes consideration over hurt feelings?
Pastel crossed her arms, seriously contemplating.
“I really, really like Elly! If Elly were to betray me, I’d probably try to win her over rather than seek revenge! I’d be curious if I did something wrong!”
Yep, yep!
“Of course, I would start with a conversation! There might be a way to resolve things nicely, right? Friends get into fights and then make up!”
Elly’s expression relaxed somewhat, appearing a bit more at ease.
“True. No matter how I think about it, you genuinely like your friends. At least for this understanding conflict, starting with a conversation makes sense.”
Elly mumbled as she headed toward the cupboard.
“Yep, yep! But of course, Pastel differs!”
While Elly reached for a teacup as if to drink green tea, she paused, quickly turning around with a face full of question marks.
“Why is it different?”
Pastel tilted her head.
“Public dealings and private dealings should obviously be different?”
“Um, that’s true, I suppose, but…”
Elly was confused.
Huh?
What’s the problem here?
Elly squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, and pressed her forehead.
“So, how would you deal with it, Pastel, instead of starting with a conversation?”
Pastel thought for a moment. After finishing her thought, she brightly replied.
“That’s a public matter, so I can’t say it to the concerned parties! If I reveal principles, it could easily be exploited!”
Elly’s face turned back into question marks.
“No, earlier you…”
Whoosh.
Suddenly, it clicked!
This reaction feels like the response of friends trying to understand the popular Pastel!
The popular ones often get so busy that even when friends suggest they hang out, they frequently have to refuse!
But that friend often thought it was because they disliked them, leading to feeling hurt!
Ahhh, being popular is hard!
Elly is the same way!
Pastel has so many priorities that her personal friendships often get placed low on the list!
But it’s not that she dislikes her friends! She actually likes them very, very much!
But from the perspective of a friend who likes Pastel so much, it’s understandable that they would feel hurt.
“Don’t worry, Elly! No matter what, I won’t take actions that cannot be reverted!”
We’re friends, after all!
“Actions that cannot be reverted.”
Elly muttered blankly.
“Actions that cannot be reverted… actions that cannot be reverted…”
The student council room door quietly opened.
Dustin, with messy hair, peeked inside and felt embarrassed at the focused gazes.
“Did I come late?”
“Hi, Dustin!”
Pastel cheerfully waved her arms.
“You came to see me again today!”
Dustin appeared confused.
“Huh? Is that so? I came to work…?”
He then rubbed his neck and mumbled softly, slightly embarrassed.
“I guess it feels like that.”
Wow!
That was just a casual remark and it hit the mark!
Elly continued to gaze at Dustin in a daze.
“Didn’t you wash your hair?”
It was a slightly soul-drained question.
“Huh? I washed it before bed.”
“Dirty.”
Elly bluntly stated as she walked to her seat.
Dustin was left dumbfounded.
Pastel surveyed his hair and cheerfully exclaimed.
“I think so too!”
Yep, yep!
“Huh?”
Dustin appeared bewildered.
“Why is everyone treating me like this from the morning?”
Nobody particularly answered him.
Dustin glanced around, silently returned to his dorm, and washed his hair.
