Chapter 1124 - 得難きは隣に
────And, while being absorbed in it, first a whole day passed.
"...Nozomi-kun?"
"Mm, yeah."
After pouring in every bit of time and every drop of my heart's blood and somehow reaching the line where Miki gave permission to say 'that's enough for today.'
I was called out to by Kaede, who was as worn out as I was.
"Um, is... this okay?"
"It's fine."
The place was the hallway... a large, long, spacious hallway befitting the scale of the mansion. In other words, a hallway that could provide enough space for someone who wanted to make a phone call.
When I shook my smartphone at Kaede, who was concerned about it, to show her that 'it's already done,' her always-charming eyes blinked repeatedly.
"Then, um────here!"
"Pfft, yes, yes. Go ahead, Manager-dono."
A partner in a different sense from Sora, a perfect distance as friends. Following my lead, Kaede leaned her back against the hallway wall with a 'thump' and stood next to me, raising her hand.
It had become a habit—or rather, a ritual—to signal the switch. According to her, she puts herself in the zone with a energetic shout and switches from friend to 'work mode.'
It's heartwarming. However────
"Then, then............────First, the usual. About the collaboration offers, sponsor tie-up proposals, and so on... um, do you want to hear the number of cases?"
"I'll pass."
"Understood. So, as usual, I glanced through them, but..."
"Yeah, as usual. I've left it to Kaede's eyes, so I'll leave it to you."
This young lady of the Shijo family is just as reliable as Miki, if not more so.
"Ugh, the trust is heavy..."
"I'm just responding to your track record."
────Shijo Group.
In the era of post-war reconstruction, when Japanese culture was rapidly climbing toward modern times. Starting from a small kimono shop, then using a tie-up with a large-scale commercial facility (shopping mall) as a foothold to reach into various fields, they quickly became one of the leading corporate groups in the country—a family of workers.
What is still feared today is their insight, which could be called the 'Eye of Observation,' for catching the trends of the times. As a clan that never misjudges when to attack or when to withdraw, they have even secured a position as advisors in the industry, and are a top-tier company with virtually no rivals.
Then, there's no way a daughter born into such a heavenly family could have grown up normally. Naturally, Kaede, who has received elite education such as monarchical studies since she was young, is fundamentally on a different "rank" from an ordinary person like me, in the purest sense of the words.
She's someone who is honestly out of place and disproportionate if you think about it calmly, given how she usually spreads innocent smiles in an otaku group without any falsehood.
Not to mention her natural intelligence and other specs; if it were possible to visualize and compare them, her very way of thinking would likely seem like a different thing from an ordinary person's────I've been forced to think so by the countless times she's shown it to me in less than a year.
Glanced through them. Don't give me that nonsense.
"I'll hear it after all. Roughly how many cases were there for each?"
"Eh? Um, let's see... 27 collaboration offers as an image character for products, 12 requests for appearances in commercials or media, and 49 for print interviews..."
"............"
"Oh, and a rare one was a scout as an idol. ...Setting aside the fact that it was addressed to 'Haru-chan (that thing),' it was in a properly serious tone."
"Hmm............What about the print interviews? The ratio? Newspapers, magazines, and so on."
"Heh? Um, 2:8... I think. Yeah, newspapers—or rather, simple information booklets—were... mm, exactly 10 cases. The rest were various genres of magazines."
"I see."
See, this is it. Even though she hasn't even made a move to check her smartphone.
She's not relying on a cheat like instantaneous memory like my virtual world self. She's read through everything from corner to corner with her superior brain and is perfectly controlling and managing all the information.
"...? That's rare. You usually don't want to hear about the deep details."
"I feel truly sorry about dumping everything on you."
"Ah, no, that's wrong, it's fine! It's! My! Job!"
That's why I can only be grateful that it was truly, truly good luck.
"Then, I'll take you up on that. I'll leave the difficult talk to Kaede from now on too."
"I-I'll do my best...!"
"By the way, the processing?"
"Ah—, ugh—............Is it 'sorry to everyone' again this time?"
"I trust you, Manager. Feel free to brandish my [Hoshikake (Name)] as much as you want."
"Ugh, it's heavy after all...!"
Because if Kaede hadn't talked to me that day, or if she had never talked to me after that, there might have been a 'now' that was somewhat harder to live in than the current one.
Of course, it's not just Kaede. Just by the fact that they are a group that passed the entrance exams for a famous, difficult university, Miki, Toshiki, and Shoko are all in the category of extremely excellent human resources by general standards.
And yet, each of them has a quirk or two in a good way and possesses strengths, and their personalities don't clash, making them a perfectly unified team.
"...? What?"
"Oh, nothing."
────To be blunt, I can't let them go.
That's why I'll have to start thinking seriously about this side of things soon too.
The future. Our current form. The path I've decided to take, the outlook for the future... It's natural for a college student, but it's a major ordeal that I have no time to think about as I've tumbled into a position where I'm constantly busy.
Compared to the countless super-difficult matters I'm dumping on my Manager, it might not be a big deal... but still, my soul is closer to an ordinary person's no matter where I go.
One step at a time, checking my footing so I don't trip,
"Alright, let's go get yakiniku. We have tomorrow too, so let's build up our energy."
"Eh, so suddenly?"
"If you're not in the mood, we can do something else."
"Ah, no, no, I'm in the mood for meat today—!"
I'll just consider it good if I can keep running at my full speed.
If the opponent weren't the protagonist (this guy), she'd be the main heroine.
By the way, it seems there's naturally a check before it gets down to the Manager, and this is the number after the majority have been dropped.