“Yaaaawn….”
As always, I tended to fall asleep quite… quite early.
I’d be out by eleven at the latest, sleep a solid seven hours, and wake up yawning the moment my alarm went off at six-thirty.
Gathering this platinum-blonde hair that drew an obnoxious amount of aggro into one place and tying it up, I had to get up from bed slowly… slowly.
“What a pain….”
I was already in my second year as a working adult.
It was such a fucking hassle….
If I had gone to university instead, maybe I could have woken up a little later?
“…Ugh.”
But of course, this wasn’t a situation where I could start letting my imagination run wild with that kind of assumption.
After all, I had to go to work this morning too.
I had to let out a yawn, stretch both arms up high, and wake up; and so today too I barely managed to wake up and gulp down some water.
Rubbing my smooth, soft belly with my hand, scratching my head, I headed straight to the bathroom.
And then….
Tinkle, tinkle.
Ahem.
Anyway.
After waking up from sleep to some degree like that, it was time to start preparing for today’s commute in earnest.
Because I had wasted far more time than expected, the clock was already six-fifty.
There was a little over an hour left until the eight o’clock start time, but since it was a fifteen-minute walk or five minutes by subway to the company, it wasn’t anything to worry about.
“Beep~ beep~ beeep~”
For breakfast, as always, I lightly buttered a suitable slice of rye bread and only toasted the outside.
…I usually toasted two slices and made toppings to go between them, but I had been going through slightly tiring days recently, and I wasn’t all that hungry either, so I just stuck one piece of bread in my mouth.
“I wanna awaken teleportation so baaad….”
Even though this was a different life from my previous one, and even though I lived in a world where fantasy elements had become so damn prevalent… an office worker was still an office worker.
No, honestly, it wasn’t just office workers—everyone was the same.
Students didn’t want to go to school, office workers didn’t want to go to work, baseball players did dogshit on the field instead of playing baseball and almost missed the playoffs, and my stocks tanked as always.
Rather, in a world where superpowers actually existed.
Honestly wishing for an ability like teleportation actually fell within the realm of things you could seriously wish for!
“If I had teleportation, I could at least make a living doing deliveries.”
Hmm.
What a shame.
After finishing breakfast lightly while thinking such random thoughts, I headed straight to the small bathroom.
A small body just shy of one-fifty.
Honestly, I didn’t have serious complaints about having been reincarnated as a woman, but being reincarnated into such a tiny body wasn’t something I was very happy about.
If only it had been a tall, curvy figure.
If only I had been a beauty with a mature, older-sister vibe like Saran.
Of course, I had absolutely no intention of seducing men or doing anything with them… but still, thinking “so small” every time I looked in the mirror wasn’t exactly a pleasant feeling.
“Sigh.”
Today too, all I could do was sigh.
Still, I did like the platinum-blonde hair that was far brighter than blonde and my emerald-green eyes.
Because they were drop-dead gorgeous.
It wasn’t narcissism; I was really, objectively pretty.
“Going to work is such a pain….”
Anyway… after washing up and roughly drying my waist-length hair properly with a hairdryer, I immediately picked number one out of the three basic skins I always wore from the wardrobe.
A blouse with slight frills that emphasized a feminine vibe.
And below that, an ankle-length pleated skirt that was comfortable to move in and didn’t require me to fix my skirt every time I sat down.
And over that… I just threw on whatever coat I grabbed.
“Pretty.”
Hmm.
I really was pretty.
It did feel like I was dressed up too much to be going to the office, but then again, a model is a model, right?
Rather than looking artificially overdressed, the reflection in the mirror showed someone who simply looked bright and pretty first and foremost.
And I actually was pretty, wasn’t I?
“…And finally, a hat.”
Not the hat that had died after being stepped on in the subway last time, but the cute beret the team leader had given me as an offering to make me do overtime—I finished by placing it on top.
How should I put it….
“…Like an artist.”
I was realizing it anew, but even to myself… this was an appearance where I couldn’t help but think I was a little too dressed up.
And sometimes I even wore a headband on top of this….
“…But honestly, it’d be a waste not to dress up this face.”
I had been a man in my previous life, so dressing up this much felt a bit odd, but.
Not dressing up this face would actually be a loss; my looks were on the prettier side to the extent that I, the person in question, thought so.
Because my face was literally like a doll’s.
…At least I wasn’t doing full makeup, so maybe that made it a little better?
“…Pfft.”
In many ways, even I found myself absurd.
.
.
.
“Good morning today too….”
“Charlotte, good morning. You look tired again first thing in the morning; shall I make you some coffee in a bit?”
“If you would, I’ll gratefully accept….”
“Puhuhu, alright. I’ll make it together with the team leader’s and everyone else’s in a bit.”
“Yeess….”
And so today too, having survived the hellish rush-hour subway, I arrived at the company.
And it was really, really, fucking difficult.
It was only five minutes, but even so, I had seriously thought dozens of times that they needed to double the size of the subway cars, and I nearly lost my mind because people kept shoving my already small body with their own, but?
Anyway, the point was that today too, I had succeeded in arriving on time.
“Haaaah….”
And so I sat down at my seat located right in front of the team leader’s desk.
The sunlight by the window was warm, so I felt somewhat better… and as I sat quietly and rested, the pain from the hellish subway slowly seemed to melt away.
“Miss Charlotte, how did the shopping with the team leader go last week?”
“Ah… that. The shopping was just an excuse; turns out it was actually to make me do overtime.”
“Aha… now that I think about it. It was too artificial back then. No matter what, he let you go too early. I hadn’t realized such a thing had happened.”
“Haha….”
Separate from having managed to clock in on time with difficulty today, the morning was actually pretty uneventful.
It was merely a matter of passing time chatting with other employees from the Welfare Bureau, after all?
In the first place, since counseling and resolving heroes’ problems were our main duties, when there were no assigned heroes to handle, we really only had light paperwork to do.
“Come to think of it… Team Leader?”
“Yeah, what? Is there paperwork we need to handle first thing in the morning?”
While thoughts of assignments, heroes, and work were flashing through my mind, I spoke up to the team leader due to a sudden curiosity.
I had to ask.
“It’s not that. That task you gave me last time. That….”
“Hm?”
“…Do I get overtime pay for the extra work?”
“…Ah.”
“…Don’t tell me you really just arranged a spot for me, didn’t register it separately, and there’s no additional pay?”
It was about Saran.
He had skipped the formal procedures and arranged a position for me through his personal connections, which was why I had temporarily become Saran’s handler.
Even though I had decided to put in some effort for Saran’s sake?
Still, it wasn’t good to let this kind of thing slide too easily, and if I said nothing about it now, it could lead to bigger problems later.
For example, what if the number of heroes I had to handle increased in addition to Batory, the darkness girl I was currently managing?
I could somehow manage up to three.
But if the heroes I continuously handled exceeded four and headed toward five… and in that situation, I had to come into the office every day and do other work on top of that?
“…Uh, hm. I hadn’t thought about it?”
“…Team Leader.”
“Haha, of course I’ll take care of it. I had forgotten too, but I can’t exploit our precious employee like a slave, right?”
“…….”
Who was it that had used early leave and shopping as bait to force me to work?
Hmm.
It was our team leader, the very man himself.
The team leader said that to me with an awkward smile somewhere on his face, but it was absolutely not a smile that inspired any trust.
“I’ll formally register Saran as your assignment too, so don’t worry too much.”
“…Yes.”
“But Charlotte, how did you win Saran over? Honestly, I couldn’t really believe you would actually help her. You’re not even that close to begin with?”
“Ah, um… I just talked to her earnestly, and things somehow worked out.”
As always, it was a bit difficult to talk about the matters I had discussed while counseling heroes.
Batory’s case was doable, but Saran’s case was the kind of story that was difficult to easily reveal to others.
I just resolved the team leader’s doubts with appropriate words and began writing the approval documents and reports to formally take charge of Saran… the hero [Black Viper].
“…Ah.”
While I was working like that, my phone suddenly started going off like crazy.
It was definitely texts, not a call, but because they arrived in rapid-fire succession, the vibration felt almost like a phone call.
-Hornkk : Handler nim!
-Hornkk : Handler nim!
-Hornkk : Handler nim!
-Hornkk : Handler nim!
“She’s extremely introverted when we meet in person, but she’s so bright when chatting….”
The sender was none other than one of the heroes I handled.
It was Batory, an E-rank goblin girl who had been the only hero I was currently handling until a few minutes ago.
She had also become the person who contacted me the most these days, and it was amusing how different she was when talking through messages versus meeting in person.
Thanks to hypnosis treatment, her self-esteem had risen a bit.
Still, she remained somewhat introverted, but it was a little amusing how strongly bright she seemed when talking to me like this through chat.
-Hornkk : Could you possibly meet me today?
-Me : ?
“Huh.”
What’s gotten into her?