Chapter 7

“Haah…”

Shinnosuke stepped into the main entrance of the government building at the Third Maru of Nagoya Castle, letting out a heavy sigh as if emptying his lungs. Colleagues he didn’t know passed by, heading in for work.

He felt gloomy.

He’d been in good spirits when he left home. He’d gotten to feel like a samurai defeating a phantom beast at a festival and had enjoyed a long-overdue reunion with Satsuki. They even made plans to meet again, filling him with a warm sense of nostalgia and happiness.

But as he left the subway, he saw an old man shouting, which reminded him—today, he was scheduled to meet with that notorious complainer.

The first time Shinnosuke dealt with the complainer was about six months ago.

The complainer was an elderly man who used to be a high school teacher. In his teaching days, he’d bossed around his students, and after retirement, he seemed to lack people to lord over. The man was a well-known complainer in the community.

It was right after the commotion with the phantom beast.

“What if the kids get hurt? How are you going to take responsibility!? Did you even check? You just pretended to and lied about it, didn’t you? If you’re getting paid with taxpayers’ money, work for the citizens!”

The old man demanded a safety inspection of a nearby park. Recognizing him as a complainer, Shinnosuke had done his best to inspect the park, even amid building collapses and road damage. He carefully reported back over the phone, but the old man went to the park himself afterward and found a single loose stake in one of the shrubs.

“If adults don’t protect children, who will? Have some shame! You’ll be held accountable if something happens! You get that? I’m telling you this for your own good, too, you know!”

Dealing with that kind of complainer was exhausting, not just because of the yelling but mostly because of the frustration of not being able to leave when he wanted to.

…Back then.

For a while, it depressed him so much that even Himari noticed and got worried.

Since then, the man had learned Shinnosuke’s name and would call him out by name, usually about once a month. He’d remember suddenly and phone Shinnosuke, rant for a while, and then demand he come to his building. Every time, it made him groan in frustration.

“Maybe I should take a leave of absence.”

He stepped into the elevator.

Next to the buttons was a motivational poster reading, “One for all, and all for the safety and security of everyone.”

“…Then why don’t the bigwigs handle the complainers?”

This kind of grumbling was something he could only do when no one else was around. The empty elevator was the perfect place for venting.

With a chime, he reached the floor where the public works department was located.

He trudged down the hallway and opened the door marked “Public Works Department.” The room was bright. Part of it was because of the wall of windows on the outer side, but it felt especially bright compared to the dim hallway. He greeted his colleagues in a somber tone as he headed for his desk.

“Huh?”

Shinnosuke frowned as he looked at the schedule board.

Kazama, one of his colleagues, was erasing Shinnosuke’s schedule.

“Oh, morning, Shitara-kun!”

“Ah, good morning. Why are you erasing my schedule? Wait, are you going to go in my place?”

“Don’t be silly, that’d never happen,” Kazama said, waving his hand and giving a sly grin.

“You hadn’t noticed, huh? It was so funny I didn’t say anything, but your friend’s not around anymore. That complainer’s building got totally wrecked in the recent phantom beast disaster.”

“What? Oh, that’s right!”

Shinnosuke suddenly remembered.

During the phantom beast incident, the building had indeed been destroyed. Actually, he’d been the one to destroy it. Up to now, he’d only thought about the damage and the compensation, but that building was indeed the complainer’s.

“I heard he moved far away. Maybe he’ll never come back.”

“So… no more complaints!”

The world suddenly looked brighter. The heaviness in his chest disappeared, and he even felt a sense of relief. He didn’t even mind that Kazama had kept it from him.

“Yes!”

Shinnosuke clenched his fist and let out a shout.

The Shitara family has long served the Owari Tokugawa clan as lower-ranked retainers—in other words, as a line of foot soldiers.

After his father’s early passing, Shinnosuke nearly lost the family inheritance to relatives. To protect it, he dropped out of high school and entered service with the Owari Domain, where he began working in the department overseeing construction administration and was involved in domain governance.

Because of this, he’s still young but has enough experience to be considered in a mid-level position.

“…Alright, alright, all good.”

He couldn’t help muttering in satisfaction.

In this good mood, he powered through his work efficiently, handling requests for documents over the internal phone line, quickly responding to emails, processing electronic approvals with thorough checks, and managing approvals and revisions smoothly.

Today is Saturday.

It’s a half-day shift, known colloquially as han-don, ending at noon.

When the end-of-shift chime sounded, he picked up his smartphone. Since Himari is in charge of cooking today, they had agreed he’d check in with her before heading home. But there was already a message notification.

It was from Himari.

“Oh, eating out with friends, huh? Friends, huh…”

He felt happy knowing his younger sister was enjoying a normal student life. Shinnosuke himself had dropped out of high school, so he wanted Himari to enjoy her school days to the fullest.

—So what to do for lunch, then?

There wouldn’t be anything to eat if he went home.

The thought of cooking just for himself didn’t inspire him.

“Guess I’ll eat out.”

He put on the suit jacket that had been hanging on the wall, grabbed his bag from the drawer, and tossed in his phone. He took his sword from the rack attached to the table’s side and slid it onto his belt.

Now, he just needed to decide where to eat.

As he walked toward the office exit, someone happened to enter.

Just as he was wrapping things up, someone approached him.

“Shitara-kun, can I have a word?”

It was Kasuga, the Construction Magistrate. He was an easygoing, mild-mannered superior, but because he was a bit timid and too kind-hearted, he often ended up losing in negotiations with other departments and getting saddled with odd jobs.

A bad feeling crossed Shinnosuke’s mind.