Rui pulled the first document from the stack, squinting at the faded text.
"What exactly does this bureau handle?" she asked, flipping through pages of indecipherable script.
The clerk's eyelids drooped as he regarded them with disinterest. "We process requests."
"What kind of requests?" Ran pressed, his elegant fingers already sorting through the nearest stack.
The clerk's droopy eyes barely lifted. "Everything and nothing."
"That's helpful," Kee Kee muttered.
Ran leaned forward. "Could you elaborate?"
The clerk sighed, the sound like air escaping a punctured lung.
"Demons come with requests—business permits, travel documents, property disputes, afterlife appeals—but nothing ever gets approved or denied."
He gestured vaguely at the endless stacks. "But that's not the point."
"What is the point?" Rui pressed.
"To wait. Forever." The clerk's smile revealed rows of needle-like teeth.
Ran's eyebrows shot up. "You mean this entire operation exists solely to... waste time?"
