Chapter 21: Ogiso Setsuna
By the time afternoon arrived, the White Fox Office had finally been restored to order.
After Gin Tsumugi paid the cleaners and the movers, the entire place looked almost new. The damaged furniture had been replaced, the shattered pieces cleared away, and even a number of green plants had been added here and there. Iwanaga Kotoko had also gone out of her way to buy a variety of supplies for the office's daily operation, spending money with such calm ruthlessness that it almost looked like she had no intention of sparing Gin a single yen.
Still, the results spoke for themselves.
After Kotoko's careful touch, the overall atmosphere of the White Fox Office had risen by more than one level.
Sitting on the new brown leather sofa, Kotoko handled the trivial disputes and reports sent in by Yokai as usual, but her mind was only half on the work in front of her. From time to time, her eyes drifted between Gin and Kasugano Sora.
More precisely, she was secretly watching them.
"Kotoko," Gin said at last from behind the desk, frowning slightly, "aren't you done with your work yet?"
"Not yet."
Her answer came out stiff and immediate.
She lowered her head as if she were fully focused again, but in truth, she was quietly biting her finger in irritation.
Something was definitely wrong.
The more she watched Kasugano Sora today, the more certain she became that something had changed.
Gin himself had not changed much on the surface. He was still as calm and maddeningly unbothered as ever. The main issue was Sora. This quiet little girl, who just so happened to share certain dangerous attributes with Kotoko herself, seemed to be drawing closer to Gin without even realizing it.
When Sora was alone with her, she was usually soft spoken and restrained, barely saying more than she needed to.
But earlier, when the two of them had gone out together to buy furniture, almost every sentence that left Sora's mouth had somehow ended up circling back to Gin.
Another one has appeared.
Kotoko's resentment deepened immediately.
Now she was beginning to regret having accepted that supernatural case in the first place. In a single moment of "helpful initiative," she had somehow managed to invite a surprisingly formidable rival right into the White Fox Office.
Men really had no resistance to this type of delicate, fragile little girl.
The thought made Kotoko's eyes narrow.
And what made it even worse was the timing. She, the one who had gotten here first and was practically in the best position possible, still had not succeeded in making any real progress.
Meanwhile, one home stealer after another kept materializing from nowhere.
At the thought of that, the bitterness in her gaze nearly overflowed.
"Kotoko-sister... what do you mean by 'another one has appeared'?"
Kasugano Sora, who had just placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of Kotoko—the kind Kotoko liked—looked at her with obvious confusion.
These days, most of the office chores had naturally become Sora's responsibility.
Kotoko blinked and immediately realized she had muttered aloud.
"It's nothing. Just..."
Before she could casually brush it aside, the sound of knocking came from the office door.
Sora turned and went to answer it.
Standing outside was a tall, beautiful girl.
She had shoulder length brown hair gathered into twin tails, brown eyes, and a strikingly attractive face. Two black butterfly ribbons decorated either side of her head, and she wore a familiar school uniform. In one hand, she carried a refined black leather schoolbag, making it obvious she had just come from school.
Houjou University Attached High School.
Sora recognized the uniform at once. It belonged to one of the well known high schools nearby.
The girl smiled politely.
"Little sister, is Gin Tsumugi here?"
Sora nodded and stepped aside without hesitation.
Since she had come looking for the Director, there was no reason to block her.
The moment the girl entered, Kotoko stared, eyes widening.
"Ogiso Setsuna?!"
She had assumed it was just another client.
She had not expected this person.
How did she end up here?
"It really is you two," the girl said warmly, looking between Kotoko and Gin. "Long time no see, Iwanaga-san. Gin-san."
"It has been a long time, Class Rep."
Even Gin looked a little surprised.
Ogiso Setsuna.
She had been his classmate and seatmate before he dropped out. Back then, the original Gin Tsumugi had also been a student at the nearby Houjou University Attached High School. Kotoko had studied there as well, though not in the same class.
Setsuna pouted slightly the moment she heard his greeting.
"Gin-san, you completely cut off contact with all your old classmates after dropping out. You even changed your phone number."
Her dissatisfaction was plain to see.
Gin gave an awkward smile.
"The phone number part was an accident."
To be fair, he was not entirely innocent in this matter.
While he had still been in school, his relationship with Ogiso Setsuna had actually been quite good. Suddenly cutting off all contact after dropping out was, at least from the outside, undeniably unreasonable.
But the situation back then had not exactly been simple.
In the chaotic early days after leaving school and trying to establish the White Fox Office, Gin had been overwhelmed from all sides. Even with Amami Daizen quietly helping behind the scenes, there were still countless things he had to deal with personally. At that stage, getting the office up and running had demanded nearly all of his time and attention.
For the first half year, the White Fox Office had barely been more than a shaky framework. Only later had it truly stabilized and begun to operate properly.
And during that period, because of his inexperience, he inevitably spent much of his time running around to handle supernatural incidents, sometimes even returning injured.
Under those circumstances, old classmate relationships had simply fallen aside.
Setsuna clearly did not think his excuse was especially convincing, but she did not pursue the matter for now.
"If I hadn't happened to hear recently that the Director of the White Fox Office was also named Gin Tsumugi, and roughly your age, I never would have believed it." She looked at him with unconcealed surprise. "I only came here with a 'just in case' attitude. I really didn't expect it to actually be you."
That reaction was natural enough.
Although onmyoji had already entered public awareness after the resurgence of the supernatural, for ordinary people they were still mysterious, almost otherworldly figures. Discovering that someone you once sat beside in class was one of them felt a bit like suddenly learning that an ordinary classmate was secretly the descendant of an ancient noble house.
.....
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