When Erina woke up, the sky was already dimming.
Chaotic light filtered through the curtain gaps, scattering weakly into the room. The atmosphere felt subdued. A little cold. A little heavy.
Erina slowly sat up.
She glanced to the side.
Jaden had already changed his clothes. He was sitting by the bed, as if he had been waiting for her to wake.
Seeing this, Erina-still a bit uncomfortable from just waking up and the low light-smiled.
"Jaden, have you been awake long?"
"Not too long."
Jaden handed her the clothes beside him.
Erina took them naturally. With Jaden, she no longer felt any need to be shy. She got dressed and began tidying her hair.
"I slept the whole day..."
"But with Hisako handling things, there shouldn't be any problems at work."
Erina understood Totsuki's situation very clearly.
Normally, for a newly formed super-conglomerate like Totsuki, the workload on the leader would be overwhelming. Everything would require review. Taking even a single day off could cause trouble.
But Totsuki was different.
Because of Jaden's presence, established super-conglomerates like Sanzenin, Togami, and Shinomiya had all aligned themselves under Totsuki.
The Kengan Association was also well aware of Jaden's situation. Its members wouldn't cause trouble for Totsuki either.
With that alone, major external problems were essentially impossible.
On top of that, the Far East's newly established Supreme Council-currently led by Chika Fujiwara-was openly giving Totsuki the green light.
So external pressure was basically nonexistent.
As for internal matters...
To be honest, Hisako might even handle them better than Erina.
After all, that was literally her job.
Once Erina set the direction and made the decisions, Hisako was extremely familiar with everything that followed.
"It's definitely fine leaving things to Hisako."
Jaden stepped behind Erina, helping her adjust her hair, then spoke casually.
"So... since that's the case, should we go out for a walk tonight?"
Erina was sitting in front of the dressing table, fixing her hair.
She thought for a moment, then nodded.
"A walk sounds good."
"I've heard Chika's been making a lot of big moves lately. Hisako keeps saying the outside has changed a lot, but I haven't really looked into it because of work."
"Since you brought it up, it'd be nice to go see it together."
Hearing that, Jaden smiled slowly.
"Then let's go take a look."
"Though honestly, I don't think the changes could be that dramatic in such a short time. Fujiwara only just took office, so don't expect too much."
They chatted casually.
After Erina finished getting ready, the two of them left the Totsuki Building and headed toward the city center.
Kurara and Kure Fuki were both fully aware of Erina's movements.
They initially planned to go check on her when they heard she was going out.
But once they learned she was going out with Jaden, Kurara immediately gave up on following.
Kure Fuki hesitated-
And was promptly grabbed by Kurara and dragged back.
-
When Erina and Jaden reached the city center and saw the street ahead, even Jaden-who had just said not to expect much-was momentarily stunned.
Because-
"The change is... really big."
...
Normally, even if the Speaker and members of the Supreme Council rotated, the impact on daily life wouldn't be this direct.
At most, changes would appear in foreign policy, taxation, or regulations.
Those weren't things people immediately noticed.
Usually, you only realized the change when you ran into a problem and thought-
The previous Speaker wouldn't have done something this stupid.
But this generation was different.
With Chika Fujiwara in charge, everything was an exception.
The policies she pushed after taking office caused changes that every citizen could feel.
The Totsuki Building was located in the Far East's capital.
Because of its size, it had been built toward the outskirts, but it wasn't far from the edge of the city center.
And from here-
The changes were already obvious.
First, the streetlights on both sides were more varied.
Second, mobile robots that looked suspiciously like trash cans were moving along the roads.
The planning of both vehicle lanes and sidewalks had changed.
And most noticeably-
Various tabletop game stalls had begun appearing directly on the streets.
If you looked up now, and happened to be lucky-
You could even see a massive airship slowly circling above the city.
But compared to these visible changes, Jaden and Erina noticed something else.
Something subtler.
"Jaden..."
"You still remember how this city used to feel, right?"
Erina spoke softly.
"People were always rushing. Office workers, people with their own errands-everyone was in a hurry."
"Their expressions were indifferent."
"The distance between people looked close, but was actually very far."
What Erina described was the reality of large cities.
There were many young people. High vitality.
Everyone was busy chasing something.
And as a result, these cities-supposedly full of life-gradually lost warmth.
They became less like places people lived in.
And more like steel prisons, locking individuals into countless invisible cages.
"But now..."
Jaden looked around.
People were gathered everywhere, playing small games at roadside stalls.
From time to time, loud laughter-something rarely heard on city streets before-burst out.
Pedestrians weren't all rushing anymore.
It was common to see people walking slowly, glancing at shops or stopping by stalls.
"I don't know whether this counts as a drop in efficiency..."
"...or an increase in human warmth."
Jaden shook his head, a little emotional.
Erina smiled.
"Kaguya mentioned that Chika originally wanted to push even bigger changes."
"But most of them were vetoed by the other council members-led by Kaguya herself."
Hearing that, Jaden thought of the girl who had once seriously asked him whether he could shoot energy blasts.
He shook his head helplessly.
"Should I say... that's very like her?"
"But we don't really need to worry about that side of things."
"Shinomiya is also on the council."
"And I heard from Yukinoshita that his eldest daughter was recruited as the Supreme Speaker's secretary right after graduating."
"With someone Yukinoshita himself praises so highly-and Shinomiya there-Fujiwara probably won't do anything too chaotic."
"After all..."
"She is a Fujiwara."
Erina nodded.
At least judging from the atmosphere of the city, Chika Fujiwara had indeed done a lot since becoming Supreme Speaker.
As for the secondary problems caused by these changes-
Well.
Let Yukinoshita's eldest daughter and Kaguya deal with those.
As for herself...
Erina glanced at Jaden beside her.
She held his arm and leaned lightly against him.
Then, just like the others strolling along the sidewalk, the two of them slowed their pace.
They looked at the newly added stalls.
Occasionally laughed.
Professional problems should be left to professionals.
And as for them-
At the very least.
They didn't dislike what the city had become.