Chapter 22: Please Stop Sharing a 24-Hour Surveillance Shift

Morning.

Arriving at my desk at the Adventurer’s Guild counter, I stared at a single piece of parchment with dead fish eyes.

“Surveillance Duty Roster”

Placed there sometime last night without my knowledge, the paper had my twenty-four-hour schedule arbitrarily divided up, densely allocating which of them — Roux or Luna — would be “monitoring and protecting” me.

“…Even the toxic corporation from my previous life didn’t have shift management this rigorous.”

As I held my head in my hands, the guild doors swung open energetically.

“Yahoo, Nagi-onii-san! Did you see the shift roster?”

Flaxen hair swaying, Roux ran up to the counter with a massive smile.

I let out a sigh and pointed at the “Surveillance Duty Roster.”

“I saw it. I saw it, but what kind of joke is this?”

“It’s not a joke! Because I’m worried about you!”

Roux leaned forward, not looking the least bit apologetic.

“You always look so busy, Onii-san. And weird people keep messing with you. That’s why Luna and I decided to protect you, twenty-four hours a day!”

“The ones threatening my peace the most are you two. Besides, if you operate twenty-four hours straight in a single body, you’re the one who’s going to collapse.”

“Ah, that part is totally fine!”

Roux pulled a handover notebook from her waist pouch and opened it triumphantly.

Written there, in Luna’s sharp handwriting from the night before:

To the daytime idiot. Establishing a monitoring and protection system for Nagi is an urgent matter. Dividing the labor between day and night is efficient. You handle daytime contact and deterrence. I will take on nighttime physical elimination and defense. While sleeping, we will utilize a network of traps and informants for automated alerts. Cut back on useless requests. Our top priority is the preservation of our manager.

“…Even Luna-san is totally on board with this?”

“Right? Even Luna says, ‘This is the most efficient way!'”

“This isn’t a matter of efficiency. I am human. There is no reason for me to be monitored under a twenty-four-hour system—”

Slam!!

The moment I started to lecture her, the counter was violently struck.

“Hold on! What is that? I absolutely won’t accept this!”

Standing right behind me, appearing out of nowhere with a demonic expression, was the A-Rank swordswoman, Lise.

She glared at the “Surveillance Duty Roster” in Roux’s hands, grinding her teeth.

“Nagi is under my charge! Why is a newbie like you trying to monopolize Nagi’s twenty-four hours all on your own?!”

“Ehh? But I’m having Onii-san manage my schedule. So it’s my job to protect him.”

“If it’s about being a bodyguard, I’m stronger! I’m joining the night shift too!”

“Lise, please don’t turn this into a competition.”

Just as I tried to stop them —

“Putting together a shift based entirely on emotion is the height of inefficiency.”

Along with a voice as cold as ice, Fran, clad in her deep navy robe, strolled over leisurely.

She peered at Roux’s “Surveillance Duty Roster,” placed a hand on her chin, and hummed.

“…I see. A flawless twenty-four-hour continuous surveillance system utilizing the alternating day and night personalities. It’s not a bad perspective — far more systematic than some personal verbal promise.”

“Fran-san? Don’t tell me you’re impressed?”

“Yes.”

Fran nodded with a completely straight face, then tapped the floor with the tip of her staff.

Tap.

“However, there is a fatal flaw in this roster. It completely fails to secure a slot for myself, the ‘official operations manager.’ If you’re going to institutionalize this, proper condition arrangements and a distribution of rights are required. Cede three hours during the day to me as a block to manage Nagi’s rest.”

“Don’t piggyback on this!!”

I couldn’t help but shout.

What kind of hellish system development meeting was this?

“With all due respect, Fran-san! Luna wrote this in the notebook!”

Roux pointed to the continuation of the handover notebook.

Addendum. Do not integrate that swordswoman or that mage into the shift. Those two only want to satisfy their own monopolistic desires and aren’t considering Nagi’s burden at all. The surveillance system will collapse. Reject all their demands.

Luna, you’re the one making the calmest, most sensible counterargument here.

…Assuming I turn a blind eye to the fact that the very existence of this “surveillance system” is completely insane.

“Reject?! Don’t mess with me, I’m the one who thinks about Nagi the most!”

“What an unreasonable evaluation. My management is the most beneficial thing for him. It seems I have no choice but to resort to extreme measures.”

Lise began to draw her sword, and the temperature around Fran dropped rapidly.

Not to be outdone, Roux reached for her dagger.

“Stoooooop!!”

I blew the emergency whistle provided at the desk with all my might, forming a massive ‘T’ with both hands.

With a jolt, the three of them froze perfectly in place.

“This! Is not a venue for a group session, nor is it a conference room for shift adjustments!”

” ” “…Guh.” ” “

“Roux, please tell Luna-san too. The surveillance duty roster is to be destroyed immediately! Lise, don’t try to compete and join the night watch! And Fran, stop talking about the distribution of rights!”

I snatched a fresh piece of parchment from a drawer and furiously scribbled down words with a charcoal pen.

【Adventurer’s Guild Mental Health Counseling Window — Additional Guidelines】 ・Do not manage the counselor’s actions via a duty roster. ・Unpermitted tailing and surveillance of private life are strictly prohibited. ・Clients must not distribute or formalize agreements over surveillance rights and meeting slots amongst themselves. ・(Addendum) I am not open twenty-four hours a day.

“Read this carefully and drill it into your heads!”

When I slapped the parchment onto the side of the counter, the three of them let out dissatisfied noises: “Tch,” “…How illogical,” and “Muu.”

…It seems Luna was right — my being too soft is the problem. If I don’t take a firm stance, my private life will literally be completely managed by them.

“Yeees, I understand. Well then, I’ll just go do my normal job for today! I’ll come back to report this evening!”

“…It is regrettable that our opportunities for contact will decrease, but I will pull back for today.”

“I’ll go handle some requests too. …Nagi, don’t you dare cheat on me.”

Leaving behind three vastly different but equally heavy emotional burdens, the girls exited the guild.

At the counter, where the storm had finally passed, I let out a deep, deep sigh.

“…This is shortening my lifespan.”

They don’t want to lose someone who finally accepted them.

I understand that feeling painfully well. But the fact that their anxiety funnels straight into the “institutionalization of monopolistic desire” and a “twenty-four-hour surveillance system” as practical designs was way too far beyond my expectations.

The knowledge from my past life is completely useless here. Isekai yanderes just have way too much drive.

＊　＊　＊

That evening at dusk.

Heading to the garbage dump behind the guild, I suddenly stopped in my tracks, feeling a gaze that pierced right into my back.

It wasn’t Roux’s innocent stare nor Luna’s cold observation — it was a much more cloying gaze, reeking of clear malice and violence.

“…Who’s there?”

When I turned around, a single man emerged from the shadows of the alley.

Dirty leather armor and unkempt stubble — he looked like an everyday street thug, but there were no openings in his movements. He carried the distinct scent of blood unique to those in the underworld.

“So you’re the guild receptionist who’s been sweet-talking our ‘convenient tool,’ huh.”

“Convenient tool?”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m talking about that thieving brat whose face changes from day to night.”

The man pulled a knife from his coat, deftly flicking the dirt from under his fingernails with it, and smirked at me.

“That kid, see, is the ultimate ‘pawn’ who’ll pull off any dirty job without hesitation once night falls. I don’t really care if you’re keeping the naive daytime brat busy, but…”

The man’s eyes narrowed like a snake’s.

“Don’t go feeding that kid unnecessary ideas.”

His low, threatening voice echoed in the dim alleyway.

The darkness of the past and present that Roux and Luna carried.

The true nature of the “dangerous jobs” scribbled in the handover notebook.

I slowly lowered the trash bag in my hand and stared straight back into the man’s eyes.

Roux and Luna’s “collapse of livelihood” seemed to be rooted in a place much deeper and darker than I had ever imagined.