The Heir I Dragged Into My “He’s My Fiancé!” Lie Is Somehow Playing Along!? - Chapter 2.5

“Living alone should be second nature for you, Director Yumikura. In fact, I thought you were living your best life with the ‘single life rocks!’ motto. Is having mismatched schedules with Shirotsuki-san really enough to get you this down?”

Kido tilted his head curiously as he spoke to Umi, whom he’d run into first thing in the morning on the public relations floor of Kanoa headquarters.

Umi knew Kido wasn’t genuinely puzzled. He was just teasing and shot him a light glare.

“Until now, the vacant position of executive assistant to the vice president might have made things difficult to maneuver, but even I think the vice president’s current state is going too far.”

Muttering in a dark voice, Umi let out a sigh.

It had already been two weeks since Alice was assigned to the secretarial department.

During that time, Alice had been on back-to-back business trips, with even her weekends reduced to half-days at best. She’d used those precious days off to arrange for movers and retrieve her belongings from her apartment, so “let’s go somewhere overnight this weekend” was completely out of the question.

On weekdays, she was either away on trips or, even if she returned, was utterly exhausted and scrambling to do laundry and pack for the next trip. They might manage to eat together, but they’d go to bed without any real conversation.

(Alice falls asleep so easily…! Out like a light! That part of her is cute too, so I can’t complain. I really can’t…!)

The way she says “good night” with a completely relaxed face and slips into bed is incredibly adorable. Umi, who’d been waiting impatiently, would pull her close and kiss her repeatedly. Alice would make gestures as if responding, but she’d soon start breathing softly in sleep.

“She’s adorable! Yes, absolutely adorable, and compared to when I could only watch her from afar without being able to talk, the situation has dramatically improved. Right now, our schedules just happen to be out of sync, but our feelings aren’t.”

As Umi insisted he was totally fine, no problem, Kido furrowed his brow and asked in a low voice, “Have you confirmed that with words? The idea that your feelings aren’t out of sync might just be your assumption, Director Yumikura.”

“Kido, are you trying to kill me?”

Aside from confirming the day’s schedule, they had some minor coordination to do, so the two were in a glass-partitioned space on the floor. While their figures were visible from outside, their voices shouldn’t be audible, but perhaps because they were discussing topics unrelated to work, they naturally fell into a conspiratorial volume.

“Putting personal matters aside, the truth is, Shirotsuki-san is such a hard worker that she’s quite well-liked in the secretarial department. You could say she has a personality that makes you want to root for her.”

Umi nodded smugly, going “Mmhmm, mmhmm.”

His attitude practically screamed, “Of course, that’s my Alice for you.”

In response, Kido stated matter-of-factly, “It’s only been two weeks, but it seems the previous bad rumors about her have almost disappeared within the company. I thought there might be a bit more resentment because of her relationship with you, Director Yumikura… but somehow, I think that’s become less noticeable thanks to Vice President Akatsuki.”

“What do you mean?”

“Until now, no one lasted long as the vice president’s exclusive assistant. Since Shirotsuki-san is struggling so hard in a position everyone recognizes as difficult, people’s perceptions have probably changed. Even if they were told to do the same job, there aren’t many female employees who could handle it.”

To Kido’s words, Umi smiled faintly and replied, “I wonder about that.”

“The better Alice does, the more the image of how demanding the job is might fade, and more employees might mistakenly think, ‘I could do that too.’ There are definitely going to be people who start saying, ‘She’s just good at pretending to work at a job anyone could do, favored by the Ozora family.'”

“Ah,” Kido nodded as if it made sense. “That’s bound to happen, of course. The secretarial department members know how tough the vice president’s exclusive role is but the less someone can imagine others’ work, the more they want to believe it’s easy, that anyone could do it. Shirotsuki-san is bad at showcasing her efforts, so she won’t show her struggles to others, which makes it even more likely.”

“That’s exactly it. Alice never tells me about her hardships, either. Even when work comes up at home and I ask, ‘Isn’t it tough?’ all she says is, ‘It’s fun!’ I’m jealous of my aunt, getting to work with Alice every day. She’s definitely spending way more time with her than I am. Of course, it’s fun. I wish we could trade places.”

“The likelihood of getting the secretaries swapped is extremely low. Or are you aiming to become vice president yourself as a shortcut? No, perhaps this is just idle complaining. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

Speaking bluntly, Kido turned his gaze toward the window.

“Anyway, as the secretarial department, we’ll cover for Shirotsuki-san where we can, but we have our own work too, so we can’t watch over her completely. I’m trying to assign Takase to her as much as possible, though.”

“Thanks. I’ll try to keep an eye out too, but if you notice anything, let me know right away.”

Just as Umi was about to switch gears and start the day’s work, Kido muttered under his breath, “Takase is a bit of a problem himself, though. He’s completely taken with Shirotsuki-san.”

“…What?”

Umi’s voice, as he asked for clarification, dropped a notch lower and took on an ominous tone.

“Good morning, Shirotsuki-san! I heard you got back late last night from that quick turnaround trip from Kyushu. Are you feeling any lingering fatigue?”

“Good morning, Takase-san. Thank you, I slept soundly so I’m fine. Please take care of me again today.”

In the vice president’s office before Akatsuki had arrived, Alice returned Takase’s greeting with a bright, cheerful smile.

Though he’d been the one to speak first, Takase was momentarily captivated by Alice’s smile and froze.

Eventually, with a somewhat embarrassed expression, he said to her, “I imagine these past two weeks have been insanely busy, but today’s finally Friday of a weekend. And, amazingly, even that workaholic vice president is taking the afternoon off for personal reasons… so we have more time than usual, don’t we? So, if you’re okay with it, Shirotsuki-san, I was thinking we could hold a welcome party for you with the secretarial department.”

“Eh… thank you! I’m happy! With all these consecutive business trips, my body’s starting to feel a bit worn out, so if there’s alcohol I might fall asleep but I’d love to join even if it’s just for the meal!”

Alice accepted the unexpected invitation without hesitation.

(I’ve been so busy rushing around, I’ve had no time at all on the secretarial floor. I’ve seen Takase-san, but I haven’t had a proper conversation with Kido-san in a while either. With the others, it’s like since the first day? …I want to get closer to everyone sooner rather than later!)

Alice now deeply regretted her attitude toward her work life before transferring to the secretarial department.

She used to think it was enough to do her job properly and treat other employees fairly without involving personal feelings.

She believed a life where she wasn’t treated casually for being hard to approach, wasn’t dragged into gossip, and didn’t develop relationships that intruded on her privacy suited her.

Because of that, she’d ended up isolated in her previous department and had been tripped up by someone with malicious intent. Now that she realized her mistake, she was keenly aware she needed to change her ways.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to finish work early and spend a relaxing weekend with Umi for the first time in ages, but she hadn’t even been able to talk properly with Umi lately and didn’t know his schedule.

For all she knew, Umi might have a business dinner or reception. Even if not, he might not be able to leave early either. Though it bothered her, Alice told herself this and stopped thinking about it further.

She smiled at Takase and said, “I’m looking forward to it!” promising to join the evening gathering.