“Why not?” He asked, bewildered on her lackadaisical response to a guest coming over. “Did you just forget everything we literally just talked about?”

“Duh, of course I didn’t.” She replied in mocking fashion to his concern. “It’s just that it’s no big deal if this guy coming over knows that you live here.”

“G-guy?” Despite her saying little about who this person was, Hakuta felt the subtle anxiety on just hearing that one word. “Why is he coming here?”

“Hehe, you don’t know, but papa told me he hired a new secretary to handle business while he’s away.” Shiuka held up the letter she received from her father and placed it right up into his face.

“I’m surprised he sent a letter this time.” He said, grabbing the paper from her. Hakuta scanned along the page and it collaborated with her story. “Must be too busy to call us or something.” There was also a part in this letter which describe him and Hakuta’s dad as being in a submarine. Apparently to head into the depths to find some lost city or something. He couldn’t tell, it wasn’t information he read that deeply.

“Yeah, and he already told this man about our situation, so there’s nothing to worry about whenever he comes around.” While he wasn’t sure on what responsibilities a secretary would have around here while Kankichi was gone. At least he could be relieved in knowing they weren’t alone anymore.

“Kind of weird he just hired a secretary out of the blue.” He said, placing down the letter onto a nearby table. “I’ve been here for a while now and never realized he had those kinds of employees.”

“He had been on the search for a new one after the last one quit.” She put a finger under her lip, trying to remember who that person even was. “I think they left because of that time he brought home some treasure and it had some kind of weird curse on it.”

“So pretty much what happened the last time he got back…” Hakuta sighed in disappointment. At least this new employee wasn’t likely going to stick around for long either.

“The job pays pretty well according to papa. So I don’t know why someone would give up after one little setback.” She fell backwards onto the couch. Her carelessness had the unintended effect of flipping up her skirt for a mere moment, allowing him a glimpse of her pink panties she wore for the day.

“I get a free room and food and I’m still not happy.” He reminded her that he was in a similar spot, albeit in a more forced manner.

They didn’t have to wait any longer for this new hire to come along. There was a ringing of the doorbell, where it was obvious who it would be as she got back up from her comfortable spot to answer the door.

When she opened it, Shiuka was greeted with a tall, muscular man standing before him. He had on a bright smile, ready to put in a good day of work as he introduced himself.

“Ah, so you’re Kankichi’s daughter.” He said, putting his hand out for a handshake. “I’m Omihiro Noto.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She accepted his handshake, but there was something about family name which caught both of their attention. They surely had heard of it before somewhere.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re the person my dad’s working for now.” A young girl’s voice spoke up from behind him. One they were both way too familiar with at this point in time, despite only hearing it from earlier today. From behind the man popped out Iruka.

“It’s you!” Shiuka couldn’t believe her eyes as she came face-to-face with the new girl once again. It was neat to get to know her a little during class, but she hadn’t yet befriended her by any definition of the term. “I can’t believe it.”

Hakuta also heard this girl’s voice, but unlike his roommate didn’t immediately greet her. Instead he was more focused on trying to hide, but it was futile at this point.

“It’s great you two already know each other.” Omihiro laughed. “Since it’s my first day on the job, I figured I’d bring my daughter so we can check this stuff out together.” He hoped they wouldn’t mind, but the truth was they minded it quite a bit. “Where’s that boy who lives here too?”

“There’s a boy who lives here!?” Iruka’s ears perked up upon hearing those words. The way he described it, this didn’t sound like Shiuka had a brother. This sounded more like someone who lived her who was unrelated to the family. “Where? I’d like to meet him.”

Quickly she rushed inside to search for him. The girl moved at lightning pace, too fast for Hakuta to react to make any attempt of a getaway. “Whoa, it’s you!” When she got into the living room, there was greeted with the sight of the boy who sat in front of her in class.

“H-hi…” Meekly, he waved his hand at her to give a greeting. “I guess it’s nice to see you again.”

“I don’t believe this.” She was dumbfounded with this information. “I never would’ve thought you two lived here together.” Iruka looked back and forth between the boy and girl as she took things in. “All alone, just the two of you here in this place. Sleeping in the same house.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!” Shiuka stopped her from continuing this line of thinking as her face got all bright red. “He’s only living here because of his family’s financial situation.”

“Yeah, Kankichi told me all about that part.” Said Omihiro, allowing himself inside. “You know, you’re a pretty lucky boy.” He leaned in and quietly told Hakuta that, subtly pointing over to the gyaru he lived with.

“It sounds like we have wildly different opinions on what luck is.” He quietly replied. Why did everyone assume he would be happy just to live all alone with a cute girl?

“I hope you make it clear that this needs to also stay a secret.” Shiuka spoke in slight panic to the man. “We should make sure everyone knows that part.” She put major emphasis on the word ‘everyone’, trying to ensure Iruka got the hint.

“Gosh, knowing this just makes me want to gossip about it.” She got the idea, but her words on the matter did little to instill confidence for the pair. “But I’m new at school, so it’s not like anyone would just believe dumb little me.” While it wasn’t much, that part did allow them to breath a sigh of relief that no one else would learn about this.

“I hope that figures things out for now.” Said Hakuta, his heart still racing now with Iruka in the house with them. This girl was already someone he didn’t want to interact with, but now it appeared he would have little chance in getting his wish in avoiding her.

Given he felt the same way about Shiuka before, he wondered if he could pretend to say he wanted to hang out with someone. That way, fate would go against him because it hated him, but it would actually reverse psychology so he would end up getting what he actually wanted in the end.

“Right, I need to get to work anyway.” Said Omihiro, which did bring up the question on what he was supposed to be doing here.

“What exactly does that entail?” He asked.

“Well, I can’t say for certain all the details.” He responded, putting a hand under his chin to think it through. “I just know I’m supposed to be going to the attic to organize and send of all the important items to the right places.”

“There’s an attic here?” Hakuta had lived her long enough that believed he had been around everyone room this house to offer. There didn’t even appear to be a spot where one could reach a supposed attic as far as he could see.

“That’s because we’ve got a secret attic only me and papa know how to access.” Shiuka told him as if this was a completely normal thing in every household. “We actually also have a secret basement too.”

“You do?” That was also another place he never thought this house could hold. What else was there in this odd place he called home?

“Anyway, I’ll show Noto the places he’ll be doing his work in. You two should stay here so those places can stay a secret.” With that, she showed him out of the room and presumably to the attic and basement whose existence made no sense. “You two can just wait for us to come back in a little bit.”

“Right…” Hakuta turned his head slowly to look over to Iruka, the girl he had been left behind with. “We’ll just wait for you here.”

“Awesome.” Iruka took advantage of some freedom and made a beeline for the couch. In a similar fashion to what Shiuka had done earlier, she fell backwards onto the couch to relax for a bit. “Come on Hakuta, there’s space here so you can sit by me.”