"Then I'll leave everything to you."
Under the bright midday sun, Chiba bowed slightly and bid farewell with a standard gesture of courtesy to Tanaka Shin, the head of the mission assignment office, who had seen him out of the office area.
"No, sir. We should be thanking you."
In response, Tanaka Shin, standing opposite Chiba, nearly bowed all the way to the ground, expressing his gratitude with an exceedingly solemn gesture.
To be honest, Tanaka Shin's heart was now filled with gratitude and respect, along with an especially strong sense of guilt.
Amid those complicated emotions, his hand unconsciously tightened around the scroll he held.
This scroll had been shoved into his hands by Chiba when the latter came to say goodbye, before he could even voice the words he had wanted to use to persuade him to stay.
At the time, he had been at a loss because the boy was suddenly leaving. Things had only just begun to change, and the work had only just started to feel as though it was getting on track. Yet the most crucial person—the one who had contributed the most and handled the most matters—was suddenly leaving, and he was supposed to take over. Wouldn't everything collapse in an instant?
He was far inferior to the boy before him.
The boy before him was only eleven or twelve years old, yet in just two short hours, Tanaka Shin had been thoroughly won over. He no longer dared judge the boy's capabilities by his age.
He was completely convinced.
Once this boy left, wouldn't everything fall into chaos?
How could he possibly not try to keep him?
But unexpectedly, just as he was about to speak, the scroll the boy handed him stopped him. What he had not expected even more was