HAMA House on the Scene

This is…

(It’s a Ward 4 ryokan, which means that Liguang-san oversees it. Didn’t it go under recently?)

…Tch.

Okay, listen up, everyone. As of a few days ago, this place belongs to me.

Huh?!

…It was set up in a good spot, but still had trouble supporting itself. I thought that the tourism industry could put it to good use.

Oh, it won’t be used for the industry. Starting today, this building is going to be the dorm for all HAMA Tours employees!

I call it the HAMA House!

That means everyone is going to start living here.

…Huh? Wait, does that include me?!

Of course it does. Everyone means everyone. That includes all employees, mayors, and interns.

Wow, wow… I’m gonna save on my rent… It’s my lucky day…!

I can’t thank you enough for your generosity, O God, Great Buddha, Your Holiness, President Oguro!!

(That’s definitely an…interesting way to say “thank you”…)

I get to live in the same house as Chief? This is the happiest moment of my life. Not even winning gold medals could make me happier.

…This is ridiculous. Oguro, I said I would go along with your plan, but I won’t subject myself to living with this fool.

What was that?! Are you talking about me?! You’re the fool here! I’d rather die than live with you!

No buts. This is an order from your president. ♪

Teamwork is the most important ingredient in our plan. Every successful team has to know each other well. You two are coworkers now, so start learning how to cooperate.

(I could say the same about him and Yuki-nii, but…I’ll keep quiet.)

(He’s right, we do need good teamwork. I think Renga-kun and Liguang-san especially need to improve on that…)

Renga, do you really want to rebuild Ward 3 and all of HAMA? Or is your pride more important to you than this city?

Urgh…

I guess living with Liguang is too much for you to handle… I really overestimated your abilities.

Huh?! What’re you saying?!

Fine, I’ll live here! I can’t be thrown off by something as stupid as this!

Okay, nice to know you’re up for it. ♪ I assume you are too, Liguang?

And what if I refuse?

I talked to your older sister about this, you know. She told me that this would be a good experience for you, so she’ll be leaving you in our hands.

…Tch. So that’s how you’d like to play?

Just so you know, as soon as your plan fails, I’m gettin’ outta here.

Alright, alright. That’s fine with me. Okay, let me give everyone a tour.

Th-Th-Th-This living room is huge! It’s like the size of a school auditorium…!!

(I don’t think it’s quite that big, but…it makes sense that it’s so spacious, since it used to be a ryokan.)

It’s all furnished and ready to go. Of course, I plan to have the future ward mayors live here as well, so look forward to that.

It’s a big building, but we don’t have an infinite amount of rooms, so you’ll be sharing them.

HUH?! No way, I need my own room! I don’t want some roommate’s unclassy vibes rubbing off on me!

Well, unfortunately, we only have space for one single dorm, and that one’s set aside for our chief.

K-Kafka, if we’re strapped for space, I’m fine with sharing a room.

If my roommate’s not okay with it, we can just set up a partition to split the room in half…

No.

Uh…

No, never. Not even if hell froze over. Even if God told me to, I wouldn’t allow it.

Yes. Sorry, but I won’t change my mind on this. Let’s start deciding on the rooming.

(…Kafka’s being overprotective again. Nobody can get through to him in this state, so all you can do is shut up and listen.)

We’re here to get to know each other better, so employees will room with other employees, and mayors with other mayors.

I talked to our other two employees besides Chief and Yachiyo beforehand, so their rooms are already set.

Ah, and I know that I’m the president, but I’m still a mayor, so I’ll be rooming with the rest of you to keep it fair.

Living in the same house as Chief is all I could ask for. I’ll leave the rooming arrangements up to you.

Like I said, nobody asked.

Yachiyo, I’d like you to room with Sakujiro so you can learn from him. Does that work?

Yes, sir!! As long as I get to live in a palace like this, you could put me in the bathroom and I’d still love it!!

And I assume Renga and Liguang will be okay with each other?

What the actual hell?! You couldn’t have come up with a worse matchup!

I can tell you’re planning this with ulterior motives. I won’t agree to that under any terms.

I see. Oh, well.

Then Renga can room with me, and Yukikaze can go with Liguang. We’ll have one mayor coming in later once we recruit them, but let’s go with that for now.

Dammit… Well, at least I’m not rooming with Liguang.

(Kamina Yukikaze… He seems calm. My rabbits won’t be stressed out around him.)

Fine. I have no issues.

Alright, here are everyone’s room keys. Make sure you don’t lose them.

Since this place used to be a ryokan, they gave names to all of the rooms… Wait, what?

What the hell is this…? “Dismemberment Tiger”?

“Fluffy Wuffy Bunny Loaf.”

…Hah, what a cute name. It reminds me of you, Chief.

(Hmm… I guess that’s a compliment? I know the ryokan was having trouble financially, but these names are really…)

The names are a little long, so we can just call them Tiger Room and Rabbit Room for short. It looks like they tried to name them after the Chinese zodiac.

Okay, let’s all reconvene after we’re done settling in. I’d like for us to have dinner together to celebrate the founding of the Morning Team. We can go our own ways for now and meet up again later tonight.

Are you kidding me? He’s got so much lined up. Does he wanna run this whole company by himself…?

I-I-I-I-It looks so good…!!! Did I die and go to heaven…?

Kamina-san graciously agreed to make gyoza for us. It is not much, but I have also prepared side dishes myself.

(I really missed Yuki-nii’s gyoza…! They’re the best!)

Gyoza’s my specialty. I made a lot, so eat as much as you’d like, my little brothers.

Why am I your little brother all of a sudden? I won’t refuse the gyoza though.

Heehee, don’t mind if I do, dearest Big Brother! Damn, they’re good! I gotta crack a cold one with these!

I’ll have some too. Mmm, did you make the wrappers from scratch? They’re delicious.

Hmph, as if something like this could ever suit my refined celebrity palette…

…Mm, th-they’re so good… Even better than the frozen ones…

You eat the frozen ones? I didn’t expect that from you, Renga-kun.

…!

I-It’s not what you think! I just wanted to know what it felt like to eat like a commoner, for research purposes…!

The gyoza I usually eat are always cooked by my personal chef!

Wow, a personal chef… That’s so cool… Poor people like me can only afford to eat tissues…

…You don’t have money? W-Well, tissues are nice and sweet, so don’t let it get you down.

(…? Did he eat tissues as part of his research too?)

These would have a fine place in one of our Chinatown restaurants. Kamina, let me see how you make them next time.

Of course. My secret ingredient is love. I thought about the chief as I was making them.

…Mrph.

Ugh, just shut up. You’re making things hard on our chief.

I am? I apologize. Can I at least still think of you while I make gyoza, Chief?

Yuki-nii… Let’s take it down a notch so you don’t freak everyone out…

You really did make a lot. It must have been a fair amount of work.

I had Chief helping me, so it wasn’t bad. We used to visit each other while our parents were away to make and eat gyoza together.

Oh, yeah, we did. That was so fun… I remember the time I filled them with wasabi…

I remember that, it was funny.

*clap* Okay, no more chit-chat! I have an important announcement to make!

An announcement…?! Where’s my notepad…?

Like I’ve said before, we’ll be working as a unit called the Morning Team for convenience. There are only four of us at the moment, but the plan is to find one more ward mayor and work as five.

Ward 1 doesn’t have a mayor. Are you looking for one there?

I am. To find one, I’d like to hold a Ward 1 mayor audition.

(An audition…! I wonder what kind of person we’ll end up recruiting. I’m so excited…!)

All of the current ward mayors will be the judges, so I’m counting on you. ♪