Omake 10: The hassle of being a loving leader

It was a slow day at the headquarters, and I was happily taking my time in reading through the endless tower of paper that was supposedly my paperwork.

Delegating this much hard work had sounded like a good idea the first time around, but then the paperwork tripled overnight and I still found myself drowning in so many reports, letters from admirers, and business efforts.

The office was relatively quiet, with just a handful of the noises happening outside reaching through the walls, only to be barely perceived with how muffled the sound was.

Scribbling left and right, either approving and dismissing the documents occupying a large section of my desk, I barely noticed that the door was being slowly opened by someone.

I blinked calmly, turning just a moment away from the papers when I finally saw the familiar figure that was Hannah making her way towards me.

In a normal circumstance, the young woman would have a tired, but still cheerful smile plastered on her face. It was just her usual way to show that while the work was tough, she was still managing through with little to no issues thanks to her determination.

But now her face was displaying a perplexed look as she delved deeper in the office. She stopped right in front of the desk, her eyes alternating between me and a little lower, and I could see that she was trying to visualize beyond the stack of documents on the desk.

“Dio,” Hannah muttered with a cautious tone. “I wish to speak with you… privately.”

Sporting a surprised look, I frowned at the woman. “Did something bad happen?”

She shook her head. “Not truly. No,” The girl admitted with a tight voice. “But I wish to talk about a situation that I think is… problematic.”

My confusion was increasing the more she was speaking, and I gave a quick blink before slowly nodding at her.

“Sure, I suppose we can talk about this if you truly think it’s a concern-”

“In private,” She interjected with an unexpected degree of vehemence. “I wish to speak about this in private.”

It took me a couple of seconds to realize what she was implying with her comment. I stared down, right on my lap… and right to where a certain ‘dog’ was happily resting all curled and asking for more head-scratching.

“You don’t want Bhediya to stay here for this conversation?”

The werewolf quickly understood what was happening, his head tilting to glance at the woman with a confused look as she let out a sigh and a nod.

“It’s quite urgent and...” There was a pause, then an irked huff and… Hannah looked partially annoyed. “Dio, I wish to speak about the fact you’ve been treating Bhediya as a pet.”

…

“Beg your pardon, Hannah, but what do you mean?” I inquired with immense confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Right now you’re treating him like a domesticated dog,” The woman pointed out dryly. “And while I understand that you’re not by any mean selfish or trying to do anything devious with any of us, I feel like this turn of events might be… a tad bit creepy.”

I leaned back, and Bhediya’s furred frame moved out of my lap. “Do you truly think so?”

She nodded and I found myself sighing.

“I mean, I can see your point. I guess it’s quite awkward to see someone getting treated like that but...” I turned to look at the werewolf, now morphing back in his human form while sporting quite the annoyed look. “It was Bhediya that asked me for this.”

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…

“Beg your pardon, Dio… but what?”

I sighed again, but it was the other boy to speak.

“I asked Dio if I could’ve stayed in his office while Sarah is sleeping,” He explained curtly. “I just decided to ask him if he would’ve minded if I decided to rest by his lap. I know it’s odd but… it wasn’t like he was planning to treat me like a dog.”

I nodded in agreement to his words. “I wasn’t doing anything that would have him dehumanized, I know that it is quite the strong issue with him.”

He smiled at my kindness, but Hannah didn’t allow for silence to finally return.

“But… But isn’t that too much?” She asked with a frown. “I know that you’ve mentioned multiple times that you care for us as close friends but… isn’t that exaggerating?”

“How so?”

…

“Hannah?”

“It’s just… do the others know about this?” She pressed on the topic and I nodded.

“Speedwagon is aware. In fact, he noticed Bhediya almost too instantly during our daily chess game,” I pointed out while turning to the long-haired teen. The boy had a scowl on his face at the mere mentioning of the blond. “Still haven’t figured out a way to get these two to actually treat each other neutrally.”

“He says I smell odd, and he keeps saying that his hat tricks aren’t cheap. But they are and-”

“Daily chess game?”

We both stared at the young woman, her eyes widening once again at this detail.

“Yes, Robert and I do take some of our free time to play chess in the office,” I commented calmly. “I think it’s just a little before Sarah wakes up from her nap, because I would usually take her around the district to teach her a little bit about London.”

There was a questionable degree of shock, confusion, irritation, understanding, and even more confusion.

“You… you actually spend time with people other than during work and… the lessons?”

I nodded, and she closed her eyes. Was she trying to calm down by adjusting her breathing? It looked to be the case and… why did she look this much angry?

“So, does that mean that, if you were free and I asked you for a walk to the bar you wouldn’t-”

“I wouldn’t mind if I’m free,” I concluded for her, answering her query in the process.

Her irritation melted in genuine fascination at this variable and I felt the need to shiver a little at the big smile enveloping her face.

“Are you… free today?” She finally asked and I sighed.

“I guess I can spare an hour-”

I stopped the moment I saw her blur out of the room, slamming the door closed while her happy and rambunctious blitz across the headquarters could be heard despite the newly-created distance.

I glanced at Bhediya and the boy shrugged. “I think you’ve made a mistake.”

A mistake?

While I knew that Hannah could become rather excited when she spends time with me, I don’t see much of a reason to brace for any unexpected escalations other than hugging and giggling.

Maybe I hadn’t noticed something new about her? Or maybe the circumstances that were bringing her this much giddiness were enough to warrant a greater reaction out of her?

So many questions and… so little time to spare to those with how much paper had yet to be checked upon.

With silence slowly returning to the room, Bhediya saw it fit to finally switch back to his wolf form and return to my lap.

Humming quietly as I resumed with my initial tasks, I failed to terribly understand the full spectrum of damage I might have inflicted to my free time that I would get while in there.

And I, Dio, would also learn that Hannah would become quite chatty in what I had miserably labeled ‘friendly hangouts’.