Record of a February 18th

You're absolutely sure you ordered the cake?!

It needs to be ordered by end of day today if we want it by tomorrow!

Don't worry, Ako. We double-checked, like, ten times.

...It was cutting it rather close to the budget, but we managed.

Excuse me. What did you just say?

What do you mean by "cutting it rather close," Chinatsu? Our budget should have been more than sufficient!

I purposely cut some of the snack budget from last month, so we would be able to afford Head Prefect Hina's birthday cake this month!

No wonder we didn't have as many snacks...

Th-That's irrelevant! Now explain, why were we short on money?!

Well, the Pandemonium Society...

Those raccoons, again?! I'm really going to...

They billed us for Head Prefect Hina's birthday present...that they bought...

...The Pandemonium Society is celebrating the head prefect's birthday? Did Chairman Makoto get impeached?!

It's not that... They were attempting to send us a "gourmet" red bean cake, with no red beans. That was the gift.

What even is that? Were they pranking us? More importantly, does such a thing even exist?

Apparently it was a custom order.

Why can't they put all that effort towards operating our academy...?

Anyway, the bakery thought the request was a mistake, so they ended up just sending a regular gourmet red bean cake, with red beans...

Wonderful. Simply wonderful...

Back up. Whether or not the cake was red bean, those raccoons still billed us for it!

Which brings us back to the original problem...

That is precisely why our budget was a little tight.

We did manage to order the cake just fine, but we were forced to select the cheapest delivery option.

Hm...

I suppose that's acceptable. It's good to cut spending where we can, anyway.

Show me the webpage with the delivery information, please.

Okay, here you go.

I see. According to this, the cake will be delivered to Kawanishi Station tomorrow morning and arrive at the Prefect Team club room by around noon.

Since the head prefect's birthday party is scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM, it works out perfectly.

All right. Good work, everyone. I'm looking forward to it.

Yes, yes. Me too.

Are you okay, Chinatsu? Is something wrong?

No, no. Not at all, Senior Administrator Ako.

(Usually, when it's proceeding too smoothly like this, something always goes wrong.)

(No, I'm sure it's fine. Past experiences are probably just making me overthink it.)

(Come what may, tomorrow is our hardworking head prefect's birthday.)

That's right! We didn't need any of the Black Tortoise Promenade's help for this! We purchased Madam's birthday cake from a luxury cake shop!

How's that? Amazing, yes? It means we can handle food-related tasks without your unsolicited advice!

Fufufu... You could even say that this is clear evidence of the Genryumon's advancements! We are always improving!

Yeah, yeah. It does seem like you've chosen a good cake shop, but which delivery company did you choose?

The delivery company? The cheapest, fastest option, naturally.

...There's no such thing as cheap and fast. At least, not without some kind of catch.

The advertisement said exactly that, though. "Cheap and fast delivery!"

...Do you trust every flyer you see?

Yes! They would only write such a thing if they were truly confident in their abilities.

*sigh*... You're the exact target audience for capitalistic desires. Let me see.

...? Why there of all places?!

Huh? Hm? What're you saying? What's wrong?

...This will be a good learning opportunity for Genryumon. If everything works out, this delivery service will truly be the cheapest, fastest delivery out there.

Oh, that's a relief to hear! So my hard-boiled insight wasn't wrong after all!

Listen to me carefully. I said, "If everything works out."

...And just what do you mean by that?

It'll be cheap and fast, as long as your delivery doesn't get lost at the Kawanishi Hub.

The Kawanishi Hub?

Yes. It's a station that boasts an outstanding amount of distribution, even for Kivotos' standards.

They say there's a hidden road that leads to the Styx.

And once delivery parcels travel that road to the beyond and return, something entirely different will end up on your doorstep.

Wh-What are you saying...?

Deliveries get mixed up all the time there. This delivery becomes that delivery, and that delivery becomes this delivery.

Sh-Shouldn't a company like that be shut down?!

You said it yourself. It's cheap and fast.

...In other words, it can be cheap and fast, but...

...!

G-Genryumon, assemble!!

Calm down... What good will that do? Are you going to monitor every single shipment that arrives at the station?

Can we do that?!