At 3:30 pm, Toyogasaki High School's classes ended for the day.
Some students went home, others went to part-time jobs, while club activities began for those involved.
As for Luo Shu, although he'd established an Astronomy Club at school, their activities could be conducted at their garrison in Akihabara.
With Natsuki Minamiya serving as the club advisor, this arrangement was borderline but not technically against the rules.
However, before leaving school to show Megumi around the garrison, Luo Shu was summoned to Natsuki's private office.
"Making this much commotion after just one day - honestly, I'm starting to regret letting you come back," said Natsuki from her elevated office chair.
Luo Shu casually sat on the sofa, crossing his legs: "This morning was just an accident. Surely you can't classify emergencies as routine occurrences, Natsuki-chan?"
Natsuki looked up from the documents she was reviewing and rolled her eyes: "You call Utaha Kasumigaoka using mental suggestions to make several students streak through campus an 'emergency'?"
"What kind of emergency can be activated at will like that?"
"These things happen~" Luo Shu repeatedly emphasised it was accidental, carefully avoiding any promises.
Natsuki sighed helplessly. Dealing with students who caused trouble even when nothing was happening gave her headaches.
"Whatever. Ultimately, I'm just a school teacher. Managing you isn't my responsibility - that woman Clyne should handle it."
She neatly stacked the documents, then gave Luo Shu a meaningful look: "Don't go too far with those third-year students."
"Broken limbs I can tolerate, but deaths would be problematic."
After a pause, she added: "At least not while they're still enrolled."
Luo Shu looked at Natsuki in surprise, remarking, "How unexpected! I merely made people socially dead, yet you, Natsuki-chan, want them actually dead!"
"Isn't that too cruel?"
Natsuki stared speechlessly at Luo Shu's antics. Cruel? She was giving those students a chance to stay alive.
A group of bullies becoming socially dead or receiving a taste of their own medicine within the rules was something she could understand. But what she feared was Luo Shu disregarding the rules entirely and resorting to underhanded methods.
This guy's means of screwing people over were downright vicious. Even Abe no Seimei, that old man just one step away from becoming a Demigod, had lost both his mother and his life. What chance did ordinary students stand?
Who knew when Luo Shu might take offence and have someone killed during school hours?
At this thought, Natsuki Minamiya sighed:
"Some of Toyogasaki High School's board members are D-rank SDS personnel."
Hearing this, Luo Shu had a moment of realisation before calmly stating:
"I see. I'll mind my limits."
Since Natsuki had pointed out that the school was essentially a family business, Luo Shu naturally wouldn't act recklessly.
After all, significant incidents involving students during term time could affect the school's operations.
Seeing Luo Shu's attitude of only caring when it involved their own interests, Natsuki merely scoffed before picking up some documents and handing them over:
"Right, let's discuss the actual reason I called you here."
She shook the papers in her hand:
"These are proposals I just had the school board draft – allowing academically excellent students who've completed three years of high school curriculum to study from home."
Luo Shu gave Natsuki a surprised look at this, uncrossing his legs as he asked curiously:
"What's this? Not pushing me to attend classes anymore?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Natsuki glared at him irritably:
"With someone like you, keeping you confined in school all day just to space out – what would be the point?"
"My purpose in teaching is to nurture talent, not waste it."
She shook the documents again:
"Later, you'll do a few test papers. Do them properly so I can keep them on record. Then you can go back to properly being Director of the Hidden Management Department instead of causing trouble on campus."
When Natsuki mentioned his classroom daydreaming, Luo Shu showed no trace of a student caught misbehaving. Leaning back against the sofa, he remarked:
"I'm indifferent either way, since my future direction is basically set. But for the others – Natsuki-chan, you'll still need to introduce them to the mystic side's knowledge, won't you?"
Luo Shu knew his own path clearly – he would inevitably progress from Calamity Priest onwards until becoming a Divine Rank Calamity Monarch.
However, for people like Utaha Kasumigaoka, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, and Megumi Kato, they were still unformed newcomers.
Such novices would be better taught by an experienced witch like Natsuki Minamiya.
Hearing this, Natsuki snorted:
"Naturally, I've made arrangements for them. Whether it's supplementary lessons under the guise of club activities or direct teaching at your department's garrison, I have plans."
"But before that, just how long do you intend to keep me holding these documents?"
At Natsuki's complaint, Luo Shu chuckled. With a casual gesture, a tiny whirlwind manifested mid-air, swirling the documents from Natsuki's hand into his own.
Witnessing this, Natsuki raised an eyebrow in surprise:
"Not the slightest trace of technique activation... you've certainly grown more capable."
"It's just a little trick." Luo Shu smiled at the remark and began examining the file in his hand.
After becoming a Calamity Priest, Luo Shu's previously learned Wind Arts had naturally become a calamity he now presided over.
The greatest advantage of the Calamity Priest class lay precisely in this aspect of presiding over calamities.
Simply put, any calamity-aligned power Luo Shu absorbed and mastered would grow stronger over time through three means: passive accumulation, absorbing similar energies, and active worship—until reaching the limit of what he could bear.
As Luo Shu's earliest acquired ability, his manipulation of wind elements had already been elevated after his Class promotion to the point where, given enough time, he could conjure large-scale typhoons at will.
Using wind to retrieve a file was child's play.
"A little trick..." Natsuki Minamiya wasn't buying it. An ability that could activate without any detectable technique fluctuations was far from commonplace.
From what Natsuki understood, this was a method typically reserved for veteran Hero Rank individuals who had grasped the true essence of techniques.
For Luo Shu to grow from a regular person to this level in just one month, even Natsuki couldn't help but be astonished.
She'd seen people who skyrocketed to power before, but someone who started from complete ignorance, gradually cultivated their skills, yet appeared to have skyrocketed—Luo Shu was the only such case she'd encountered.
'What a freak.' Natsuki muttered internally before saying aloud:
"I've processed all the remote work applications for personnel under your department. Remember to have them sign, then send someone to deliver the documents to me tomorrow."
Flipping through the files, Luo Shu casually replied: "In that case, Natsuki, you should probably prepare one more set of documents."
"Huh?" Natsuki blinked, then realised something, her expression turning odd. "Don't tell me you've discovered someone at school who accidentally came into contact with an Abyss Artefact and just awakened their abilities?"
"Exactly as the brilliant Teacher Natsuki has guessed!"
Luo Shu chuckled, pulling out his phone to display a portrait photo he'd openly taken of Megumi Kato earlier:
"Here's the photo. Since we're here, might as well trouble you to prepare the documents on the spot."
"There really is one?"
Natsuki's expression turned peculiar. As a teacher who attended school daily, had she been slacking off too much? A student awakening abilities right under her nose, and she only learned about it from Luo Shu, who'd attended for just one day.
"What ability did this girl awaken?"
Natsuki stared at the photo in Luo Shu's hand and immediately noticed something wrong.
As an excellent teacher, Natsuki prided herself on memorising all students' names and faces—yet the girl in Luo Shu's photo was completely unfamiliar, leaving no impression.
Therefore, the ability of this girl Luo Shu had taken interest in became easy to guess.
Recalling the girls under Luo Shu's command, Natsuki's expression grew even more subtle:
"A mind-reading ability user, a face-changing ability user, and now someone who conceals their presence—tell me, Luo Shu, are you certain your Hidden Management Department isn't actually an assassin syndicate?"
Luo Shu paused, then replied strangely:
"I suppose... not?"
In the office, Luo Shu and Natsuki found themselves staring at each other in mutual bewilderment.
...
Meanwhile...
Near Akihabara, the Hidden Management Department garrison.
Megumi Kato stared blankly at the six-storey commercial-residential building before her, her eyes filled with bewilderment.
According to Kisara, this building was the school club's activity room?
Which school club could possibly own an entire building in a luxury commercial district?