*Beep beep beep bee-*
*BANG*
I relaxed my outstretched fist and slowly peeled my eyes open.
Staring at the ceiling dazedly, I lay there for a couple seconds before sluggishly sitting up.
The events of yesterday flashed through my mind as my eyes slowly traced the room.
I was currently in one of the hotels staff rooms, assigned to me after my recent employment.
A-chan gave me the key for the room and Korone kindly led the way. While we walked, I asked Korone a couple of questions about the world I had dropped into.
It was nothing too important, just questions about societal norms and common sense.
I wasn't too happy about what she told me, but that's a story for another time.
Eventually, we made it to the room and had to split up due to the time getting late.
I thanked her for her help and barely managed to set an alarm clock before crashing into the bed and falling unconscious.
It had been a very hectic day.
I suppose I should just be thankful that nothing happened after the meeting with my new employer.
Speaking of employment.
"Right, I have a job again."
Remembering why I even set up that alarm clock in the first place, I reluctantly slipped out of bed.
Not gonna lie, I was kinda enjoying the unemployment life while at the hospital. Its been a while since I've gone that long without working.
I think the last time was when I went on vacation? Sorry, let me correct myself, TRIEDto go on vacation.
I was scheduled to get on a plane to hawaii, but the damn thing blew up 20 minutes before takeoff.
The only reason I was spared was because I left my belongings behind and had to go back for them. You couldn't even imagine how shocked I was when I walked back outside to see an expanding fireball where my plane should've been.
It was such a spectacular explosion that I had to wonder if a politician was on board.
Nonetheless, I didn't end up getting a refund for my plane ticket, so I ended up just staying home.
Still, it was pretty relaxing, and I think I had more fun than I would've had in hawaii.
At least that's what I tell myself.
But alas, the responsibility of adulthood comes for us all. I was forced to end my vacation early because my boss found out I was still in town.
Not sure if that was entirely legal, but I needed the job, so what can you do?
Walking into the bathroom, I found myself staring at my reflection while muttering sarcastically.
"Who's this sexy motherfucker?"
My brown hair fell over my shoulders in a messy cascade, and my eyes seemed perpetually dead. Even though I got a full night's sleep, this tiredness never seemed to leave my face.
I've heard people say it adds to my charm, but I can only think it makes me look unfriendly.
Sighing, I splashed my face with water and neatened my hair as necessary.
My pupils, which turned into pitch black voids upon my transmigration, briefly flickered red.
I ignored it and began getting dressed.
Walking into the full body mirror, I nodded in appreciation of my appearance.
A white, short sleeve dress shirt with a blue tie and black slacks. Pretty professional, I must say.
"And for the cherry on top..."
I equipped the black sunglasses Korone gave me.
"..."
My appearance was...
"Fuck, I kinda look like a douchebag..."
A very well mannered douchebag, in slacks and a tie.
I couldn't help it though. Without the glasses, my life was in mortal danger. I literally almost got slimed out by the grim reaper within my first day of consciousness.
"The only thing I can do is hope no one brings it up..."
Sighing in resignation before the day even started, I stepped up to the door and put my hand on the door knob.
"Well, I guess I should be a little more optimistic."
It's only my first day on the job, worrying about stuff like this is just gonna make me unnecessarily nervous.
Plus, I'm getting paid hella. That alone is a reason to approach this with a good attitude.
"Alright, let's face the music. Can't be worse than yesterday anyway."
[Third curse, Storm Watch activated!]
"You fucking what?"
.....
....
...
..
.
I arrived at A-chan's office without incident.
I opened the door, and was surprised to find multiple stacks of paper on A-chans desk, as well as a new desk in the corner.
She did tell me to return here tomorrow to start the day, but i didn't think we'd be in the same working space...
A-chan, who was diligently writing something, looked up at me briefly, raised an eyebrow, and focused back on the document.
She was definitely judging my appearance.
"Your work for today is on your desk over in the corner. Additionally, i've placed a note with instructions on your computer. If you don't understand something, just ask."
I nodded, before sitting down.
"The chair is comfortable." I muttered.
"Only the best for our employees. Otherwise they wouldn't find it worth the danger."
Love to hear it.
"Speaking of employees, there ARE others besides you and me, right?"
A-chan chuckled.
"Of course. There's plenty of employees."
"Then why did you keep saying you're understaffed."
"..."
A-chan looked away.
"Well, the others... They... Uh... prefer field work."
"... Miss A, be honest."
Her face crumpled as I called her out.
You'd think a person so good at reading expressions would know how to hide her own.
"Okay, look! It's not my fault I didn't have much to work with, alright!? Do you think a normal person would work here if their life didn't depend on it!?"
Unfortunately, she does make a really good point.
Nobody in their right mind would choose to work in such a place. That person would either be desperate as all hell, like me, or thinking with their dick.
The moment those words left A-chans mouth, we both realized the gravity of the situation, and began to spiral into depression.
"Let's just get to work."
"Good idea."
I pick up the sticky note and read it's contents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Instructions for creating the perfect slav- employee.
The residents of Holo Hotel are kind and understanding people. However, like you, they are otherworlders, meaning they have their own set of rules and common sense that they follow. This will inevitably lead to conflict when our common sense clashes with theirs.
The jobs of our employees are to accommodate the residents whims, help them adapt to the world, prevent incidents from happening, and cleaning up when they do.
The eventual end goal is to instill enough of our common sense for them to exist in our world peacefully.
If you would login into your computer (details on the back), you would see an icon on your desktop right next to your browser.
This is a custom made app used to streamline the creation and processing of incident reports.
They follow a specific form and syntax, so deviation is not recommended.
When you've read the first report, read the rest of this note to learn how to process it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did as the paper instructed and logged into the computer.
Clicking the app, which had a blue play button logo, showed me an intricately designed hub that made my paper pusher heart skip a beat.
"Impressive. Who made this?"
A-chan responded without looking up.
"I did. The old system was so slow and expensive, I ended up overhauling the entire thing."
She did it herself?
"That's insane... You gotta put this shit on your resume."
"I would, but..."
But...?
"Nevermind."
I shrugged, it's not that important I guess.
Taking a deep breath, I anxiously clicked the button titled "start the day."
================
Report:
Citizen states: "Some crazy fuckin robot with red and black hair tried showing off her features, and ended up blowing a hole in my wall!"
Police analysis reveals that the robot is a hotel resident named Roboco, who upon ordering at a restaurant, found her meal was undercooked.
Instead of asking for a new plate, she got excited and attempted to cook it herself using one of her features.
That being a plasma cannon.
==================
"What the fuck?"
A-chan smiles as if she knew exactly why I reacted that way.
"Who the hell tries cooking a meal with plasma? No, in the first place, why does she have a plasma cannon!?"
"Let me guess, Roboco?"
I raised a brow. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
"She has a history of doing silly things like that."
A history?
Jesus Christ.
"You should finish up that report, there's quite a bit of them to go through."
"... Fine."
Reading the rest of the report, I found that, thankfully, there were no casualties. However, the property damage bill at the bottom made my eyes bug out of my head.
"The hotel has to pay for all of this?"
"Yep."
Godamn! How many zeros is that!?
"Can we even afford all of this? Sure we're government funded, but there's gotta be a limit."
The navy haired woman smiled.
"Of course theres a limit, but we get way more money than you would think. Remind me to show you our coffers sometime, I have a feeling your reaction will be entertaining."
What's so entertaining about making my heart stop?
Am I some kind of circus animal to you?
Sigh...
I numbly processed the document as directed by A-chans note, and moved on to the next one.
=================
Report
Citizen states: "some white haired witch brat gave me a gender swap lollipop and now my dick is gone!!"
Police analysis reveals that the suspect is a hotel resident named Shion, who illegally experimented on a living person due to a lack of test subjects.
Magical analysis reveals that the transformation can be reversed, which is to be taken into consideration when dealing out punishment.
==================
I could only look at the report with a one thousand yard stare before offering a silent prayer to the poor victims missing pecker.
"Honestly though, the fact that that's even possible is terrifying."
How can I trust anyone to cook for me when they can just lace my shit with magic fentanyl.
When you eat out in public, you have to hope that the cook won't fuck up your meal. There's an implicit trust between you and the chef that nothing bad will happen.
So how the hell do people in this world go to restaurants when LITERALLY ANYTHING can happen?
"Phew... I got a long way to go if I wanna adapt..."
Let's just process this and move on.
=================
Report
Citizen states: "a blue and pink haired girl came onto the construction site out of nowhere and starting wrecking the place!"
Police analysis reveals that the culprit is a hotel resident named Aqua. She claims to have only been trying to help, but kept causing damage with her clumsiness.
Placing a bag of concrete in the wrong place resulted in toppling multiple days worth of work, and several Injuries.
As a result Aqua ran away while crying.
======================
What the fuck?
Does that shit even make sense?
"How does one bag of concrete topple an entire construction site? Wouldn't that say more about the work of the construction workers than that one person?"
At that A-chan perked up.
"You'd think so, but aqua's clumsiness is almost reality breaking."
Of course she knew who I was talking about by name.
"'Reality breaking' how?"
"Things that have absolutely zero reason to happen, end up happening due to her input. It's so egregious that often times it barely even seems like her fault."
When A-chan began to tell me the story of how aqua accidentally spilling a cup of water led to a man losing his dick and multiple people getting third degree burns, I almost cried for her.
This girl is even unluckier than I am!
"As a result, she has severe anxiety issues and rejects interaction with anyone she doesn't know for fear of hurting them."
"Isnt she actually just cursed? That doesn't sound like just clumsiness."
A-chan shrugged her shoulders.
"We've taken her to get ritually cleansed multiple times, but it just makes the accidents happen more violently."
"That's... Weird."
"What's even weirder is that nothing happens at all when she's inside the hotel. She's still a little clumsy, but it's nothing catastrophic."
...
This is... Absurd.
It's a good thing I'm not a detective.
I'm not built to solve mysteries like this.
For my own mental state, I should move on. Going crazy like this over every report just slows things down.
If I end being a burden to Boss A, I might get fired, and I won't be able to pay off that 12 mil without this job.
That's right, 672k a year... I need to lock in.
Narrowing my eyes, I slowly slip into a trance.
Sounds and smells fade away as my vision narrows down onto the monitor. The world outside of my little area turns gray and monochrome.
Distracting thoughts disappear entirely as I devote my mind and body to the grind.
This is my unique skill: Office Slave State!
I stop reading words to understand them, but to calculate. Sentences no longer have meanings, but price tags.
In this state, my brain activity is much lower, while work productivity sky rockets. And thanks to lowered mental strength usage, my stamina increases dramatically.
Thanks to this ability, my work speed transcends any other office worker. This power is second only to A-chan, who deals with a work load no human could ever bear.
I feel a gaze rest on me for a second before disappearing, however, I have no reason to focus on that.
I have to prove my worth.
.....
....
...
..
.
Time passes, reports are filled out, and very little words are exchanged as me and A-chan engage in a brutal two front attack on the evil paper work army.
And just as I finished one last document,
*Beep beep beep beep*
Suddenly a vibration in my pocket snaps me out of my slave state.
Pulling out my phone, I realize 4 hours have passed, and I stand up suddenly.
"Urgh..."
Of course, standing up so violently after sitting still for 4 hours immediately made me dizzy, so I ended up collapsing back into the chair.
"Finally snapped out of it?"
"Ugh... What do you mean...?"
A-chan takes a sip from her mug while staring at me incredulously.
"Your alarm has been ringing for 2 hours. You were only supposed to work for 4, but ended up doing 6."
"Huh!? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I did you bastard, you completely ignored me! What kind of employee ignores his boss!?"
"Is it really so much effort to stand up and tap me??"
"I'm working too yknow! And besides, if you stop working, the paperwork gets done slower. Might as well let you continue right?"
"So it's exploitation then!"
"$672,000 a year."
"Yes boss. It's my fault boss."
"Heh."
While sneering at me with a smug, satisfied expression, she looked at the clock before getting more serious.
"Right, while we are a little behind schedule, I suppose I should give you your first task."
It's about time.
"The second half of your job is simple."
She pulls out a paper and adjusts her glasses.
"I just need you to check on a few people and help them out for me."
Taking the paper, I see an image of a woman in maid attire with blue and purple onion-like hair.
"An onion...?"
"Haha, not quite. Look further down."
Down...
Oh.
Minato Aqua.
×Chapter 8: Clocking In×
×End of Arc 1: Into The Chaos×