In another part of Tokyo, Akira was walking into the Central Antiterrorism Bureau alongside the minister. She kept up with the pace of Minister Shimada as she entered the building filled with various personnel of the defence forces working earnestly.
Despite the activity, the building was still quiet, except for the staccato footsteps of people walking on the linoleum floors. Akira was drawn in by the solemn aura of the organisation, even though her mind remained preoccupied with the problem at hand.
As the two stepped into an elevator, Minister Shimada's aide, Suzuki Taira appeared and entered the space. She had a serious look on her face, but she still glanced at Akira with some contempt on her face. Her opinion was unchanged.
Minister Shimada noticed the look and frowned. Unfortunately, the current circumstances were not appropriate for addressing the problem with her aide. She had realised that the woman was taking more liberties in the recent days.
"Here is your temporary clearance badge," Taira said..
She handed the badge to Akira who directly put it around her neck. She did not care about the pettiness of the aide before her. She was only interested in finding a computer and beginning working on the problem immediately.
She would have preferred to go to the Immortal Sword Valley to work in a familiar environment. However, it was not possible because of the traffic conditions. Furthermore, it was difficult to arrange for air transportation on short notice.
Therefore, she had to come with the minister to one of the official defence offices.
It was not a bad thing because it was the centre for addressing the current crisis on hand. If she found anything and confirmed the location of the terrorists, she could follow them to the field. She would only feel at peace without the active situation.
"The badge only gives you clearance to access and work in the computer centre with the other IT people. You will not be able to go to other places, so do not walk around carelessly. This place is not like a normal office. You will be arrested if you are found loitering." Aide Suzuki spoke up.
Minister Shimada looked at her assistant sharply, and the younger woman lowered her head. It was obvious that she was feeling a little guilty, or at least, she knew she had done something wrong. The gesture made the minister even more annoyed.
"I made it clear that I wanted Ms Yamazaki to have full clearance to work in the Central Antiterrorism Bureau." Minister Shimada said.
As a minister, she had a lot of subordinates, but she needed her assistant to handle menial tasks for her. Otherwise, she would have to deal with a lot of people all the time. Suzuki Taira did not have high clearance in the Ministry of Defence.
She could not be privy to the real secrets of the state. At most, she organised meetings and managed the minister's schedule. Sometimes, she sat in if it was a generic, bureaucratic gathering. Even the personal chauffeur and bodyguard who drove the minister around knew more secrets than Taira.
Usually, Aide Suzuki was only allowed to handle tasks that related directly to the minister's personal life.
However, she could not help but become a little arrogant because she could move around any place freely. It did not matter if she could not get clearance to be in secret rooms. She could freely enter any place she wanted as the Minister's assistant.
The power was intoxicating, and it gave her the illusion that she could rise to a higher place.
"The request was denied because Ms Yamazaki is only going to deal with the information technology issues. The in-charge said that the clearance was sufficient for handling the work the minister has assigned." Taira replied with some hidden guilt.
The man in charge of processing the clearance had said as much, but it was because she told him that Akira was only a little familiar with computers. After all, the minister asked her to get clearance so that Akira could help the tech people.
The minister asked her to get Akira full clearance, and it rubbed her the wrong way. She could not understand why Akira could get complete freedom after meeting the minister for one day. She could only assume that there was some hidden business.
Judging from the way Akira behaved and the information she gleaned here and there, it was likely that she was a second-generation daughter. Taira theorised that she was just the daughter of someone to whom the minister owed a favour.
Otherwise, why would this girl be allowed to go into the residence of the minister?
After working so hard, Suzuki Taira felt like her chance of rising the ranks was stolen by a random girl who had a rich father.
Moreover, she did not find anything wrong with her explanation of Akira to the person in charge of the clearance for outside personnel. As far as the minister said, Akira was only here to help the people who were in the tech department.
Suzuki felt a little vindicated. From what she had said, it was likely that everyone would think that Akira was there to cause more trouble. Unfortunately, some people even felt like Minister Shimada was abusing power by bringing in a random girl to disrupt them during a crisis.
"Is that so?" Minister Shimada said with sharp eyes. "It turns out that people are no longer interested in listening to my orders."
Aide Suzuki felt cold sweat covering her back when she heard that casual tone. Usually, the minister did not care a lot about the pettiness of her countless subordinates. However, it seemed that this time could be different.
The elevator opened, and the minister led Akira to the intelligence floor with quick steps. Aide Suzuki lagged as she wondered if her boss would follow up on the case. If she did, it was likely that the one who would get into trouble was her.
Meanwhile, Minister Shimada walked to the head of the department and introduced Akira with a few brief sentences. The head nodded, even though his face looked a little sour as he looked at Akira. Just a few minutes before, he had heard about the troublemaker.
"Provide the details on the case and give her a workstation immediately. We need to apprehend these criminals immediately." Minister Shimada ordered tersely.
She was nervous about her city and country. If things went wrong, she would take the brunt of the blame since terrorist attacks were rare. It would be the worst thing that happened to her if they did not stop the attack.
The unhappy head of the department nodded, even though he did not understand the minister's thought process.
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