With that said, we took a fast shower then returned with our clothes on.It"s Michi, Eri & Rie, Mana, Torii-san, and me.
A car from Kouzuki SS sends us back to the Kouzuki mansion.
Kinos.h.i.+tsan"s the driver.
Michi"s on the pa.s.senger seat. Mana and Torii-san are on the second row. The third row has the twins and me.
The car leaves the old Kouzuki SS training building.
「 Still, Minaho-oneechan changed a lot 」
Mana said.
「 Changed? 」
「 With Eri-chan and Rie-chan, then Tendou Otome-san, she let Onii-chan make the decision and supported it, right? Back then, she would say “how about you check this?” or “How would the surface think of this?” before Onii-chan could decide. Her approach is to lead Onii-chan to a direction 」
Now that Mana mentioned it.
Minaho-neesan now trusts me is entrusting me with decisions.
If I make a decision, she accepts it.
「 It"s because her principle in teaching has changed 」
Michi said.
「 Master, did you now about Seeckt organizational theory? 」
「 Nope, not an idea 」
What country is he from?
「 During the first world war, Hans von Seeckt, a German military officer speaks for a high ranking General and he"s known in j.a.pan 」
A German military officer…High ranking General?
「 He mentioned that “the Efficient yet fellow is suited as a commanding officer. They"re lazy after all.
He can use subordinates effectively and all he has to think is how to get an easy win.
A talented hard worker should become a military staff. He thinks diligently on how to mobilize men and instead of spearheading the force, he should be watching the whole squad as an officer.
The incompetent lazy fellows can become the low grade commissioned officer or soldiers. They don"t think of anything, and won"t act unless they"re told.
As for the incompetent hard workers, there"s no choice but to execute them. They"re earnest despite their incompetence, and they will move forward without noticing any mistakes, and they"ll only befall others to danger” 」
Hmm.
So that thought exists too.
「 Ah, I"ve seen those. In manga 」
「 Right, Eri-chan reads manga when she likes the boys 」
The twins said.
「 It"s from the "90s, and so it"s always used in novels, manga, and even in business doc.u.ments. It"s still a speech well known to others 」
Michi said.
「 But, those didn"t come from Hans von Seeckt 」
Huh?
「 They looked on every book Seeckt wrote and that speech didn"t appear anywhere 」
「 Then, who said those words? 」
「 Unknown. Before anyone noticed, j.a.pan recognized it as Seeckt"s speech 」
Does that happen?
「 Wow, that"s the darkness of the internet 」
「 Is it an urban legend? 」
The twins said, but…
「 It"s a common happening. On the internet, some historical episode that has nothing to do with with the subject flows in falsely. For example, it"s not true that Matsunaga Hisahide stuffed his tea kettle with gunpowder and died from an explosion 」
「 No way? 」
「 We just saw that on TV the other day 」
「 Right. He died from an explosion on a TV drama 」
I don"t even know who Matsunaga is.
「 In novels or movies before the Tokyo Olympics, far from the war, Matsunaga Hisahide only breaks his tea kettle and committed suicide. There were no explosions. Before anyone noticed, the image of using explosives become flashy and so someone changed the story to him blowing himself up 」
「 Then that became the truth nowadays 」
「 That"s how it is today. Who knows about the future 」
Kinos.h.i.+tsan who listened to Michi"s story…
「 True. If we follow that sequence, Matsunaga Hisahide"s cause of death will become “Cross of the Plain Spider"s Saint Cloth,” and turn to “stonewalling love-struck fist,” some kind of weird cause of death 」
Err.
「 I don"t think so 」
Michi flatly rejected it.
「 Let"s return to Seeckt"s theory. What do you think of it, Master? 」
Err.
Talented Lazy, Talented Hardworker, Incompetent Lazy, and Incompetent Hardworker.
The most useless is the incompetent hard worker.
「 Somehow, I can say that it"s right but it"s weird 」
I replied.
「 Why do you think so? 」
Well…
「 The world doesn"t work like that, saying that “he"s that kind of person, so deploy them there” 」
Oh. I see.
「 The man who gave this theory looks from a high place, looking down on others. He thinks that he"s a G.o.d, giving roles to people like “You"re here, you"re there” 」
But in truth, reality comes first. Especially in organizations.
「 In organizations, there are personal relations.h.i.+ps. Nothing will change even if you use this theory 」
Like who"s talented, incompetent, hard worker, and lazy.
What significance does it have?
「 If you gather people, you can create an organization. You can create personal relations.h.i.+ps. Then you have to think of how to accomplish the task with the people you have present 」
I said.
「 In a personal relations.h.i.+p, there"s no talented hard worker, and the incompetent lazy still has to work even for a bit 」
There"s no meaning in sorting them.
「 Instead, if you"re imprisoned in that concept, you"ll start backstabbing the same workers calling them “incompetent hard worker.” That will destroy the relations.h.i.+ps inside the organization 」
Michi…
「 That"s not all 」
She speaks calmly.
「 That theory isn"t considering that people change through training 」
「 Oh right. An incompetent hard worker can cla.s.s up to talented hard worker if you teach him 」
Eri said.
「 On the other hand, if you give poor education on a talented person, they can become incompetent 」
Michi?
「 If a person who can think for himself is trained to not say anything and just accept orders from above, then he will become like that 」
Oh, a cla.s.s down.
「 I mean, in armed forces, most people might be like that 」
This time, it"s Rie.
「 Besides, Seeckt"s theory says that the talented lazy should be a commander. The talented hard worker as a staff. The incompetent lazy as an ordinary soldier. And the incompetent hard worker to be shot to death 」
Michi said.
「 In actual armed forces, they"ll never make that kind of cla.s.sifications. Each has a different status and objective 」
That means…
「 Ordinary soldiers don"t think of the strategy themselves. They"ll do as the top bra.s.s orders them to do. If each of the soldiers can give their say on what to do, it"ll be chaotic 」
Well, that"s true.
「 However, that doesn"t mean that they shouldn"t think of anything. They have to think of what to do to execute the order…thinking desperately on what"s the scope of permissible actions as a soldier as they have to act precisely 」
Right…
If they don"t use the cover right in front of them, the enemy machine gun will kill them immediately.
They have to think of what they"re allowed to do and how to fight without dying.
「 This scope changes depending on the position of the troops 」
Michi said.
「 If it"s the commander of the force, he has to follow the orders coming from above, and so he will make precise decisions within the permissible scope to make sure that his troops don"t die. If it"s the officer, he"ll receive an order from the country leader and he has to think of a plan, but, his scope is about what"s best for the country 」
I see. Everyone has to create the best scenario for their own role.
Talking about a talented lazy person is stupid.
I see. This theory takes out the top, the generals, and the country leaders.
If that guy is the head of the country, he will be on the level where he talks about something stupid in bars saying “This guy should do this”
「 That"s right. What"s important in the organization is that the members all have different personalities but they"re doing the best from their own standpoint and power. An organization will collapse if they label each member using this theory 」
「 Right, if you know that the person above you is called incompetent hard worker, you"ll stop thinking of doing anything earnestly 」
Eri said.
「 You don"t want to be a talented hard worker either. It"d make you think “What is this guy talking about with such an arrogant att.i.tude” 」
Rie"s right.
「 Well, what"s talented and what"s incompetent differs on each job 」
Kinos.h.i.+tsan said.
「 One can be talented in computer work but is useless at business. The opposite is true as well. And as for an extreme example, in arts, an artist can sell a painting a year and that"s all it takes for them to live by themselves, right? Even if they couldn"t, some people get paid by the hour to do outsourced work, and they"re different from people who receive an hourly wage 」
「 Yes. I think that people who use that rough theory nowadays in business are wrong 」
Michi said.
「 I mean, this talk about “Incompetent but is an absurdly strong lazy fellow,” or “Incompetent, but works hard to the bone” doesn"t exist 」
「 Right. You don"t know what you"re talking about when saying that one"s talented. They can be strong in math but can hardly do anything decent in writing 」
Yeah, the twins are right. It"s a sloppy theory.
「 Seeckt didn"t mention it but the former theory is used on the German army conscription. This is impossible to re-use in the current complicated era. Doing that is only adopting a famous saying from a great figure. I mean, if you look at Hans von Seeckt"s career, you can"t call him a great man 」
His words spread out without anyone knowing.
「 Minaho-oneesama already thinks that Master can think of what"s best within his permissible scope 」
Michi said.
「 Master"s decision is Master"s responsibility, and there"s no deviation 」
So she allowed Eri and Rie to become family, and Tendou Otome"s memory altering.
「 Even if the twins betray us, Master will take responsibility for it 」
Michi looked at Rie and Eri.
「 Right. I"m prepared for that 」
I replied.
「 Eeeh?! What does that mean? 」
「 What"s that?! O-Onii-san, that"s scary 」
They look at me worriedly.
「 We have a lot of secrets and among those are highly-priced secrets for the bad people 」
I speak frankly.
This car is heading to the Kouzuki mansion.
Or should I say that we"re going to the back of the mansion and heading to the rear entrance?
These girls will soon notice that our family has one of j.a.pan"s wealthiest people in our family.
「 When our secret is exposed, our family will be in danger. Therefore, I"m careful not to let any weird people approach our surroundings. But… 」
I looked at the two.
「 You girls are filled with curiosity, and so some bad guys will come close to you. But, when that happens… 」
The twins gulped.
「 Onii-chan. You don"t need to say anything further than that 」
Mana…
「 Eri-chan and Rie-chan. If you betray Onii-chan, I"ll kill you two personally 」
She speaks with a serious face.
「 I have no other place to go but with Onii-chan. I can"t allow this family to crumble 」
「 That"s the same for us 」
Rie who is usually quiet has a much stronger heart than Eri.
「 We know that without Onii-san, we wouldn"t be alive anymore 」
「 Rie-chan 」
「 Eri-chan knows that too, right? 」
「 Yes, I know 」
Rie takes Eri"s hand and put it on top of mine.
「 We promise. We will not do anything dangerous, nor approach any weird people. If they come after us, we"ll report to Onii-san and Onee-san right away 」
「 We promise 」
「 We will not tell anyone about the secrets we"ve seen or heard 」
「 Me too 」
Yeah, it"s good that we had this conversation before entering the Kouzuki mansion.
Although, these girls…
They heard about Kouzuki house and n.o.bility during my argument with Torii-san.
Despite that, they never asked anything about it.
They know how to stay silent until I explain it to them.
Rie and Eri aren"t stupid. I can sense that they"re clever.
「 But that"s not enough 」
Michi…
「 I"ve sworn to never speak to any man other than Master, My father, and Grandfather 」
Hey. Err.
Speaking of which, I think she does that.
I mean, it"s all women in here.
Ah, but, when it comes to Morimoto-san, the clerk of Black Forest, Jii-chan, or even chief Yazawa of Kouzuki SS.
Michi never talks.
「 I devote all of my faithfulness to Master 」
「 Ah, that"s nice. Mana should do that too 」
Mana…
「 You should know that Onii-chan gets jealous easily. If Mana talks to another boy, you"ll feel jealous, right? 」
Mana"s been secluding herself in the Kuromori mansion for almost half a year.
She doesn"t talk to other boys because there"s none, but…
「 But, you"re going to school soon enough 」
「 We"re only looking for girl"s school from the beginning. I mean, Onii-chan doesn"t like it if Mana goes to a co-ed school, right? 」
Well…
「 If you don"t say it then Mana will cry 」
Mana smiled at me.
「 Yeah, I don"t like it 」
I need to give at least some shackles. To my s.e.x slaves.
「 But I"m going to the same high school as Onii-chan. We"ll be together in the same school for at least a year but let"s have s.e.x in school! 」
Mana"s two years younger than me.
When I"m in third-year high school, Mana will be a freshman.
「 Mana can"t go to Misuzu-oneechan"s school, so I can have that much side benefit, right? 」
Mana"s the daughter of s.h.i.+rasaka house and so she"s acquainted with the young ladies. She can"t go to Misuzu"s school.
Agnes, Luna, Yomi, and Koyomi-chan can get in using the power of Kouzuki house somehow, but…
Mana"s the only one who doesn"t have her school decided yet.
On the other hand, once they enroll in Misuzu"s school, they"ll go there too for high school.
「 Right, you"re going to my school 」
It"s not a bad idea to learn in the same school building even if it"s just for a year.
Hmm.
Torii-san"s looking at us.
「 What"s wrong? 」
I asked.
「 No, do you all talk like this all the time? 」
「 Huh? About Mana going to my school?
「 No, I meant the “Seeckt"s theory” 」
Oh, right.
「 Well, I don"t know much but Michi and the girls are smart. 」
Edie, Nei, they like this kind of talk.
Minaho-neesan and Margo-san too.
Oh right, Kyouko-san does it too.
「 It"s our tradition to talk of ideas that come to our mind 」
Michi said.
「 Hmm, I see 」
Torii-san"s discontented.
Right, she likes this kind of talk too.
So far, she"s always cutting in our conversation…
She"s always particular with her opinion, and yet…
「 Torii-san, if you have something to discuss when you could"ve joined in 」
I said.
「 N-No need! Leave me alone! 」
Then, she looked out of the window.
What"s wrong with her?
◇ ◇ ◇
「 W-W-W-What"s this?! 」
Oh, I knew it. They"d be surprised.
「 There"s a huge wall around it so I thought that it"s a big park or a school but… 」
We go around the rear entrance to the Kouzuki mansion and dropped off the car in front of the mansion.
I mean, this mansion is composed of various buildings…
The other side has a Meiji era building.
This one"s a Showa building, and that one is the Heisei building.
The building we"re entering is for Jii-chan, Misuzu, Ruriko, Yos.h.i.+ko-san. For the people of the main family.
Not even the branch family can enter the guest rooms.
「 Somehow, this looks like a palace 」
「 Like a high-cla.s.s hotel. Never go inside a high-cla.s.s hotel though 」
Rie and Eri seem excited.
「 Is this Onii-san"s house? 」
「 That"s amazing. Onii-san 」
No.
「 No, This isn"t mine. Well, do you know Ruriko?
Ruriko was there when the twins lost their virginity
「 This is Ruriko"s house 」
「 To think that Onee-san is this rich 」
「 Yeah, I thought that she"s an elegant Onee-san as soon as I saw her 」
Err.
「 Don"t tell Ruriko that 」
I Warned them.
「 Ruriko wasn"t born in a big family because she wants it… 」
The twins" color changed…
「 I understand. Onii-san 」
「 I understand too. Onii-san 」
Yeah, they can make guesses from just that line.
「 Ruri-oneechan is also just like us. Onii-chan"s s.e.x slave 」
Mana smiled.
「 We"re the same. Slaves 」
「 Yes, Manoneesan 」
「 I understand 」
It helps that Mana"s looking after the twins.
The twins know that Mana is s.h.i.+rasaka Maika.
They also know that just like them, her criminal father has died and is having trouble because of that father.
Therefore…
「 Welcome back! Papa!!! 」
Ah, Agnes and the girls came to greet us. Mao-chan, Luna, and Koyomi-chan too
「 ???!!! 」
Agnes became cautious as soon as they saw the twins.
「 Papa, who are those girls? 」
Err…