“Yes! I won!”

Lily jumps on the sofa in excitement after finally snatching victory from me. Well, I half-gave it to her.

Her mastery of word chain has clearly leveled up quite a lot, but she still fails to expose my cheats.

“I’m amazing, right?”

She draws closer and looks at me with her glittering, overly excited eyes.

“Y-yeah, you are great.”

I retreat a little, then give her a good pat on the head. She enjoys being stroked, like a purring kitten.

“Ah! H-hmph!”

She suddenly snaps out of her cute deredere mode and goes tsuntsun again. Nevertheless, she doesn’t seem to mind my hand much. In fact, I think she still enjoys it despite her cold demeanor.

When it comes right after her “grand victory”, she treats patting as a fitting reward and enjoys it, even if not with 100% honesty. When I pat her for seemingly “no reason”, she doesn’t receive it nearly as well.

“I see you are getting along.”

“U-ugh!?”

I quickly remove my hand from Lily’s head and turn toward the voice.

Eric slowly enters the room and walks toward the sofa. H-how long has he been standing there!?

“Most workers here call it a day at 17:00, so you can go home for today.”

He declares as he confirms the time on his watch. Gladly, he doesn’t comment on my questionable interactions with Lily.

“Before you leave, you have to shut her down. Tell her to lay down on the bed.”

He points at the bed on which Lily was originally carried in.

“Lily, please go lay down on your bed.”

“Ah... hmph, since you beg so much....”

She makes a sad panda face and slides from the sofa. She slowly walks toward her own bed, climbs on top of it and lays down on her back.

After making herself comfortable on the bed, she turns toward me with a difficult expression.

“I... I hope that papa will play with me next time as well...”

She mumbles quietly in melancholy.

“Because papa, the truth is...”

She softly smiles toward me with gentle eyes.

“I lo-”

CLICK

Her speech is cut midway. She closes her eyes and falls into slumber.

“Wha...”

I turn to Eric, glaring at the remote in his hand. How dare you, Eric!? You heartless golem! Knocking out my cute little daughter in a crucial moment like that!

“This model can operate for about two days without being charged. This bed is designed to recharge her while she is laying on it.”

He nonchalantly explains as he puts down the remote, without the slightest intention to reflect on his crimes.

“She also has direct internet connection through the bed. It allows downloading updates, backuping data or anything else you configured her to do while she’s turned off.”

“Got it...”

Eric shrugs and throws me a small smile.

“Tired? Don’t worry, it’ll only get worse.”

Is that supposed to make me feel better!? Seriously, this guy is... ugh.

“The normal hours here are 9:00 to 17:00, let’s make that your schedule for now.”

He turns off the air conditioner and takes its remote.

“I’ll lock the office for you today, hopefully by tomorrow your card won’t be as useless.”

I collect my backpack and walk toward the door, throwing one final glance at the sleeping Lily before stepping out.

Eric flashes his silver card and the room is closed off, erasing Lily from my sight.

“See you tomorrow.”

He pats me on the shoulder and walks toward room 631. After returning the remote he stole, he continues onward to the right flank of the floor.

“You aren’t going home yet?”

“I said that NORMAL hours are until 17:00. Some don’t have that luxury , especially not during crunch time.”

He shrugs and smiles wryly when we part ways. I turn to the elevator, whereas he continues to his office.

After reaching the elevator, I pass my card by a reader on the wall and the door shortly opens.

And so, my first day at work is over.