Chapter 51 | My Wives Are So Cute While They Eat

Chapter 51: Chapter 51 | My Wives Are So Cute While They Eat

She ate two spoonfuls before the board came up.

Did you sleep.

"Enough," Kai said.

She wrote: That means no.

"It means enough."

She put the board down and ate.

Halfway through the meal Shira set her spoon down and looked at the table.

"The backdating request," she said. "When they issue the provisional license — you request the backdating immediately. Before you sign anything else. Before you shake anyone’s hand. Before you say thank you."

"I know," Kai said.

"I’m saying it anyway."

"You sound like me."

She looked at him.

He looked at his bowl.

’That was slightly too honest,’ he thought.

A short silence.

Then Mira’s board appeared.

He’s right though.

Shira looked at Mira.

Mira was eating. Completely occupied with her porridge.

"Eat your breakfast," Shira said, but the edge was slightly thinner than usual.

Kai drank his tea.

’Both of them are nervous,’ he realized. ’They’re not going to say so. But they are.’

He looked at his bowl.

He was nervous too, but he wasn’t going to say so either, so they were all even.

====

He left at nine-fifteen.

At the door he picked up his jacket.

From the living room Shira said, not looking at him, looking at the window: "The licensing board offices. Third floor, administrative wing. File the protective jurisdiction arrangement the moment they hand you the license. Before you sign anything else. Before you leave the window. The jurisdiction arrangement and the license have to be same-day or the Foundation has a gap to work with."

Kai looked at her back.

"You looked it up," he said.

She said nothing.

"When," he said.

"Tuesday," she said. To the window.

’Two days ago,’ he thought. ’She looked it up two days ago and didn’t say anything until right now.’

"Thank you," he said.

She made a sound that meant she’d heard him.

He went to Mira’s door. Three knocks.

It opened. She was already there, board in hand.

She held it up.

Come back with the license.

"I will."

She wrote: And the jurisdiction filing.

"And the jurisdiction filing."

She wrote one more thing and held it up. Slowly.

Both of us in the room with you. You just don’t know it.

He read it.

He looked at her face , the pale eyes looking just past his shoulder, the marker in her hand, the particular stillness of someone who had written something real and was waiting to see what it costs.

"I know," he said.

Something shifted in her expression. Just slightly. Not a smile. Something smaller than that. Something that had been closed that opened by a fraction.

She lowered the board.

She closed the door.

He stood in the hallway for exactly one second.

Then he left.

—--

Han Dori’s office looked the same.

License on the wall. Two assessment certificates marked PASSED, one marked FAILED. The window onto the street. The particular smell of old paper and industrial cleaner that every administrative building in this district shared.

Han Dori was already behind the desk with a folder open when Kai walked in.

"Sit," he said.

Kai sat.

Han Dori slid a document across the desk. Kai read it. Assessment summary. Three runs. All criteria passed. Han Dori’s recommendation: combat performance pathway applicant operating at hero-level output without registered Gift classification. Recommend provisional B-rank review pending full licensing board assessment.

Kai looked up.

"B-rank provisional review," he said.

"That’s my recommendation," Han Dori said. "What the board does with it is their business. You’ll start at C-rank provisional regardless. The B-rank language goes in the file."

"Understood."

Han Dori looked at him steadily.

"The backdating request," he said.

"I know."

"Civil Welfare Act section 4, subsection 12. Administrative processing delay, not applicant-caused. The intent form is timestamped. The window is clear."

"I know."

"You request it before anything else. Before—"

"Before I sign. Before I shake anyone’s hand." Kai looked at him. "I know. Three people have told me."

Han Dori’s mouth moved.

"Three," he repeated.

"Yes."

Han Dori picked up the assessment folder.

"Good," he said. "Let’s go."

====

The licensing board administrative office was on the third floor of the district Hero Authority building , a different building from the academy, less glass, more filing cabinets, the specific atmosphere of a place where important things happened slowly.

The clerk at the window was a woman in her forties who had the expression of someone who processed forty applications a day and found all of them equally unremarkable.

Han Dori passed the assessment folder through the window.

She opened it. Read the first page. Turned to the second. Stopped.

She looked up.

"Unclassified applicant," she said.

"Combat performance pathway," Han Dori said. "Three C-rank dungeon runs. Full assessment documentation. The pre-application intent form is on file — stamp date is in there."

She looked at the timestamp.

She looked at Kai.

She looked back at the folder.

"Processing time is six to eight weeks for—"

"The backdating request," Kai said.

She looked at him.

"Civil Welfare Act section 4, subsection 12," Kai said. "Administrative processing delay. The intent form is timestamped. The delay between intent filing and assessment completion was caused by standard processing windows, not by the applicant. The protective jurisdiction arrangement is under review. The hearing date is in seven days."

The clerk looked at the folder again.

She looked at Han Dori.

Han Dori said nothing.

She looked at Kai.

"I’ll need to pull the intent form file," she said.

"I’ll wait," Kai said.

She turned from the window.

Han Dori leaned against the wall beside Kai and said nothing. Kai stood at the window and said nothing. The administrative office processed its forty applications around them.

Eleven minutes.

The clerk came back with a second folder.

She opened both folders on the desk in front of her and read for a while.

Then she picked up a form.

"Fill this out," she said. "Section three is the backdating request. You cite the act and subsection. You provide the intent form stamp date as the proposed effective date." She slid it through the window. "It goes to the board for signature. Today, since the hearing date is flagged."