Danuja Takeda, a black-haired beauty who calls herself "Princess"

After leaving Genkei, I moved past the posting board and the phone desk, towards the common area for agents. Calling it a common area was a bit of a stretch... it was more like a small lunch room with some vending machines. Did people really use these? He didn't seem to have enough staff to warrant the cost of vending. This was just another in the increasingly long list of problems with his finances that I considered a mystery worthy of investigation at a later point.

Wordlessly, I opened my empty wallet and watched as a stray sticky note with the ODD agency address written on it flew out and into the room. There was certainly no cash in there, so at least I hadn't lost anything of any importance. Still, I didn't want to litter. I sighed deeply and stepped inside, then crouched to pick up the note. As I did, I noticed something I hadn't from the outside: a stranger was leaning near a water cooler that had been hidden by the wall.

Water! That's free, right?! I can get that without any money!

Oh, but more importantly, the stranger. As I lifted my head, I noticed her features in this order: first, a set of strange, black combat boots, out of place in any setting outside the military. Next, bare legs, all the way up to a short, black skirt in the style of a sailor's uniform. There was nothing underaged about those legs, though... the stranger had the toned, athletic legs of a martial artist. Shapely too! I was instantly pretty jealous. Looking at that skirt and remembering where we were, I had to imagine what extra was lurking under there... I gulped, thinking about how beautiful her legs were and what the rest of her might look like.

"It is not your place to stare."

Yikes! The stranger had a voice like ice that chilled and captivated me; her cadence was like royalty in an old Japanese film. I quickly took in the rest of her: attractive, well-sized, but perky breasts inside a white sailor uniform top, along with black, fingerless gloves and a black sailor's tie. Her hair was long and just as jet black as those accessories... it was so shiny and perfect, I found myself even more jealous than when I'd seen her legs! She was a real Japanese beauty. Her face was a sight as well; with just a bit of make-up and long lashes, she looked just like a princess. The sharp jut of her chin and that long neck-line... Wow! She was like some mixture of royalty and a martial artist, like something out of a combat anime!

The only off-putting part was her expression. She was looking at me like I was a piece of dog-poop stuck to her shoe. I apologized for staring.

"Hmph." The girl flipped her hair elegantly over one shoulder, then frowned, still fixing me with those cold eyes. I... I couldn't raise my head any further. I was stuck mid-bow! Something about the woman's presence just demanded that I continue bowing. "Perhaps you know your place after all," she chuckled, placing one hand onto her hip and cocking said hip while she smiled at me. Powerless, I stared at the small swishes of her overly short skirt-line. "Are you looking for something?"

I wanted to ask what she was doing in here, just leaning against the wall next to the water-cooler... It seemed like she was just slacking off. Still, I held that thought and finally managed to straighten up, adjusting my tie as I did so. I introduced myself: Katsumi Hojo.

"You may address me as Princess."

I smiled awkwardly and gripped my tie harder, as if **** myself would make someone normal appear in this strange detective agency. I asked her: wasn't there another name I could call her?

"... Danuja Takeda is my name, but you shall not speak it. Address me only as Princess."

Why?! Was every senior agent in the place like this? Did I just draw the short straw on this one? I felt a bad habit of mine returning... it was the tendency to bristle indignantly in the face of injustice, and it seemed like it would serve me very poorly in a place like this. Still, I put two fingers to my round-framed glasses to push them back up the bridge of my nose, then cleared my throat. I explained that I was just starting out here and looking for someone to show me how things worked. I apologized if I offended her in some way.

A small, but persistently frigid, smile rose to the woman's face as her dark brown eyes regarded me. "So you sought me out first? I cannot blame you; that decision shows sound judgment. If anyone is suited to show you the ins and outs of this organization, it's me. Who better to learn from than the Princess?" She laughed into the back of one hand and narrowed her eyes.

I didn't have the courage to tell her that I hadn't been looking for her specifically, or worse, that I hadn't even noticed her here until I dropped my note. Eager to get my feet wet and serve the calling of the public good, I asked her: did she have any tasks arranged that I could tag along for? I wanted to start doing agent work and escape this terrible office as soon as possible!

"Tasks? You mean charity. All that the Princess performs is a charity," she scoffed, putting on a haughtier version of her earlier smile. Yikes. This personality of hers was going to get grating. Privately, I wondered how much work I'd have to put in to put my place above hers... She only got away with talking like this because she was the top-earner, right? As if sensing my thoughts, she snapped her fingers; I bowed again reflexively. "Listen. There is indeed a task that may be a fitting initiation to the world of ODD, of which you are now a small component. Follow me into battle..."

B-Battle?