Chapter 42: Beginning of the conference
"Why are you asking, though? I don't think she is here. Even if she is here, the desks and table will hide her small fig…." Aisen stopped at that and realised the Loli Prodigy, Natsumi was somewhere there. And her small figure was small enough that she was getting covered by the desks and chairs.
Xin smirked and didn't reply. Aisen's mind was in chaos and it was running like horses to get a way out of there, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't think of an escape plan.
Suddenly a sound came from behind, Aisen got startled out of his wits. It was the voice of his Chief and the Loli Prodigy of the JSDF research division.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked in a sweet voice. People of her age shouldn't sound sweet and should have a mix of heavy and shrill voice. But her body growth had stopped for some reason, and so was the case with her voice box.
Aisen froze at his place and didn't dare to utter a single word. Seeing Aisen was in no condition to speak, Xin replied in his stead and said that they were talking about her and her achievements over the years. She was a fairy sent from heaven. She was like a gift for mankind.
Hearing Xin's praise, the small girl started to blush. Aisen was dumbfounded again when he saw his chief reacting to such low-level praise and flirts. For a second he had the thought of using it on the Chief, but he avoided doing it as the consequences may not be as good as Xin.
So instead of praising Natsumi, he went near Xin and started to whisper praise near his ears.
"Brother Xin, you are great. Till today no one was able to tame that Loli Tyrant like this. You are the first one to do that. You have my respect."
Xin "…"
"And please, let me call you my big brother. Even though I am older, you have all the qualifications to be my big brother."
"Okay…." Xin agreed hesitantly and allowed him to call him big bro from thereon.
Meanwhile, Natsumi was looking at them and was trying to hear what they were whispering to each other. But due to her extremely short height, she was unable to do so.
At one point she really got pissed and shouted out at those two, "Mo!! You two, keeping all the talks to yourself. Why don't you share some with me?! Hmph!! I won't talk with you anymore."
Xin "…"
Aisen "…"
Somehow Xin was getting the feeling either the female staff in the underground city were tsunderes or the first magical wave must have affected them somehow.
While he was pondering about it another voice resounded in the room, dragging Xin out of his contemplation again. This time the owner of this sound was Yamamoto, and behind him was the huge crowd of the technical division who wanted to have a look at their first ever MVIP level guest.
"Ahem, Miss Natsumi, if you are done with him, can I take him for an introduction?"
"Sure, sure. You can. I am done for now."
"Thanks."
Yamamoto took Xin to the auditorium of the underground city and arranged a big conference for the purpose of introducing Xin and his achievements to others.
Half an hour later, the auditorium was filled with JSDF research division staff, and the majority of them belonged to the technical division. Some were sitting on the chairs, while the others were standing and had their focus set on the rostrum.
The room was dark, and all the lights were focused on the platform. Some had already gotten the news that their MVIP level guest had arrived, while the others were pondering about the purpose of gathering them there.
Suddenly, the lights focusing on the stage were turned off. The gossip in the auditorium stopped. Everyone was expecting to see the guest now.
Flash!!
All the lights in the room were turned on, and the figure of their guest became visible. Many of them were dazed by the light, and it took them some time to get adopted to the surrounding. When their eyes recovered, and the figure became visible, they became completely shocked. Not a single one was making noise there.
Suddenly, amongst the crowd, one of the members started to clap. Looking at him, another person near him began clapping. Following those two, some others started to clap, and like that the chain of clapping spread throughout the auditorium.
It was a way of the army, to show respect to their guests and seniors. Xin knew very well about it, and he nodded his head in response to their claps and wishes.
After some minutes, when the claps stopped, Yamamoto took the mic and handed it over to JSDF's research head Natsumi. While giving her the mic, Yamamoto showed her a grin, and in return, Natsumi grinned back with an eye blink.
Aisen and Hiroki observed this action of those two and started to doubt the purpose of that conference. All the members invited there had little to no knowledge about the purpose of the conference.
People like Aisen, Hiroki, and Chihiro were of the idea that Natsumi gonna introduce Xin as the MVIP level guest to everyone and thereafter organise a seminar with Xin as the head speaker. While some others were of the idea that their Chief gonna introduce the guests to them, and make a new team that would make contributions in the top-secret, classified works of Project SEDS.
Suspense, anticipation, expectation, and excitement had engulfed the auditorium. Some were even finding it hard to suppress those emotions. Amidst the utter silence, a sound reverberated in the entire hall.
"Ahem, mic testing 1, 2, 3. Mic testing 1, 2, 3."
Everyone was paying close attention to the speaker now. The owner of this sweet voice was none other than their Chief, and the Loli Prodigy of the JSDF research division.