The Power of a Handshake

After narrowing the candidates down to fifteen maids and ten Protection Officers, I held the interviews.

The interviews themselves went off without a hitch, and the post-interview handshake strategy was a smashing success.

"Everyone was so happy to get to shake hands with Taku-chan ♡"

Mom looked pleased that her plan had gone so well. Of course, I was happy they were happy too.

"A handshake? You need a handshake for an interview?"

Akari-san looked baffled as to why we were doing handshakes. Well, of course she would be.

"Taku-chan, give her one too ♡"

I stepped over to Akari-san, took her hand the way I had with Ichijou-san, and looked into her red eyes.

"Akari-san, thank you for everything you do. It makes me a little sad that I'll be discharged soon."

"N-no, that's… It'll be hard for me too, not getting to see you every day, Shouya-san…"

A-ah, huh? Somehow this had turned into a damp, sentimental moment.

"I'm looking forward to going out, just the two of us."

I gave Akari-san's hand a firm tug, drawing her in close, and whispered by her ear.

"Y-yes!!! ♡"

Akari-san nodded, bright red. A smashing success.

"Oh my, oh my? You two are getting along so well ♡ Mom would absolutely give the go-ahead if it were someone like Houzawa-san ♡"

At Mom's slightly forward remark, Akari-san turned even redder. I mean, I felt like I'd be totally fine with Akari-san too, but was it really okay to think about marriage that lightly?

"N-no, Okaa-sama! Ah, no, when I say 'Okaa-sama' I don't mean it like that…"

Akari-san just kept digging her own grave, until she was as red as an apple.

"My, things are lively in here ♡ Shouya-sama ♡"

While I was trying to settle the flustered Akari-san down, Ichijou-san came into the hospital room.

"Shouya-sama, good work on the interviews. And Kaori-sama, thank you, even with how busy you are with the move."

Ichijou-san, Mom, and I traded a quick round of thanks for one another's hard work.

"Shouya-sama, jumping right to it: the maids and Protection Officers you selected yesterday have arrived. Is it all right to show them in?"

"Yes. Please."

When I gave the go-ahead, Ichijou-san called out through the door. This was my first time seeing the maids and Protection Officers since the interviews wrapped. My heart was pounding.

"Excuse us," the five women said in chorus as they filed into the hospital room.

"Now then, everyone, please introduce yourselves again."

When Ichijou-san prompted the introductions, the first to step forward was a woman with sharp eyes and burning-red hair cut into a bob.

"Shouya-sama, I report for duty as your Protection Officer as of today. I am Sakamoto Satsuki. Pleased to be of service."

Sakamoto-san had topped the candidate pool in everything martial-arts related, and she'd caught my eye right away. Yet despite being that capable, she'd kept getting passed over for male Protection Officer postings. The reasons, apparently, were that she was tall and busty, and, the final nail, that her face looked scary.

But I wasn't going to mind a big chest, and as for height, plenty of people were taller than me, like Arisa and Shiori-san. Her face just looked a little crisp; I didn't find it scary at all. So I'd decided to bring the excellent Sakamoto-san on board.

For what it's worth, she'd barely reacted during the handshake. I'd heard Protection Officers were expected to maintain a high level of self-control, so maybe that was why.

"Yes. Pleased to have you, Sakamoto-san."

When I greeted her, Sakamoto-san snapped a crisp bow and stepped back into place.

"Next, if I may, then ♡"

The one who started speaking in a slightly drawn-out drawl was a woman with a green ponytail, wearing a blouse with a sexy, low-cut neckline.

"My name is Kuroda Mei ♡ Starting today, I'll be doing my best as your Protection Officer, Shouya-sama! ♡"

Kuroda-san was Sakamoto-san's same-cohort Protection Officer. Tall and willowy, with a fair amount of bust to her too. On top of that, she carried an indescribable, men-tempting air about her.

She'd worked male Protection Officer postings before, but apparently the mothers of her past charges had gotten anxious about her sexy aura and fired her each time.

Ever since, her goal had been to land a placement with a mother-and-son pair who'd actually accept her vibe. As for our Mom, she'd waved her through with a smile.

When I'd shaken hands with Kuroda-san, she'd thanked me with her cheeks lightly flushed. She'd been wearing the same low-cut top then too, and I'd caught a glimpse of the black bra underneath.

Out of that lace-embroidered bra, her nicely-busty chest had looked about ready to spill, a great feast for the eyes.

"Next, the maids, if you would."

Ichijou-san kept the introductions moving briskly along.

"Y-yes! I'm Usami Yui! I'll serve you with everything I have, Shouya-sama! P-pleased to be of service!"

The one who'd greeted me with that nervous but energetic introduction was a slightly short woman with sunset-orange hair worn in braids. I was on the taller side for a boy, about the average height for a woman, and she was shorter than even that.

She'd been seriously tense during her interview too, but Usami-san's sincere enthusiasm had come through clearly, so I'd decided to hire her.

When I'd shaken her hand, her already-round eyes had gone wider still, her face had turned crimson, and a voiceless little sound had slipped from her throat.

"N-next, Miki-san, if you would!"

When Usami-san stumbled over her words and handed the introduction off, a slender woman with glossy, lacquer-black hair tied back in a ponytail stepped forward. Unlike mine and Kaede's black hair, hers was the genuine article.

"Shouya-sama, I will be serving as your maid as of today. I am Hiyama Miki. Pleased to be of service."

Hiyama-san's greeting was every bit as stiff as Sakamoto-san's. As the introduction made clear, Hiyama-san was serious, sincere, and well-mannered. Those qualities had shown clearly during the interview as well, and she'd left a good impression on everyone on the panel.

She seemed flawless at first glance, but Hiyama-san also had a shy side. At the handshake, her face had gone red so suddenly you could practically hear a pop, and her voice had dropped so small you couldn't make out what she was saying even at point-blank range.

"And last is me～"

The one who stepped forward in that soft, easygoing voice was a woman with pink curls falling loose to her shoulders. But the part that demanded attention was that bountiful, abundantly-ripened chest of hers. Every time she shifted even slightly, they jiggled with a soft, pliant motion that drew the eye in.

"I'm Ushijima Moka～ ♡ Pleased to be of service ♡ Goshujin-sama～ ♡"

Goshujin-sama… Ushijima-san, who'd just used that lovely-sounding form of address for me, had a soft, warming aura that put everyone around her at ease.

Of course, her housework skills were flawless, and on top of that, she'd even earned the most difficult certifications in childcare.

Ushijima-san was far more capable than her vibe let on. But apparently she, too, had been left on the shelf over her too-large chest and her height. It was a story I couldn't make sense of.

Still, from the perspective of an ordinary man frightened by busty women, I was probably the strange one. So maybe we were both as odd as each other.

When I'd shaken Ushijima-san's hand, she hadn't shown much of a reaction, but a soft, mellow atmosphere had settled between us, and it had felt comfortable.

"That concludes everyone's introductions. Ah, before I forget: this."

So saying, Ichijou-san held out a wristwatch-shaped terminal to me.

"What's this?"

"It's a dedicated device issued to every male, one per person. It's paired with your Protection Officers' devices for sharing location data, calling for help in emergencies, and so on. You can also use it as a regular wearable terminal."

When I glanced at Sakamoto-san's and Kuroda-san's wrists, they were wearing the same device.

"Please make sure to wear it whenever you go out."

As she said that, Ichijou-san fastened it onto my left arm for me. Afterward we walked through all the functions together with the Protection Officers.

"Well then, let's wrap up today's meet-and-greet here."

By the time the device explanation was done, it had gotten to be a decent hour, so the Protection Officers and maids headed home. Though the maids weren't exactly going home; apparently they were heading straight off to start on the move-in prep.

"Shouya-sama, there's one more thing I need to inform you of."

Ichijou-san's serious tone had me gulping audibly.

"Shouya-sama, have you installed this app?"

Ichijou-san showed me the screen of her smartphone. On the screen was a social media app run by the IOCM.

I did have this app on my phone, but what was she getting at?

"Yes… I have it installed."

"There's a feature in this app I need to explain to you, Shouya-sama…"

"A feature? Isn't this app just for photos, short videos, and lives?"

"Of course it has those, but the real purpose this app was built for is matching men and women."

Here I'd thought it was just an entertainment social media app, and it had a hidden function like that? I'd never noticed anything of the sort while using it.

"This feature is omitted from male-side accounts because so few men currently use it. However, if a male needs it, his secretary's authorization can unlock it."

So if it wasn't being used, they'd stripped it out to keep the data lighter or something? More to the point, what did she mean by me needing it?

"I need it?"

"Yes. The cases where it's needed fall into roughly two categories. The first is when the marriage deadline is closing in. The second is when one's semen rank is high. In your case, Shouya-sama, it's the latter."

"I see… so basically, I find a nice woman and… well…"

"Your quick understanding is a great help. But whether you actually use this feature is entirely up to you, Shouya-sama, so please don't feel pressured."

After that, Ichijou-san authorized the app and walked me through the feature.

The matching feature was apparently a one-way street from men to women, designed so a man could easily reach out to a woman who caught his interest.

A man could send special DMs and "Likes" to a woman, and on the woman's side they'd be highlighted with priority emphasis. When I tested it by sending a "Like!" to Ichijou-san's account, mine showed up at the very top regardless of timestamp.

The hope of the government and the IOCM was apparently that men would use this feature to land a woman and have children with her. They said even if it wasn't natural conception, simply granting permission to father a child via sperm with a woman you favored was fine, which took a fair bit of weight off my shoulders.

After that, time slipped by while Ichijou-san kept walking me through more explanations.