“Lindera, ah… no, wait. Midori?”
“Yeah?”
“Come over here for a sec. I need some help.”
“What is it?”
Suddenly, the Commander calls for Midori instead of me.
I’m definitely better at this than Midori; why is he calling her instead of me?
“……”
Well, it must be something easy if he’s asking Midori.
I felt a bit awkward he wasn’t asking me, but it was fine since I had my own tasks to handle.
Midori might have her own tasks too, but I didn’t need to step in.
“Uh… I don’t really know either?”
“…….”
“Originally, I’m not even the one doing this job! How would I know!?”
“Is that so?”
“Exactly!”
As I was silently observing, all of a sudden, there was a loud noise from the Commander’s desk.
I wasn’t sure what it was, but the Commander seemed to be asking Midori something, and she didn’t know how to respond.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, Lindera!”
I didn’t really understand the situation but figured I should get up since their work wasn’t proceeding at all.
If they didn’t wrap things up quickly, it would only become my hassle.
Of course, I had no choice but to help them out.
Well, I was planning to help anyway.
“The Commander needs something written about… the Headquarters, but I’m not really sure how to do it.”
“Ha… why are you asking Midori? She’s not experienced with this kind of stuff.”
“…Sorry about that.”
The Commander hung his head slightly as he spoke.
Honestly, I found it baffling.
Why was he asking Midori when I was right there?
“Why are you asking Midori to do the monthly report for Headquarters?”
“…Can’t we let it slide just this once? Just one time, please?”
“…Alright. For this time, I’ll help, and Midori can just stick to her original tasks.”
“Got it!”
Midori went back to her place, looking cheerful that she wouldn’t have to deal with the Commander’s annoying work and even hummed a little song.
She probably didn’t really know what was going on.
That must be the case.
“Ha… the monthly report shouldn’t be that hard. You just need to write down the expenses from this month. For now…”
I took the Commander’s mouse and started fiddling with the document.
I also opened other files from the folder since I needed to prepare multiple things.
“Ha…”
“Don’t sigh so much. Didn’t I handle this last month?”
“I get it…”
It was my first time doing this task, so it would take some adjusting.
Besides, the Commander would need to do it again in the future, so I definitely needed to teach him properly now.
Though, if he didn’t understand, I’d just have to explain it to him again next time.
For now, the Commander was staring at the monitor, and I was handling his computer.
It wasn’t too hard since I had already organized the daily report.
“Just look at the last part of the report here, and you need to enter it into the monthly report. There’s also a section at the bottom for categorizing the expenses…”
“…Got it. So now can you go back to your seat?”
“Excuse me?”
He suddenly said he was fine while I was explaining everything.
What the heck was he trying to say?
Well, I guessed he’d manage on his own.
I felt a bit miffed since I was just trying to help, but… fine, he can figure it out.
*
“Lindera?”
“Yes?”
“Uh… are you feeling okay…?”
“Nope.”
After finishing the morning tasks, I was just sitting in the cafeteria when the Commander asked me that.
I was looking forward to something different today instead of steak.
Soan might have had a bit of a yandere vibe, but her cooking was definitely top-notch.
She was likely the best among the culinary staff working on the ship.
Of course, there could be variations in certain areas, but overall Soan was the best, so I had high expectations.
“…You seem really sulky.”
“……..”
“Why is everyone acting weird all of a sudden? Did I do something wrong?”
“N-no! Lindera did nothing wrong! Right, Commander?”
“That’s correct…”
Both the Commander and Midori were staring at me.
I was just messing with my tablet; why were they looking at me?
I was busy reading the afternoon schedule and sending messages to the agents participating in today’s training.
Training was important since the troops needed to stay prepared for combat.
“Uh… sorry about earlier…”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you get interrupted while explaining things? I’m sorry about that.”
The Commander lowered his head slightly to apologize.
I was curious why he was suddenly apologizing to me, but I figured it was about his interruption.
“…You really didn’t have to apologize.”
“No, I definitely did something wrong. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I don’t know why you did it, but I assume you had your reasons.”
I responded to the Commander.
Well, he was capable enough to handle things on his own.
There must have been a reason he cut me off while I was helping.
Given I was helping him, there wasn’t much of a reason to bluntly tell me to back off.
Of course, he didn’t exactly say that.
“That’s not the case…”
“Then what is!?”
“…There were reasons. I had meant to keep on listening, but it just happened that way.”
Just happened that way.
That sounded like the typical cowardly excuse of a perpetrator.
“You were there beside me… and… sometimes it was a bit too close.”
“Huh?”
*
“Honestly, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t say anything while beside you…”
“…I didn’t even notice. I’m sorry.”
I had to apologize.
After all, I really was to blame because of what he said.
I hadn’t noticed my chest had touched the Commander’s at all.
Of course, considering I wore several layers—the underwear, a tank top, a dress shirt, and a suit jacket—it’s no wonder I didn’t feel anything.
“…….”
“…….”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ah, no, I should have mentioned it sooner. The timing of me bringing it up just makes this awkward…”
Thanks a lot for that extreme awkwardness.
But at least it was time for the afternoon tasks, so it wasn’t a huge issue.
To be honest, having a guy’s chest near mine wasn’t exactly a big deal.
Just… whatever, I figured.
I mean, it wasn’t like our bare skin touched; it was just over our clothes.
“Let’s focus on work. The monthly report… needs to be finished by the end of the week.”
“…Got it.”
With that, we resumed our work.
By the way, what in the world would it feel like to have someone’s chest brush against you?
Back when I was still a guy, I never had the chance to experience that with a woman, so I really had no way of knowing.
Hmm.
Well, if it was a really big chest, it was probably nice for a guy, right?
“Ah, Commander, I heard the 1st Squad members have just entered the training area.”
“Send the results after the training is over.”
“Yes.”
With that, I returned to concentrating on work.
But I had a revelation.
The Commander wasn’t a bad guy.
Of course, he wasn’t a bad guy; it was just common sense.
But I felt relief realizing the ship’s Commander wasn’t a bad guy.
If he had been, then when my chest touched him, he would have probably enjoyed it and kept going without saying a word.
Thinking about it, I was pretty glad about that.
*
“Hmm…”
“Why the sigh this time?”
“Ah, Commander.”
After finishing my work, I was sitting on the sofa, enjoying some coffee.
I had just wrapped everything up.
As I sat there quietly, the Commander suddenly asked me,
“I was just looking your way.”
“…What is it now?”
The Commander seemed a bit uncomfortable.
I wondered why that was.
If someone was watching, it might seem like I had some weird reason for looking at the Commander.
“Nothing at all.”
“Please don’t say that with a smile. It just makes it more unsettling.”
“Huh? Unsettling? What do you mean?”
I couldn’t help but feel wronged.
Where’s the unsettling part in this?
Sure, my appearance might seem a bit cool, but that doesn’t make me scary or anything.
I’m not like the agents who have super strength or special abilities.
“Every time you open your mouth, it’s something odd. Like that underwear talk yesterday; you really startled me.”
“That’s because you were the one who asked!”
“Ha…”
He must be referring to what happened in the car yesterday.
But I really didn’t do anything wrong.
He had asked the question, and I only gave the answer.
“Why don’t you have some caution…?”
“Do I need to be careful? You’re not the dangerous type, Commander.”
“…….”
The Commander fell silent.
Yeah, I wasn’t saying anything wrong.
So far, living as Lindera, I had figured out that the Commander wasn’t a bad guy at all, and he wasn’t dangerous either.
After all, he was just a regular human.
“Ha…”
“Why’s Midori sighing now?”
Midori came over to grab some coffee and sighed while looking at me.
What are they both doing?
I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Today wasn’t particularly busy… or anything.
“Seriously, you’re too reckless! Thankfully, the Commander doesn’t seem to think that way, but it’s too much!”
“Huh?”
“Today, you were chatting and your chest touched, huh? Just like last time!”
Out of nowhere, Midori started lecturing me.
She went on about how I seemed too reckless when speaking to the Commander, as if I was trying to lead him on or had some interest in him, and how men inevitably fall for pretty girls with good figures.
Listening to Midori’s sermon and the Commander’s sighs, I thought…
“It’s really not that serious…”
Honestly, it wasn’t anything major; I was just talking normally.
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