There’s one thing I’m sure of: it’s been quite a while since I got pregnant.
It’s been about six months, so it feels like there’s almost half left to go.
Now I’ve prepared clothes for the baby and gathered more supplies for them.
Of course, most of it wasn’t from me but from the Boss!
“Uh… why are you here this time? It’s not even time for me to give birth yet.”
And suddenly, the Boss just showed up on our ship.
Like, seriously suddenly.
“I just came.”
“…Um.”
Well, that timing felt a bit strange.
I was minding my own business, and suddenly the Boss barged in.
All alone, too.
We were all surprised by the unexpected visit and had no choice but to temporarily stop working.
I mean, why was this happening while we were doing just fine?
No matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing except the baby.
“Um… Boss.”
“What?”
“Even if you come like this, I’m not going home right now…”
“………”
As soon as the Boss heard that, their expression darkened.
Anyone could tell… it was about home.
“I’ll go home after the baby is born…”
“Why aren’t you going home? I bought you a nice house, and you’re saying you’ll only move in five months later?”
“…If I live inside the zone, it’s hard for me to come to the ship alone.”
“Can’t you just come in the evening?”
“…It can’t be helped.”
It was better to feel uncomfortable than to be apart from the Commander.
“But Boss, is it really okay to just drop by like this? You came last month, and now…”
“It should be fine.”
“…Huh?”
Uh-oh.
I felt like things were a bit off in various ways.
It was hard to believe that the Boss of a major company came here instead of working.
And it was a really successful and important company, too.
Sure, the baby between the Commander and me was important, but the Boss just ditching business to come here…?
Is this really what’s happening?
I’m not sure.
Truly.
“Sis? Is this really okay?”
“…I have no idea.”
“……..”
Even my sister from headquarters didn’t know.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Should I seriously contact headquarters?
What am I supposed to do in this situation?
…I honestly don’t know.
“…Sis.”
“…I don’t know either.”
“…Why not?”
“…I didn’t expect headquarters to be left unattended like this and for them to just come here. It can’t be helped…”
In the reception room, without the Commander, there were just me, my sister, and the Boss.
It seemed the Commander had to work.
So we three were having this little private gathering.
“Sigh… So, how’s the baby in your belly doing?”
“Yeah. I go to the Treatment Room about twice a week…? And they say it’s fine every time I go.”
“That’s a relief. From now on, make it three times.”
“That seems a bit annoying…”
Anyway, we were sitting together having tea.
Somehow, the Boss stopped by, and now we had been talking for over 30 minutes.
“…Lindera.”
“Yes?”
“After you give birth, um… you should go on a trip a few months later with that guy.”
“…Huh?”
Suddenly?
I didn’t quite understand what the Boss was saying.
A trip?
Why would I want to go after giving birth?
Not right after…?
“You need to spend some time getting close to the baby. It’s not like you go on a trip right away.”
“Can’t we just skip it…?”
“Well, marriage can wait, but when will you go on a honeymoon?”
“…Whenever I can…”
“The kid will be growing up!”
“Hmm…”
Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about trips or anything like that.
Getting married to the Commander? I was just letting it slide without worrying too much.
I never expected the Boss to bring up something like that.
But honestly, it’s a pretty important topic.
After all… the baby at the moment is the priority.
Besides, even if it’s not marriage, we’re already bound together.
What if the Commander just runs away now?
I wouldn’t care.
I’d just hint to the Boss, and they’d mobilize all the agents to hunt down that runaway Commander!
Somehow, by any means necessary.
“…Something about your eyes seems scary.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, uh… nothing…”
I don’t know why, but it felt like everyone was looking at me.
What’s this about?
“Anyway… after giving birth, just go on a trip.”
“What about the baby…?”
“I’ll take care of them.”
“……..”
“…Are you worried right now?”
“Ah, no… not at all.”
Definitely not worried.
Absolutely not.
I wasn’t at all thinking about what I’d do if the baby came back wearing sunglasses and holding a gun.
Probably not.
*
“There was some talk about that.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Although nothing’s been finalized yet… there were discussions.”
I informed the Commander about the potential trip.
Well, nothing’s set in stone anyway.
“…That sounds nice!”
“Right?”
We’d been wanting to take a long vacation for ages.
Honestly, I liked the idea.
I mean, I’ve already been on a vacation for over seven months, but still…
It’s definitely different from spending a couple of nights in a hotel.
Although I hadn’t been able to take a proper break.
“…It’s probably going to be a long time before we go, but still, it’s nice.”
“Right?”
“Who would’ve thought about planning a honeymoon without being married?”
“Well… isn’t that possible?”
Truly.
I honestly just thought it could happen.
I hadn’t really given much thought to marriage or honeymoons.
The travel plans that the Boss mentioned just struck me as something plausible.
I didn’t think too much about it.
“…I want to see the ocean.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Or a really vast prairie?”
“That could be good too.”
Honestly, anything but this damn orange dirt would be nice.
The grass was sparse, and the air was constantly filled with sand when you went outside, which was seriously annoying.
Of course, it’s not an issue inside the zone.
But looking out the window… it was honestly quite dull in many ways.
Unless the ship was floating in the sky, it was always the same situation.
“What do you think, Commander?”
“About what?”
“Going on a trip with me. After giving birth, just the two of us going together.”
“Of course, that sounds great.”
“……..”
That was an immediate answer.
Of course, the Commander sometimes gave me quick responses like this.
Though it happened more often that he wouldn’t, when it came to questions like this, he always answered well.
So I wasn’t surprised.
Just felt kind of… weird.
I knew the Commander had been answering well despite usually avoiding response.
“Then when we next talk to the Boss, let’s have a more serious conversation. If we’re finally getting a break, we should go somewhere really good, right?”
“Absolutely. It’d be such a waste to go to a bad place, wouldn’t it? It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
“That’s true.”
Definitely.
As the Commander said, it was so.
“I want to see the snow too.”
“Me too.”
“Honestly, just having grass would be enough.”
“True… Given how every season feels like the same weather.”
We both couldn’t help but continue chatting about the Boss’s travel project.
Honestly, it was fun, and even though it was just an idea, it was exciting.
I wondered what would actually happen if we went on a real trip…
“Commander, why don’t you lie down a bit? Aren’t you tired?”
“What…?”
“You’ve had a lot more work lately, and you have fewer days off than before, right?”
“…Well, back then I didn’t take enough breaks.”
“Still.”
I was well aware that the Commander was feeling tired lately.
That was obvious since normally when he entered my private room, he would usually engage in skinship, while recently he hadn’t been as much.
So, I just told the Commander to come up on the bed.
Just to relax together.
After all, it was still far from the weekend, and he had to go to work tomorrow.
“I just told you to relax comfortably.”
“Yeah…”
The Commander wasn’t working on anything super important in my private space.
So it shouldn’t be a problem for him to just hang out here normally.
“Honestly, there’s not much to do anyway. Aren’t you technically off now?”
“That’s true…”
“So, at least when we’re alone like this, you don’t have to worry.”
I just said that.
After all, the only thing I could currently do for the Commander was taking care of him like this, right?
I definitely couldn’t do much else since I wasn’t working anymore and hadn’t spent long in the Office either.
This was about all I could do for him.
In fact, it felt like the Commander was doing even more for me.
“Alright, lie down here and relax.”
“…Lindera, you’re like a mother right now.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yeah.”
“…That sounds like a weird compliment.”
You don’t usually call your partner ‘mother,’ right…?
Anyway, the Commander climbed onto my bed, and I casually rested his head on my arm.
Maybe because he was tired, he didn’t resist.
And we just stayed like that.
Quietly, still.
“Lindera.”
“Yes, what is it? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping since you’re tired?”
“Um… I just wanted to ask something.”
The Commander was still lying down while I just sat beside him quietly when he brought this up.
What was he trying to ask?
“Um… Just in case. We still don’t have a name, do we?”
“Oh.”
I totally forgot about that.
I had been overlooking it.
…Of course, we had a lot of time left, and it wasn’t something we had to decide right this second.
But since it’s just like a nickname, there should be no issue in naming it, so why did I forget…
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