“Um… Honestly, I didn’t know that Midori’s worries were like that.”
“Me too.”
“…A woman.”
I felt a bit puzzled and embarrassed, but it wasn’t too strange to think about.
Well, I was a man, after all, doing this with another man.
“Well, isn’t it allowed? It’s not like there aren’t people like that.”
It was a bit… just a touch of concern woven into the words.
I honestly couldn’t say I was 100% a woman.
“That’s true. It’s not like we’re in the medieval era or something. Nowadays, it’s kind of… trending? No, that’s a bit vague… Ah, but it’s becoming more common, right?”
“Yes.”
“So I don’t think too much of it. As long as we both match heart to heart.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yep.”
That settled it.
I had a slight emotional burden, but hearing those words eased it a bit.
After all, my body is a woman…?
Doesn’t matter much, right?
Yeah, it probably doesn’t.
“But, don’t you think the two of them will talk for a while?”
“…That’s definitely the case…”
It felt that way.
Of course, it made sense for Midori to rant about her worries, but Dolores… was a bit different from usual.
She was incredibly engrossed, giving advice filled with romantic fantasies.
Honestly, it was a bit surprising to see Dolores speak so passionately since she was usually calm and quiet.
It was fascinating to see someone normally so composed suddenly so animated.
“…I don’t think five minutes will cut it.”
“Right?”
“Yes. At least ten minutes should settle them down.”
The Commander and I left my personal room and headed towards the indoor garden.
I had come out under the pretense of getting some fresh air, but outside the ship, a sandstorm was blowing.
It was nice and breezy inside, artificial as it was, yet peaceful. There was basically only one place like that.
“Well, they’ll talk it out fine. Besides, it would be awkward for us to sit there and give more advice.”
Indeed… We both had little experience talking about such matters, and the fact that our current relationship developed a bit suddenly added to the awkwardness.
Clearly, there were only hazy words we could share with Midori.
Thinking it through, wasn’t it better to step out like this?
Honestly… I felt a bit sorry for Midori, but more than continuing to talk about her worries, I wanted to be alone with the Commander as planned.
“…I should’ve brought some chicken.”
“Now that you mention it, I didn’t eat much…”
We ordered four chickens, but while talking, we didn’t even finish two.
I wasn’t really hungry, but… a bit disappointed.
“Um… Should we go to the convenience store?”
“Do you even have anything to buy there?”
“Just some drinks or something… Can’t be too hot anymore, right?”
“…Then let’s go.”
I almost got caught.
As the Commander said, it wasn’t hot anymore.
After coming outside my room, it hadn’t been that bad…?
Honestly, all I needed to do was turn on the air conditioning in my room.
The warmth wasn’t so much about the temperature; it was just that while we talked, it felt warmer…?
Anyway, we set out to walk to the convenience store together.
Since Dolores and Midori… were probably still busy chatting in my room, we’d be fine lingering a bit longer.
If it weren’t, they’d contact me, right?
“Ramen?”
“Suddenly?”
“It just popped into my mind, and now I want some.”
“…I guess that’s okay. Are you feeling hungry?”
“Yep.”
“Well then, there’s an outside table, so let’s eat there.”
The Commander suddenly wanted ramen, so there was no helping it.
We had ramen in my room, but I didn’t really care.
“What do you think will happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“About Midori. I mean, what do you think will develop with that… Nana woman?”
“Ah…”
It wasn’t that Midori lacked charm.
But still, the fact that they were the same gender was a bigger deal.
Having a charming same-gender friend and a charming opposite-gender friend are definitely different.
“Hmm… I guess it’ll work out somehow.”
“Aren’t you being a bit vague?”
“That may be true, but honestly, isn’t it strange for me to be overly concerned?”
“?”
“After all, I have a girlfriend, so being overly curious about a guy’s love life feels odd…”
Ah.
So that’s what you meant.
Did I have such a clueless expression?
The Commander replied as soon as he saw my face.
That’s true… it makes sense.
It’s not like we were incredibly close; we were just colleagues, so it’d be strange for the Commander to be too concerned about Midori.
“……….”
“Hey, why are you looking at me like that…? It’s not like I did anything.”
“I just feel a bit off thinking about it.”
I unintentionally scrunched up my face.
Of course, it wasn’t that the Commander had done anything wrong; it just felt like something was off.
Imagining the Commander being interested in another girl really upset me.
I knew he wasn’t that kind of person, though.
“Really?”
“…Why do you have that expression? Your lips are slightly curved up.”
Hearing my answer, the Commander seemed mildly irritated.
“No way.”
“Yes, there is.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“Hmm. Should I put the water for the ramen on now?”
“………”
You really know how to change the subject.
But I couldn’t avoid it if we were going to eat ramen.
We had already tossed the chopsticks on the table outside, and had opened the ramen seasoning packets.
According to the Commander… it was indeed necessary, and his evasion of my previous question bothered me a little.
“Hmph.”
“It was nothing big, so you don’t have to pout…”
“I’m not pouting.”
“You look like you are. You even puffed up your cheeks.”
“………”
Oh well.
What can you do?
“I actually like that you’re getting jealous, so…”
“……….”
“Puffed up like a balloon.”
“That’s not true.”
Really.
*
After finishing the ramen with the Commander, we also polished off some convenience store sausages.
Of course, I was too full to eat sausages, but the Commander seemed hungrier and ate more than I expected.
I guess we didn’t quite get enough with the chicken.
“We’re back…”
“……….”
The Commander and I returned once again to my personal room.
Since it was my room, it made sense to come back here.
However, as soon as we opened the door and stepped in, we froze.
Because…
“Whaaaaa-!”
“Dolores… Are you okay…? Someday… someday it’ll happen… Right…? You’re really super nice, Dolores!”
“Being nice doesn’t attract anyone… Ugh….”
“………..”
“………..”
On the floor were eight beer cans.
And two bottles of soju.
While chicken or alcohol wasn’t flowing wildly everywhere, there was a lot of alcohol.
And the two were… hugging each other and crying.
“…What on earth…”
Really… what is this?
My brain momentarily short-circuited, causing me to mutter to myself.
“Whaaaaa…”
“Don’t cry…”
“But being 25 and never dating is just so sad…”
“And I’ve never dated for my first love being Nana!!! I’ve never had a relationship… A… A…. A………”
“…Hah.”
This is bad.
Really.
First things first… I gathered my wits, took off my shoes, and stepped further into the room.
I thought it would be best to deal with the two crying people before dealing with the cans and bottles.
How did they drink all that beer so fast, especially when they’re not even good drinkers…?
It only took about thirty minutes for the Commander and me to head out and come back.
I couldn’t imagine what happened in between, but staying would have definitely been exhausting.
“Are you alright?”
“Wah… Lindera…”
“Commander, you’re back…”
“Lindera… Listen? Dolores is this pretty, but she’s never dated… It’s so unfair…”
“B-but she has had confessions…”
“But she said she was rejected for being ugly!”
“But what can I do if I’m not her type?!”
“What’s her type then?!”
“Um, uh… that’s…”
“…First, calm down a bit…”
It had been a while since I had dealt with drunk people other than the Commander.
And honestly… it was a real pain.
At least the Commander didn’t get this rowdy when drunk.
He’d rather just quietly sleep…
“First, let’s get you two apart, and head to the room…”
“Whaaa… We want to talk more…”
…Oh no…
I thought as I looked at the Commander.
He had that same annoyed gaze, looking at me.
What needed to be done here was simple.
First, I had to quickly clean up my room.
There was no need to do it meticulously.
Just… tidy it up a bit, and after that, I needed to separate the two sitting on the floor and crying while being drunk.
“…Let’s clean this up quickly. It’s dangerous with cans and bottles lying around.”
“Yeah.”
“And…”
After that, I started picking up the beer cans and trash on the floor.
I put the chicken in the fridge, tossed out the leftover beer on the table, and that’s how it went.
“…Commander.”
“Yeah?”
“Today, I’ve come to realize just how little of a drunkard you actually are.”
“Right? Honestly, I’m okay, right?”
“……….”
But hey, your penchant for booze is a bit…
Just the fact that you’re careless with your words after drinking less than one bottle means… it’s somewhat cute seeing you like this…
“…Uh, yeah. You seem fine.”
“See? I’m at least not rowdy!”
“Yes, indeed. You do sleep quietly.”
Once you get used to it, you can sleep quickly…?
While it’s slightly annoying, at least when you lie down, you fall asleep fast.
In those times when I was vaguely tipsy, I did talk a little… only slightly out of character, though.
“First, let’s move the two of them… to my bed.”
“Huh?”
“…We can’t really do it alone, you know.”
With agents being stronger than us anyway, I thought it best to simply lay them down and let them fall asleep.
Even if we’ve picked up the floor, it still felt a bit wrong to leave them on the floor.
Since the bed isn’t so small that two girls can’t fit, right?
They aren’t chubby, and I believed they’d manage to sleep on their own.
“Oh, and just so you know, I’ll be sleeping in the Commander’s room.”
“…I guess it can’t be helped.”
“Yes, it can’t be avoided, so I think you two will have to share a bed.”
Earlier, I was a bit irked by cleaning up and was unable to smile, but now… it was funny enough.
By the way, I took a shower after finishing up and got a bit sweaty afterwards.
What if sleeping with the Commander ends up smelling…?
For now, I should focus on lifting the two who were still hugging and crying onto the bed before worrying about that.
…Should’ve just stayed back and let them drink moderately.
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