“…Today was harder than when I was exercising.”
“Then why did you get back to me so late? You could have done it earlier.”
“…I really forgot, okay?”
Finally, I was really, truly having a conversation with the Commander who was properly seated.
I had been sitting like that for over 10 minutes, so it’s understandable that I could feel unwell.
Yeah.
Of course, it seemed like the Commander was the reason things were a bit strained.
“Son?”
“…I’ll make sure to contact you properly from now on.”
“Yeah, you should. I’ve never raised a fool who forgets such important things, have I?”
“Uh… okay…”
Well… It seemed like he was indeed close with my mother.
Maybe it was because they both had easygoing personalities that made it easy to bond.
In any case, I was comfortably sitting at the table with my mother, chatting away.
Since it was a weekday tomorrow, I couldn’t talk for too long, but it was still fine.
Just like how the Commander had spent time chatting with the boss, it made sense that I was bonding with my mom too.
“By the way, is Lindera working these days?”
“Absolutely not. She’s resting and someone else is doing her job for her.”
“Thank goodness! I thought this guy would just sit around and not think at all, so I’m really relieved.”
“Right? Working while pregnant is way too tough… Honestly, I didn’t think it would come to this at first, but I’m so exhausted…”
“That’s inevitable. Your body has to prepare for the baby…”
I guess it was because she was my mother.
There was some shared understanding regarding pregnancy.
After all, I had the result of that right next to me, didn’t I?
“How are you managing your body?”
“These days, I’m just trying to move as little as possible. My body feels too tired…”
“Yeah… I can definitely see how pregnancy makes your body feel bad. It’s better to avoid moving too much.”
As we chatted about such things, we slowly gossiped away.
Fortunately, my mom had already eaten dinner, so there was no need to worry about cooking or anything like that.
“I’m going to be staying in Zone 07 for a while, so if you need anything… be sure to contact me.”
“Thank you…”
My mom often said such caring words to me.
Honestly…
It felt a bit more motherly than the boss…?
The boss had that whole ‘girl crush’ vibe going on…
That kind of strong impression.
Running around in pants with a gun, wearing sunglasses all the time… it just gave off that vibe.
Of course, she wasn’t walking around with a gun every day.
It was more of a strong mom style rather than a caring one?
“You’re definitely different from the boss.”
“That’s true. At least she doesn’t threaten with a gun.”
Huh.
“Did the boss really do that?”
“Uhh…”
“Commander?”
…It felt like there was some secret I didn’t know about.
I had never heard any rumor about the boss threatening the Commander.
Excluding what the Commander just slipped out unintentionally… I had genuinely never heard anything like that before.
“…Did the boss really do that?”
“Ah… haha…”
“No, seriously, answer me.”
“W-was that so? I can’t really remember…”
Hmm.
This was… a bit irritating.
I didn’t know what had happened exactly, but this felt… quite wrong.
*
What was certain was that something had occurred between the Commander and the boss while I wasn’t looking.
Of course, I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was clear that there was something going on.
Surely, they wouldn’t have genuinely threatened each other with a gun.
But it was clear that there had been some… tension between the boss and the Commander.
It might have been a bit of nagging, but still…
I was the only one who was supposed to nag the Commander.
“Why are you still here, Lindera? There’s nothing to do…”
“I’m here because there’s nothing to do. Besides, there’s no problem just sitting on the sofa, right?”
So, I went to the office.
Usually, I would have been relaxing comfortably at the cafe or the indoor garden, but today I purposely went to the office.
“Uh… I don’t mind, but aren’t you bored?”
“I’m bored anyway.”
“That’s true, but…”
There didn’t seem to be any need to be somewhere else, and being here wasn’t bad either.
Honestly, it was better than being alone… yeah.
And plus, the Commander was here too.
It couldn’t be anything but good.
“Ugh…”
“Sigh…”
As I sat quietly on the sofa, I realized the office had become quieter than when I was around.
Of course, it was an environment that could lead to that, but it was just too quiet.
Considering they were working, everyone had to keep things down.
But it felt like the atmosphere was just… different.
“Hmm…”
Something felt… off.
I usually did a lot of work, but despite the burden, I enjoyed the chatter.
That feeling just wasn’t there at all.
“Commander.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you busy?”
“Well… maybe?”
“Hmm…”
Considering how he kept fiddling with the keyboard and mouse, it didn’t seem like he was busy.
So, it felt awkward to strike up a conversation with him.
The whole situation felt a bit disappointing.
Was it really a mistake to have the boss tell me to work here in the office?
Of course, it was awkward to work elsewhere too, but…
I didn’t think the atmosphere would be this down.
I felt a little bad about that.
“Dolores.”
“Yes?”
“Is there a lot of work?”
“Huh? Uh…”
“Just be honest.”
I said that on purpose, thinking he might hesitate.
After all, I didn’t really have anything to do.
“Well… yes…?”
“If you’re busy, I can help out a bit.”
“Huh? But you’re pregnant, that’s a bit…”
“It’s not hard. I literally have nothing to do and was just bored.”
“Well, that’s…”
Being really bored played a big part too.
Having nothing to do and just lazing around was tedious.
Plus, it felt like my colleagues were struggling.
So, I decided to try working after a long time.
I took my laptop and started working right there on the sofa.
“Hey, Lindera?”
“What is it?”
As I was working, the boss spoke up first.
Was she worried?
“Umm… why don’t you do that later? You’re not feeling well, right?”
“Well… that’s true, but I have nothing to do and I’m bored.”
“But still…”
Sure, our office staff usually worked a bit casually, but…
It felt like the amount of work had gotten surprisingly high.
After all, when I chose Dolores and Midori, I didn’t plan on making them work too hard.
I only picked them because they were good with computers and had decent personalities.
I never intended to assign important jobs like this to them.
“This work… it’s all your responsibility, isn’t it, boss?”
“Well…”
“It’s true that the workload is piling up, but this is just unfair.”
“……..”
Upon hearing my words, the boss started to get a little fidgety.
Honestly, it was evident she was trying to avoid working by assigning it to others.
But I kinda understood that.
During our conversations, she often mentioned how hard and annoying work was.
Yet, when I told her to handle the headquarters’ responsibilities, she absolutely refused.
Maybe… Even if she was working for the headquarters, she had so much piled up that she started distributing the work to the others.
That was obvious.
I didn’t know every detail about the headquarters’ tasks, but I could tell from the documents.
“This is clearly your work, isn’t it, boss?”
“I mean, it is…”
“I get that you’re overwhelmed, but please don’t assign more work to the colleagues. They’ve hardly adjusted to the recently rebundled tasks.”
“Well, they are my company’s employees…”
There was nothing wrong with what the boss said.
They were indeed all her employees.
I knew it wasn’t entirely wrong to delegate work like this, but I felt sorry.
After all, I was the one who made her come to the office, and for various reasons, I felt bad…
It was the boss’s choice to start handling the headquarters’ work, but I figured I would’ve done the same in her shoes.
But they were my colleagues.
Even if they were on vacation now, they were all still my coworkers.
“How about I make a request as your daughter?”
So I decided to use… a cheat code here.
I didn’t do it often, but those words worked well on the boss.
I figured that out through occasional conversations we had.
The boss really loved it when I referred to her as my mom, so…
Words like that thrilled her.
“Will it be okay? Boss?”
“…Hmm, if it’s a request from my daughter, I suppose I can’t refuse.”
“Really? Thank you, boss.”
“So, you should stop working too. Why’s a pregnant girl handling work right now?”
“Hehe, understood. Oh, it’s fine to assign work from the headquarters to the colleagues, but don’t overload them.”
“Got it, got it. Why does it seem like you hate me working my employees so much?”
The truth was that the most worn-out person wasn’t Dolores or Midori but rather the Commander… but I couldn’t say it out loud.
There was no way I could say something embarrassing like that while everyone was looking this way.
By the way, seeing how much work had piled up at the headquarters made me feel a little guilty.
I should have been handling the headquarters’ tasks normally.
In the end, I had come to check on things due to my pregnancy worries.
Maybe next time, if I showed them plenty of pictures of the grandchild, they would like it?
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