– AAAAAAAAAAH!?
– UU! I told you to stop jumping!
– I never expected someone to spill water in the training area, meow!!
– Haa…
“Is the training going on as usual?”
“Yes, well. It’s pretty lively in the 1st Squad, just like usual.”
“That’s a relief.”
Indeed it is.
Since our squad members will have many operations ahead, it obviously had to go well.
“By the way, Commander, did you assign tasks to the two of them?”
“I did as you instructed.”
“That’s good to hear. I thought Midori would sulk about it, so I’m really glad she didn’t.”
“Do I look like someone who would allow such a thing?”
“Hmm.”
Well, he doesn’t look that way.
Maybe it’s just that Dolores said something rude because she wasn’t happy about something.
When assigned tasks, she usually does a good job, but she tends to do strange things.
Of course, it’s not like those issues were significant enough to say anything.
“Why aren’t you responding…?”
“Haha.”
“Stop mumbling…”
Caught!
Uh…
I really had nothing to say, but isn’t it better than just cleaning admitting it?
Or maybe not.
“Anyway, I’m glad you made the request to headquarters properly.”
“I heard they’re still reviewing it. Well… since you said it’s going through, they should finish the review soon, right?”
“That’s true. If you made the request properly in the first place.”
If the level of the operation requested was appropriate… there probably wouldn’t be any issues.
The headquarters wasn’t that foolish; even if they wanted more operations, they wouldn’t cut corners.
Truth be told, I was already a bit of a headache because of it.
Well, the headquarters wouldn’t easily assign missions to places lacking operational capability.
This situation was giving me a headache, but it wasn’t really a big issue.
“Commander.”
“What is it?”
“After the 1st Squad’s training, you have no schedule.”
“Uh… Is that so?”
It was.
I seemed to have forgotten about it, but I memorized my schedule, so there was none.
Lunch time had already passed, and after that, my schedule was just to slightly oversee the training of the 1st Squad, do some work, or chat about the 1st Squad.
In fact, the exact schedule was still there.
That made sense.
“Your tasks for today… didn’t I help you finish them already?”
“Ah… Well, that happened.”
I helped, after all.
In fact, I had helped with more today than usual.
Of course, I had prepared some of my own work the night before, so helping wasn’t a problem at all.
Still, I did more than I expected.
“Anyway, your schedule for today effectively ends here. Afterward, you just need to simply chat with the squad members.”
“That’s unusual.”
“Yes, I made it this way on purpose.”
Usually, by now, I would have just roughly checked the training and naturally headed to the office.
But today, I deliberately finished up all the work early, leaving the commander with literally nothing to do.
Thanks to that, I might have overexerted just a tad last night, but I had my reasons.
Those reasons weren’t difficult to guess; they were simple.
“Anyway, from now on, please follow me.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well… You’ll know soon.”
There was no particular reason not to tell him right away.
But I just didn’t want to reveal it now.
Not that I had a good reason, just…
“Well… I understand. Just in case, it’s nothing strange, right?”
“Would I do something strange to you, Commander? It’s not like you’re doing anything to me.”
“…….”
The commander looked at me with an annoyed expression, but there was nothing he could do.
Because it was true!
It’s not like I suddenly had a reason to jump on the commander out of nowhere.
After all, he was a man, and if I were to think that way, there could only be two possibilities.
Either I was crazy, or I was deeply addicted to some dangerous drug and needed to satisfy a woman’s desires.
*
“Why did you suddenly come to my room?”
“Um. I have something to show you.”
He was one of the few friends I had on the ship, after all.
Plus, I thought he might be someone I could ask about this without it being too weird.
So, I brought the commander to my personal room.
“What the hell is this about now…”
“Why do you look so tired already? Isn’t this usually a situation to be happy about?”
Regardless of the subject, being invited to a girl’s room was definitely a good thing.
I couldn’t understand why he looked so displeased.
“Are you perhaps interested in men?”
That was already a little… no, a lot, much.
Given how bad the image around homosexuality was, this wasn’t that great.
While it would reduce the likelihood of the commander suddenly jumping me, it still felt weird.
Really.
“Why do you keep saying that…?”
“I was just saying it. If not… that’s a relief.”
“H….”
“Anyway, let me explain why I brought you here to my personal room today.”
I decided to cut the chit-chat and get to the point.
After all, I wanted to finish this quickly and go have dinner.
“Doesn’t our department have a formal uniform?”
“That’s true.”
“And that suit you’re wearing… well, it’s not a shirt, but it is a formal outfit.”
I hadn’t really paid attention to it until now, but I started to care a little.
Not intentionally, but as a result.
“Anyway, from now on… I, unfortunately, have to wear formal uniform too.”
“…?”
“Haha…”
Yeah, I knew it was sudden.
But it was a situation where I had no choice!
I was just a commoner defeated by power.
“The Boss is coming this time.”
“…What.”
“It’s not like it’s a serious matter; he’s just coming by to check in before giving us additional missions.”
It was a personal connection.
After all, Lindera has known the Boss for a long time, so it was entirely possible.
Of course, I was surprised, but I got that contact.
“But if I’m wearing an ordinary suit like usual, how do you think the Boss will perceive me?”
“That’s true…”
“I’d probably catch a lot of flak if he saw me dressed like that. Not me, but you, as the superior Commander.”
“…..”
In fact, there was no problem with him coming, but having him suffer because of my actions was.
Hence, I had deliberately called the Commander out.
“That’s why today, I’m going to try on formal wear. Please see if it suits me.”
“Do I really have to be the one to see it…? There must be other agents around.”
“Ah. I can’t help it. You’re the only one close to me.”
Wasn’t it a little strange to suddenly call someone you weren’t close to and ask if the outfit suited you?
I had pondered over that too, but it genuinely felt weird, so I had no choice.
I thought about trying it on alone and checking myself in the mirror, but that would honestly be biased since I wasn’t a third party.
Ultimately, the outfit wasn’t for me; it was for others to see, so it was especially important.
And since it was the formal wear, it was even more important since the Boss would be watching.
“I’ll go get changed. Um… this is my first time wearing a skirt, so I feel a bit weird.”
“Ha… Just get on with it. I’ll be sitting for a moment.”
“Ah. Just sit comfortably on the bed. Since I won’t be sitting down anytime soon.”
With that, I took a skirt I wasn’t used to out from the hanger and headed to the bathroom.
Even so, exposing myself in front of a man… was not acceptable.
I wasn’t insane and kept the common sense lines in mind.
click
I entered the bathroom and locked the door.
Just in case…
Though I had trust in him, men could sometimes think with their lower bodies.
A bit of precaution wouldn’t hurt.
“A skirt… Haa.”
I really didn’t expect to find myself wearing this.
Now, here I was, stuck in a skirt.
The one silver lining was that the formal skirt was long.
It wasn’t a skirt that showed my thighs or knees, which was a relief.
“…But that doesn’t seem to be the problem.”
The issue was that it wasn’t a simple suit.
Why the heck did these clothes look like this? It was enough to give me a headache.
“Why is the dress split here…?”
The clothing split slightly above the waist.
To be exact, it sort of started very high up.
The skirt covered my abdomen and went just above my ankles.
At the same time, my formal top…
“Haa.”
I was already dressed in the skirt and was now faced with the task of putting on the top.
But honestly, this outfit had a somewhat risky factor to it.
If the Boss weren’t coming, I certainly wouldn’t wear these.
Well, now that I was here, I had to at least try it on once before the Boss arrived.
Still, thankfully, I looked decent when I wore the whole outfit.
“Hmm.”
I looked pretty, perhaps.
Though it wasn’t the most important thing.
“Indeed… skirts are uncomfortable.”
“Isn’t it a long skirt?”
“Still, it feels empty, I suppose. I think it’s because I’m not wearing pants. Skirts aren’t really for me.”
“…Why does the underskirt exist… H…”
“What’s wrong?”
I had stepped out to check myself in the full-length mirror.
It seemed like it wasn’t such a big issue after all.
“What do you think, Commander? Is it okay?”
I had no clue how it would appear in others’ eyes.
I hoped that the Boss would see it as well put together enough to generously fund us.
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