“How could you all go to the restaurant without me!?”
“Sorry about that.”
“If it was just the two of you, I wouldn’t say anything! But this is just a bit much!”
“Haha…”
Um.
Did I just awkwardly intrude?
Of course, I wasn’t thinking about that day at all, and it was the Commander who suddenly dragged me along, so it wasn’t really my fault.
But seeing Midori so sad made me feel a bit guilty.
“I like steak too!!!”
“Don’t you eat it often?”
“That’s different! Everyone went out for a work dinner on a holiday, and I was the only one excluded!”
“…….”
“At least fight back or something!”
It was true that Midori’s words were something neither the Commander nor I nor Dolores could refute.
But honestly, I thought Dolores and I had done nothing wrong.
After all, the Commander was the one who pulled me along, right?
I felt sorry for Midori, but I honestly believed I wasn’t at fault.
“Linera was taken out by the Commander, and the appointment was set by Dolores, so… the bad guy here is the Commander, right?”
“What?”
“Why was I the only one left out!?”
“……..”
I lay down… on the floor.
Midori, literally sprawled on the office floor.
We definitely talked a lot about this yesterday, but I never thought she’d be like this again today.
Honestly, it was worse today than it was yesterday.
Yesterday, she just whined a bit, didn’t she?
“Waaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!”
“…Commander, do something.”
“…Guess I should.”
Normally, I would have just stayed quiet, but today, I just couldn’t help but speak since Midori looked so pitiful.
Well… Midori wasn’t the type to demand weird things from the Commander.
So, I just said it.
“Waaaaaahhhhhh!!!!”
“Midori? First, calm down… I’ll buy you meat for dinner tonight.”
“Really?”
“…Yeah.”
“Are you serious!? It’s a promise, right!? You’re buying me beef, right? Right?!”
“…Let’s go to an expensive place.”
“Yay!!!!!!!”
Um.
Looks like it got resolved nicely.
*
“Hehehe… I can’t wait for the delicious beef…”
“Yeah… eat up and calm your mood.”
“I’m already calmed down, so stop worrying about it!”
Midori’s anger evaporated.
Yeah, it was such a relief that now she was even jumping in the back seat of the car.
Of course, I thought it was a great relief that her anger was gone.
She could be quite chatty in our office after all.
“Hehe… So, the Commander is treating us, right?”
“…For now.”
“Hehehe… It’s the bad Commander’s fault for leaving me out! They all went for a work dinner without me!”
“Indeed.”
“Yeah, the Commander messed up. In many ways.”
In the car, we all became Commander-bashers.
Well, it was a part that the Commander indeed messed up, and it was just plain fun.
Anyway, we were now on our way to a nice beef place, finishing up our work faster than usual.
Having a work dinner on a Monday was kind of awkward, but as long as we didn’t drink, it was just like having dinner anyway.
Everyone knew we had work tomorrow, so we planned to avoid alcohol.
“Okay, okay… it’s all my fault. Just let me be quiet.”
“You’re not even the one driving. Why the theatrics? Don’t you think so too, Dolores?”
“Absolutely.”
“…Sigh.”
The Commander sighed, but we weren’t in the mood to let him off easily.
Honestly, poking fun at the Commander was just too much fun.
Plus, officially, the worst offender was the Commander, so there was really no reason not to.
And… it was fun to team up with Dolores to tease the Commander.
“Dolores thinks just like I do, so why should I stop?”
“Seems like you two have gotten chummy.”
“Why shouldn’t we? We’re work colleagues.”
“True. We’re colleagues.”
There was absolutely no reason to treat each other poorly.
Even when I was in agony from cramps, I had been more eager to help than the Commander.
I had become more comfortable with Dolores than before.
Previously, I might have thought of her as a bad, weird person who talked nonsense to the Commander.
“Oh, Dolores?”
“Yes?”
“Could you give me your phone number later? I realized we never exchanged numbers.”
I honestly had totally forgotten; I didn’t have her number.
Although we used emails or personal messengers usually, having a phone number would be nice.
And I kind of wanted to get closer too.
“Oh… should I? Or should I just do it now?”
“I think it can be done whenever you like.”
Well, it didn’t really matter whether we did it now or later.
Besides, just making this promise was enough, right?
Of course, doing it now was more convenient since we were both comfortably seated in the car.
So, Dolores and I exchanged numbers.
To be honest, I wasn’t really used to exchanging numbers like this.
That’s because with the Commander and Midori, I had just stored their numbers in advance, and with Dolores, I just hadn’t bothered.
“We’ve been working together for a while, and this is the first time we’ve exchanged numbers.”
“Right? I kind of wish I had done this with Linera sooner.”
“Well, we always work together in the office, so it never seemed necessary…”
“Yes, exactly.”
Yeah, there really hadn’t been a reason until now.
We had lots of email and other ways to communicate, so exchanging phone numbers didn’t seem necessary.
-Beep! Beep!
“We’ve arrived.”
“Ah… my precious salary…”
“You only spend it on games anyway. Might as well use it now.”
“…It’s good to see everyone getting friendly.”
“Is it?”
Well, it certainly was a good thing for work colleagues to become friendly.
Plus, having some close same-gender friends was comforting.
Being close to the male Commander had its perks, but having close female friends felt nice too.
I absolutely didn’t have any romantic thoughts about it.
Of course, Dolores and Midori, along with the other female agents, were pretty, but… I didn’t have any romantic feelings towards them.
Anyway, we arrived at the barbecue restaurant, and we all got out of the car.
Now we needed to head inside to eat, right?
“Expensive meat is way better than a restaurant!”
“Don’t restaurants sell meat too…?”
“Eh, a restaurant’s for going with a girlfriend! Not for business colleagues!”
Is that so?
I had gone to a restaurant with the Commander before, though.
I wondered if there was really a need for business-related people to go to one.
Even if it was a place couples often visit, it didn’t have to be exclusive to that.
“Anyway, let’s hurry up and order. How about ribeye?”
“What about sirloin? I had it before, and it was delicious!”
“…Just don’t go for anything too expensive. Please…”
Hmm… well, since it was beef, regardless of price, it could be a bit steep for fancier cuts.
The Commander earned well, but still, overly expensive cuts would be tough to manage.
For now, we decided to just order the most standard cuts.
Even if I said the Commander could treat us, I definitely didn’t plan on letting him bear the full cost.
“Hehehe… since you all left me out, you’ll have to spend a bit this time!”
“I feel guilty now, so I’ll make sure we get plenty of soda.”
“Okay!”
“Boss? We’ll have the tenderloin and sirloin…”
The Commander asked us what we wanted not too long ago, but now he started ordering on his own.
Well, we had teased him a bit earlier anyway.
*
“Wow… this is really delicious! Beef is just on another level!”
“If you’re enjoying it… I’m glad…”
“It’s worth the money.”
Seriously, it was worth the high price; beef’s superior taste did come at a cost.
I preferred pork, but that didn’t change the fact that beef tasted good.
It’s just that sometimes it could get overwhelming if you ate too much.
“Hehe… I can’t believe you all ate something so delicious without me.”
“I didn’t have it…”
“Anyway!”
“So, are you feeling better now?”
“Of course!”
“Then that’s a relief.”
I was really relieved that Midori’s mood improved.
Sure, the Commander’s wallet might take a bit of a hit, but that’s just how these girl-centered games went anyway.
It wasn’t a huge problem at all.
In fact, it was a relief that I might chip in with covering part of the beef costs… not that I had to.
“But what happened that led to everyone eating without me?”
“Oh. It was originally supposed to be just the Commander and Dolores, but…”
“We had to pull Linera out because she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Ahh…”
Not that it was anything to brag about, but I had no reason to hide it either.
“The day before, I ate meat and drank with Linera, but after that, a hangover and cramps hit me. Leaving her alone didn’t feel right either.”
“You two had drinks together…?”
“Ah, I didn’t actually drink.”
Sigh.
What a dumb thing to say.
“I was just not feeling well… the Commander brought me out, and well, it ended up like this.”
“Hmm… that makes sense. The Commander really does take great care of Linera. Other people might misunderstand it as something weird.”
“Really?”
Is that so…?
So the Commander takes really good care of me, huh.
I felt like it sounded more like I took more care of him.
I was surprised that Midori would comment on this.
Well… it was nice when he came into my room unexpectedly on Sunday and asked me to eat with him.
I had been stuck in my room, struggling, and opted to go out and take the medicine.
If the Commander hadn’t taken me out then, I probably still wouldn’t feel well now.
“Well, I usually take care of the Commander more, don’t I?”
“Calling it taking care might be a stretch… it’s more like having a talented slave.”
“Isn’t that so? Commander?”
“You’ve got to keep learning from yesterday and today… I didn’t ask for more work…”
-Tick… Tick…
“Commander?”
I called him while he was repetitively lifting his chopsticks over his plate.
While the chopsticks clinked against the plate, it wasn’t by design.
“…It’s all because you helped me that I’m able to do this.”
“Yes, that’s true. Since even the Commander says that, what happened the day before is just natural, right?”
Since I had been helping the Commander regularly, it wasn’t strange for him to treat me that way either.
Weirdly, the strange part wasn’t our relationship, but it was the Commander; between us, we were just slightly friendly colleagues, a superior and a subordinate, right?
“Sigh…”
“Sigh…”
I didn’t understand why Midori and Dolores sighed out of nowhere, but well… I was just relieved everyone was in a good mood.
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