“Hey!”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to drink?”
“It’s Midori, isn’t it? When has she ever been quiet?”
“Ah.”
That’s true.
As the Commander said, it’s rare for Midori to be quiet.
“Yoyoyoyoyoy!”
“But… isn’t it nice that she seems to be in a better mood…?”
“Certainly…”
“It seems that way. At least she’s looking better than this morning…?”
Compared to a downcast Midori, a noisy Midori suited her better. Plus, it was just kind of funny.
No one was making a big deal out of it.
Besides, when Midori first mentioned drinking, no one had said a word against it, and we just went along with it.
“Commander!!”
“What is it?”
“Why don’t you date Lindera?”
“…Huh?”
“…What?”
At the same time, both the Commander and I responded—or rather, reacted.
It was too short to be called an answer, right? We were both too bewildered.
I really didn’t understand why Midori was asking such a question all of a sudden.
There was no reason for it!
I didn’t get why she kept trying to pair me with the Commander and Lindera.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Why aren’t you dating? You two are always together, sitting next to each other… talking the most!”
“What kind of talk is that…”
“Why aren’t you datinggggg…”
Why does she insist on us being a couple?
Seriously, why?
I had never felt any romantic feelings towards the Commander.
And I’m pretty sure the Commander hadn’t thought of me that way either.
After all, we were just moderately close, right?
“Midori.”
“Hm?”
“We are definitely not dating.”
“Are you saying you’re not dating?”
“Yes.”
I said it clearly in front of a drunken Midori.
That was definitely not the case, nor would it ever be.
My premise of dating a man—Commander—in the first place was simply flawed. Logically, I wouldn’t do that.
Honestly, I even thought dating a girl was a bit strange, so how could I date a guy?
“Stop lying!”
“……..”
“She’s really drunk.”
“That’s for sure.”
She definitely looked drunk.
Her face was redder than usual, her tongue was twisted, and her speech was all over the place.
Thankfully, none of us—Commander, Dolores, or I—had drunk any alcohol today.
“Let’s just… take her home. Everyone’s full, right?”
“Yeah, let’s do that. We have work tomorrow.”
“Commander, please start the car. I’ll take her out.”
The Commander nodded at my words and went outside the barbecue restaurant.
I guess even a self-driving car needs to be started?
Of course, we could have taken our time, but it was the most convenient to just get the car ready, take Midori out, and plop her in right away.
Anyway… we had settled the bill, and now the task was to take Midori out.
“Lindera? I’ll carry her.”
“No, it’s fine. I gave permission… and there’s no reason to trouble Dolores.”
“I’m stronger than you, right?”
Ah.
That’s true, isn’t it?
Thinking about it, Dolores being an agent could easily carry a person.
So here… I decided to let Dolores handle it.
After all, she had more strength than me, and honestly, lifting an adult woman wouldn’t be easy anyway.
*
“Commander, thank you for your hard work today.”
“What? Isn’t that something I’m supposed to do?”
“Well… that’s true.”
I was having this conversation with the Commander in my room.
I mean, it was time to relax now, right?
I had sent Midori to her room and let Dolores rest comfortably before coming to my room with the Commander.
We could have just parted ways, but the Commander insisted on accompanying me.
I wondered if it was necessary, but since he offered to drop me off, we came here, and I felt a bit awkward sending him away immediately, so I sat down for a moment.
On the floor, of course.
“Sigh… Seriously. Always making weird misunderstandings. Must be the alcohol.”
“…That’s probably it.”
“I don’t understand how the rumor of me dating you started. Don’t you think so?”
Given how baffled I was, the Commander must have felt the same way.
Especially since Midori would never usually bring up something like that.
She could be pretty noisy, but she wasn’t the type to say those things.
“…Right.”
“Oh, by the way, can I just come to work as usual tomorrow? I have a feeling Midori might come in late.”
“I expected she might be late. It’s better to be understanding if she is.”
“That’s true.”
Well, originally we weren’t supposed to drink, but we let it be since we were at fault.
So just a little tardiness from Midori was something we should be willing to overlook.
After all, Midori didn’t do anything weird while drunk today.
To be fair, when such a pretty girl like Midori acts intoxicated, it’s hard not to see it in a good light.
“By the way, what did you think about Midori today?”
“Hm?”
“I’m talking about her drunken behavior. Wasn’t it cute?”
It was a strange question, but objectively, it was kind of cute.
So I was just curious.
As far as I remembered, Dolores didn’t have any bizarre thoughts about it, and I was just curious about Midori’s opinion.
Really.
Even though Midori was a bit shorter, she was still cute and pretty, wasn’t she?
“Hmm… well, if you say she was cute, then I can agree.”
“…Is that so?”
“Since she’s short and all, it’s only natural.”
Well, I thought so too.
Yeah, she’s cute.
Midori wasn’t just an ordinary agent; she was quite popular among the 4-star agents.
So I could see why the Commander would say that.
“Hmm…”
Sure, I could agree with that, but for some reason, it didn’t sit right with me.
Why was that?
“But isn’t Midori quite a bit smaller compared to you? She’s in the 150s, while you’re rather tall for a man.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s true Midori is shorter than me. If she were sitting next to me in the office, it would definitely look that way.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The Commander was so unnecessarily tall that it didn’t seem to fit with Midori.
Midori would have to tilt her head a lot to look at him; wouldn’t that be somewhat uncomfortable?
Or did the Commander just lean down a lot?
“By the way, Commander, what’s your type in women?”
“Why the sudden question…?”
“I’m just asking since it’s something Midori brought up today… I’m curious. It’s a fake relationship because of your mom, and… I’m just asking.”
Asking wasn’t really a problem.
I mean, it’s common for guys to ask each other what kind of women they like, right?
Even disregarding that… it wasn’t a strange question at all.
There was really no reason not to ask.
“Um… Hmm. I haven’t really thought about it that much.”
“Is that so?”
“Well… I haven’t been really interested in women. If I had been, my parents wouldn’t have done this.”
“Ah…”
You should just answer quicker.
Even though I genuinely asked out of curiosity, him not answering was really frustrating.
Not just a little, a lot.
“Well, I mentioned this before, but someone who shares the hobby is probably the best match.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about outer appearances.”
Most people prefer kind individuals with similar interests, so of course I wanted to know about other aspects.
“Um… I prefer someone who isn’t too short or too tall.”
“Usually, if someone is tall, don’t they prefer taller people?”
“Well, isn’t 170cm a bit too tall? The feeling when hugging is a bit disappointing.”
“That’s a bit perverted.”
“You asked, didn’t you?”
That was true, but to prefer a certain height just because it felt better to hug—come on.
I thought he wasn’t exactly normal either.
Besides, by liking an average height, I could tell that Midori didn’t quite fit his type.
However…
“I still think that’s a bit perverted.”
“Someone who needs to hug something while sleeping can’t really say anything about that, can they?”
“…Well, there is some truth to that… right?”
That was something I had said, and now taking it back would definitely be a problem, so I had no words.
If I took my words back now… it would definitely give me a more severe moment of enlightenment than the last time I felt it.
Even though it was embarrassing, taking back what I said was absolutely not… really not an option.
Saying it’s okay to not hug the Commander now would truly be a problem.
“Speaking of which, what about your preferences?”
“…Are you asking me?”
I truly didn’t see the arrow coming back at me…
I was a bit surprised by the Commander’s question, but I calmly answered.
I genuinely didn’t think he would ask about my preferences in men, but I had to keep calm.
Because showing panic here would only be weird.
Plus, I had to think through carefully how to respond…
Since I had honestly never been interested in men before, it was really difficult to answer.
“So, what’s your answer?”
“I… um…”
Really, what should I say in response?
No matter how much I pondered, it was a challenging question to answer easily.
I mean, asking about the kind of man I like?
There wasn’t much difference from the question I asked the Commander, but it felt far too challenging.
“Umm…”
I had to respond somehow, so I decided to give a vague answer that I could easily get away with.
I would mention the most average, uncontroversial ideal type in the most literal sense.
“Someone over 180cm, pretty good-looking, broad shoulders, with some tone muscle…”
I mimicked the preferences that most girls would usually like.
After all, I had never considered what kind of man I liked, right?
It felt really strange discussing a fake preference for men, but I hadn’t really thought about it before.
“……..”
“Why are you staring at me like that, Commander?”
“Ah.”
“Just because you keep staring at me doesn’t mean I’m going to get a hole poked in me, you know…”
The Commander was staring at me intently, making me wonder what was going on with him.
Why was he staring at me like this all of a sudden?
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