Commander, Counseling (4)
Six in the morning.
Hitsuko opened her eyes to sunlight that was pale and warm… and, at the same time, just a little cold.
…I am rather tired.
A natural enough outcome. Her usual hour of rising was already far too early for someone her age. On top of that, she had stayed up terribly late under the pretext of a "consultation" with the Commander… and once the Commander had fallen asleep, Hitsuko had devoted herself, quite thoroughly, to indulging her own selfish desires.
The proof was right there. The talisman that had been sealing the Commander's mouth was nowhere to be found. And in its place — for reasons Hitsuko could not quite explain — sat the Commander's lips, swollen and thoroughly kissed.
…They were so soft.
The memory of the night's events brought a flush to her face all on its own. Sitting on the Commander's lap while her hair was stroked. Falling asleep in the same bed. And then… pressing their lips together while the Commander slept.
It had been one-sided, and she had not managed to go beyond a light kiss. That was fine. Taking that first step alone had already been more than enough of a success. The experience of making a dream she had only ever pictured in her imagination into something real was more than sufficient to turn Hitsuko back into a girl of her age.
That said, she found herself a little resentful of the Commander of the past. No matter how close Hitsuko had tried to get, that version of her had always kept her at a distance, insisting she had to be at least twenty. Having several colleagues in the same situation had made it bearable… but still. She had already undergone her coming-of-age ceremony back home, I'll have you know. If the Commander was going to offer this kind of hope anyway, it would have been better to offer it from the start.
Water under the bridge, of course.
…Shall I rise now?
On any other day, she would have shaken off her idle thoughts at that point and gone to dress herself with the help of her dolls. Today, she could not.
"Nnh…"
"…Ah."
The Commander, still lost in sleep, had her arms wrapped tightly around Hitsuko.
Hitsuko gazed at her — eyes closed, breathing softly — and a peculiar feeling welled up inside her.
First, she was captivated. It was nothing new, but the Commander was beautiful. Everyone knew it; no one could deny it. And yet… the quality of that beauty looked slightly different now.
If she had to put it into words…
…Lovely?
Yes. She was lovely. The warm, supple skin pressed against her own. The completely unguarded way she slept. And the way she was showing off her figure in nothing but a single towel — at Hitsuko's own earnest request.
In this moment, all those nobodies back home who strutted around with ridiculous titles like "Phoenix" or "Greatest Beauty" seemed utterly pathetic. She had always thought so, of course. They just looked even more pathetic now. To swagger around running their mouths, relying on those paltry looks instead of actual ability. Whether it was their trivial thoughts or their trivial faces, they were no different from frogs at the bottom of a well.
Then came the questions.
She had given the Commander a thorough talking-to before bed. She had confirmed that the Commander had fallen asleep holding her. She had indulged a tiny, tiny bit of selfishness after that, and only then closed her own eyes.
She had not expected the Commander to sleep straight through until now.
She had learned, at least, that the Commander did not particularly change positions while sleeping. In any case, it was a positive development. Sleeping like this was far healthier than those days when she would get up at the crack of dawn and bolt for the office. Hitsuko had not known the Commander's sleep pattern had changed, but she had gotten a nice view out of it besides, so perhaps that was enough.
Then—
"Nnhh…"
"…Commander?"
The Commander stirred all of a sudden. She cracked her eyes open, still half-asleep. Hitsuko called her name once, wondering if she had woken her… but there was no particular response.
"…Hehe."
"…?"
Instead, the Commander let out a little giggle, brushed Hitsuko's bangs aside… and pressed her lips to her forehead.
A soft peck.
…Ah?!
In that instant, several talismans stuck to the wall began to vibrate violently. They had been crafted too well. They had read their master's will with eerie precision, and were trying to launch themselves of their own accord.
Hitsuko desperately seized the thread of her reason and forced them back under control… but she had come dangerously close to crossing a line she had not intended to.
…That was close.
She stilled her still-trembling left hand and let out a sigh of relief. Then she slowly took stock of the functions inscribed on those talismans… and was horrified.
Restraint
Domination
Vision Blocking
Sensory Enhancement
Every last one of them was dangerously unsuited to being directed at someone so physically frail. She had pulled them out on something of an impulse, true… but she had never actually intended to use them. It had been nothing more than a small act born of her reaction to the Commander, and of her own possessiveness.
It was a mercy she had stopped them before they could fly. If those things had so much as touched the Commander…
Would it have been… bad?
…W-what am I thinking.
A wicked little thought came creeping up, and she shook her head hard to drive it off. Not yet. She must not. Not yet. For now, she had merely been slaking her thirst in the shadows, leaning on the Commander's change of heart and her mercy.
…Nnh?
She had seen how the Commander had been acting of late, calculated that it would be permitted, and only then put her plan into motion. But she was the successor of the Far East's ruling clan, after all. Would her conscience not twinge at doing anything more in secret?
And yet…
"Mm… nnh…"
"C-Commander…?"
Whether the Commander knew of that struggle or not, she seemed about to nod off again… and then she simply went back to sleep.
Faced with this, anyone would waver. A proper heir to the clan ought to rise at once, unbowed by temptation…
Mmm…
Even so…
…A single day. Surely Mother at the main house would understand, would she not…?
And so Hitsuko's day began a little later than usual.
I slept like a rock for once.
…Okay, that might sound like something a complete degenerate would say. I mean it in the literal sense. I actually slept well.
This is absolutely not some pedo thing about how nice it was sleeping next to a kid.
The more I try to unpack this, the weirder it sounds. I feel like I'm making excuses at a police station.
Anyway, I'd like it on the record that last night involved zero ulterior motives. Yeah.
…Still, it's strange.
Ever since I got back from that business trip… I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually slept properly. Tossing and turning, or staying up until dawn and then crashing — that was the usual.
And yet I slept that well? In someone else's room, a place I wasn't even used to?
Why, though. This one might actually be worth thinking about. What on earth could have… wait. Don't tell me…
…Should I actually buy a body pillow?
That's… honestly the only thing coming to mind right now.
I thought about getting one before, but then I'd remember I used to be a man, and the idea of sleeping while hugging something just… rubbed me the wrong way. Felt like a hit to my pride, so I dropped it.
Right. What good is pride in the face of sleep? Nobody's going to see, anyway. A pillow's not that big a deal.
I more or less sorted my head out, then ate the breakfast Hitsuko's dolls had laid out. I couldn't tell you the details, but apparently it was traditional Far East cuisine… and it was good.
After that, I got ready with Hitsuko's help, and the two of us headed in to headquarters together, holding hands…
"Com—man—der!!!"
…and I was greeted by the operatives' fury?
Uh… why…?
It took a full two hours for the thoroughly upended office to settle back down.
Which is to say: the people who had been waiting in the office before I even arrived had, the moment I showed my face, each taken their turn dumping their grievances on me, already worked up into a lather.
And I had to sit there and listen to every last bit of it.
My head's spinning…
Barely managing to talk the girls down, I roughly pieced together the flood of remarks. The conclusion seemed to be that I had pulled what amounted to an overnight stay, and that was why they were like this…
Is the fallout from a grown adult sleeping somewhere other than her own house always this dramatic?
More importantly, how did they even know I slept with Hitsuko last night?
"…Has everyone calmed down?"
"…No?"
Ah… there's still more?
It had gotten reasonably quiet, so I figured they'd gotten it all out and tossed out a word. Turns out otherwise. But is this really something to get this worked up over…? Can someone at least tell me why?
I genuinely don't get it…
"How— huh? How can you just sleep with someone else, huh?!"
"You should have at least… asked me…!"
"This is… the Commander's fault…"
Whether I understood or not, every kind of remark came pouring out again. This time, though, all sorts of feelings came through in the words they were throwing at me all at once.
Had I been too busy talking them down to notice before? Whatever.
Anyway, the feelings coming through were… fluster. Disappointment. Anger. Betrayal… huh?
Wait, what? Betrayal? What is that?
Why would they…?
No, what did I even do…
A sudden hollowness opened up in my chest. What had I actually done that would make them feel betrayed…
I've never stabbed anyone in the back, have I? I feel like I've just been working hard.
Let's be real. They wouldn't be like this just because I slept next to Hitsuko. Right? There has to be some other reason. I just don't know what it is…
All of a sudden, I found myself genuinely curious about what was driving them. And so, in the end, I asked them outright.
The moment the words left my mouth, a silence fell so complete it was like a grave.
As if none of the last two hours had happened at all.
"No, wait. There's nothing wrong with it."
"If you would simply give us a heads-up beforehand, there is no problem."
"Then… with me too…"
And… that solved it…?
What. All of a sudden. What's with the complete one-eighty.
Why do you get mad among yourselves and then talk yourselves into being fine. Someone fill me in too…
Whether I said anything or not, they found their composure at remarkable speed and promptly went back to their own work. The only thing they asked, separately, was that I reconsider the counseling period.
…What was that, seriously?
If it was going to end like this anyway, why all the fuss?