Commander, Weekend Overtime
A Commander, as the title implies, is not a post from which one may rest at will.
Countless operatives were even now laboring through the night without pause, and as the head of the organization, I could hardly turn a blind eye to their toil. Even in the briefest moment of respite, covert struggles would be unfolding by the hour across every corner of the Continent — which meant I had to read the political currents swiftly and render precise decisions. For a Commander, then, rest was a luxury. It was, moreover, a sin.
Which is to say, to put it in a single sentence:
I came in to work on the weekend.
"Haa..."
I don't want to work. I really, genuinely don't want to work. There hadn't been a shred of external pressure — I'd crawled in here of my own two feet because it needed doing — and still, I wanted with violent intensity to not work. I just wanted to lie in bed and spend the entire day accomplishing absolutely nothing...!
And even now, my eyes and hands, busily moving of their own accord... I hated the hell out of them today.
"Hah..."
I let out a long, heavy sigh and rummaged through the hapless stack of documents. The volume had clearly dwindled by now, but there was still a great deal of it. That, in fact, was why I'd come in today. Skimming through it in the gaps between weekday work was never going to be enough.
I couldn't quite focus, but it was the weekend — that much was inevitable. Still, I'd carved through nearly half of that mountain of paper scraps, which was, in its own way, encouraging. Of course, the Information Department wasn't sitting idle either, so more documents would keep trickling in... but even accounting for that, I should be able to finish calculating which direction we'd take within two weeks at the latest.
...That said.
"...Rielly."
"Yes, Commander."
"You do know it's the weekend, right?"
"Of course."
So you didn't have to come in, did you...? I was pretty sure I'd told her yesterday to get a proper rest. Why was she sitting here like it was the most natural thing in the world?
"When the Commander herself has given up her day off and is martyring herself for our sake, how could I possibly rest easy in my position as Adjutant?"
That said, you'd still come in earlier than I had. If I hadn't shown up, what exactly were you planning to do here by yourself? It wasn't as if she'd come to clean like before — she wasn't holding anything. I genuinely had no idea.
On top of that, her way of speaking seemed oddly more relaxed. Was I imagining that?
"...Right. Well."
Let's not dig too deep. It'll just give me a headache. Anyway, think positive. I'd get lonely working by myself, so having someone here with me was nice. And if that someone happened to be pretty enough that just looking at her counted as a feast for the eyes, even better.
...Of course, I'd prefer she ease up on wrapping her arms around me at every opportunity, but nobody's perfect. How to put it... every time she pulled me in, it felt like skipping rope on a tightrope, but I'd just think of it as a reward for all the work I'd put in. What else could I do? She was my Adjutant. I had to handle it.
...Wait. Adjutant?
"Ah, Rielly."
"Yes, Commander."
That, too, was something I needed to take care of before the week was out. I'd completely forgotten, buried under so many urgent items.
"I looked up the regulations, and it turns out the Adjutant assignment changes every week?"
"...I-it does...?"
"Mm, that's how it was."
According to Firma's internal regulations, the dispatch period for an Adjutant — someone pulled in to assist the Commander with her duties — was one week. The term was short for a few reasons: since the Commander herself was the one actually doing the work, there was hardly any need for a handover; the paperwork an Adjutant handled was, by Firma's internal standards, the most basic of the basics; and above all, these were high-level personnel who already held positions of their own in their respective departments, so keeping them too long simply wasn't feasible.
Which meant it was time to let Rielly go, too. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't miss her, but it wasn't as if I'd never see her face again. No need to get all sentimental about it.
That said... Rielly's tone of voice seemed to have shifted a little. I was probably imagining it.
"So, about that..."
"..."
"Could you recommend who I should pick for the next Adjutant?"
A strange feeling crept over me and I tilted my head, but I didn't dwell on it and simply finished what I had to say. If we were changing Adjutants anyway, it seemed better to have Rielly be the one to choose.
The answer I got, however, was...
"I don't want to."
"...Huh?"
"I said I don't want to. Find someone yourself."
Wait. A complete... rejection? This was a first. What had I even done...? Was asking her to pick a decent successor really that irritating a request? Had I turned into some kind of out-of-touch fossil of a boss from sitting as everyone's superior for so long? And so what if I had...?
Rielly's sulk only lifted after she'd spent a full thirty minutes clinging to me. There was more force in her arms than usual... and I had been, quite literally, smothered against her. That was a bonus I could have done without.
...If you were going to hug me anyway because you liked it, you could've just not said no.
"Hwaaah..."
A drowsy warmth rode in on the sunlight and spread through my whole body, and I set down the documents in my hand to stretch. There was still a long way to go on the workload... but doing a little more right now wasn't going to finish it anyway. And honestly — if you've come in on a day off, you're allowed to take it a little easy, aren't you?
That said, I was strangely sleepy. Not exhausted enough to pass out on the spot, but a pleasant, lingering lethargy... the kind where, if I lay down on something soft, I might drift off without even realizing it.
"Commander."
"Mm?"
I was savoring that curious, rather wonderful feeling when Rielly held something out to me. A mug?
I tilted my head but took it anyway, and a mellow coffee aroma drifted up at once. Now that's an Adjutant. The timing was perfect. I'd been craving caffeine as it was.
"Heh. Thanks. I'll enjoy this."
I offered Rielly a small smile for her trouble, then brought the coffee to my lips. A cafe latte, maybe? Not overly sweet, not overly bitter — just the right amount of sweetness. Yeah. This was it....
All we had here was instant coffee, so how had she gotten it to taste like this? Did wearing a maid uniform make you better at brewing coffee, too? Not that I'd ever consider putting one on myself, even if that were true.
And how had she known my tastes well enough to match them? ...Or rather, she'd matched them to the Commander's tastes, not mine, hadn't she?
Whatever. As long as it tasted good.
A single sip of coffee after so long, and the brain that had been preparing to go on strike began, little by little, to wake. Ah, truly — the essential nutrient of the modern age. The effect was unmistakable.
That said...
"Nnh..."
Rielly's reaction was a little... off?
"...Commander."
"Mmph? What is it?"
"You mustn't show an expression like that... to just anyone."
I blinked at her, completely lost. ...What had I even done. All I'd done was work hard at my job, then thank her when she brought me coffee. Don't tell me she was calling me out for answering with the cup still at my lips? Then why had she specifically said expression? I genuinely couldn't guess.
"So it's fine right now, then?"
"...Pardon?"
"Well, you're not 'just anyone' to me, Rielly. So it's okay, isn't it?"
Even my caffeine-fortified brain couldn't produce an answer, so I just said whatever came to mind. When you don't understand what someone is talking about, the best move is to muddle through and move on. That way you don't end up in an unnecessarily awkward situation for no reason. As long as it isn't work-related, this is the right call.
And besides... it wasn't as if I'd said anything that wasn't true. She was the first operative I'd met after the possession, and she'd taken my somewhat abrupt amnesia act at face value. She'd helped me with all sorts of things so I could adapt, and she'd volunteered as Adjutant faster than anyone and worked alongside me... of course I'd feel attached.
Of course, everyone in Firma was precious to me, so being this casual today should be fine, right? Great. Perfect.
"That's exactly the kind of thing you..."
Rielly, for her part, merely heaved a long, deep sigh, as if my answer had left her dissatisfied in some way.
What? Why? What's the problem? Was I wrong? I'd only said true things, so why was she looking at me like I was a kid who never listened and caused trouble every single day? There was something impure in those eyes. Was this any way to look at your superior?
And...
"...Rielly?"
"Yes, Commander."
"...Aren't you a little too close?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No... never mind."
...This felt impure in a different sense. Sure, she'd dragged her chair over and stuck it right next to mine — I'd allow that. Sometimes, when we needed to look at a document together, it was much easier this way. There were plenty of things that needed to be resolved by looking at them side by side right now.
But even so. Even if it was necessary for work... did people normally glue themselves close enough that their arms touched? To their own superior, no less?
...Is this just the average for this world?
Thinking about it, that might actually be it. The fact that she demanded hugs without the slightest hesitation didn't make sense otherwise. ...This was really hard to adapt to. Wasn't the difficulty a bit too high?
"...More importantly — the thing I asked you to handle?"
"I've scheduled it for next Monday."
"That was quick. Good work."
Rielly chose that moment to go a step further and try to link her arm through mine. I gave her a light swat to stop her. Other matters were urgent too, but as of now, this was the single most important item on the agenda. The odds were low, but if by any chance something went wrong here, the entire plan would fall apart. In the worst case, we might even see people leaving Firma. The worst case, admittedly — but still.
"But..."
"...What."
"...Are you really going to do it?"
"I have to."
I answered Rielly's worried question evenly. It wasn't that I wasn't nervous. I simply had no intention of running from it. It was something that had to be done eventually, and it looked better if I did it myself. If you were going to take the hit anyway, it was better to steel yourself and take it right away.
"It's about time I told them, after all."