I slightly opened the door to the command room while wearing a small towel on my head.
And then I peeked my head out through the gap.
“I see. Well, where…”
Ahaha…
I can see a woman, whom I’ve never seen before, talking to the commander in front of an unknown machine.
As for the commander, that’s one thing, but who is that woman?
With small, blunt ears and yellow-brown two-tone hair, she has a generally gentle appearance.
What should I say… she looks like a rural dog, like a yellow one.
“Then, should I call you Nunu?”
It seems that woman’s name is Nunu. It suits her appearance perfectly.
“You can just call me Nunu. Hehe.”
“Ah, nice to meet you, Nunu!”
The commander scratched his head for a moment, then took a pudding from his pocket and handed it to the woman who introduced herself as “Nunu.”
Huh?
Wait a second, pudding? Did you just say pudding?
That’s my snack. It wasn’t ordered with my money… it was ordered with the commander’s money, but still, it’s my snack.
“Then Nunu, you must be hungry after coming all this way. Do you want to try this?”
“Oh my, what is this pudding?”
As soon as I saw the commander handing over my precious pudding, I kicked the door open and ran out.
My cheeks puff up. My eyes narrow in anger.
I fought monsters and didn’t even get jelly, but you’re giving my precious pudding to a stranger?
My cheeks feel like they’re about to burst.
Ugh, I won’t let this slide! It’s bad enough you did a gacha without me, but now you give away my pudding?
This is a betrayal of trust. I can’t forgive this!
Commander!!!
“Huh? Maru?”
And then I jumped and charged at the commander.
“Oh my.”
…But when I charged, Nunu, the woman standing beside the commander, hugged me.
Ugh, ugh!
“Commander, who is this? She’s so cute!”
Her full chest blocked my view. It’s so soft.
“Ugh!”
“Good girl, good girl.”
No matter how much I struggled to get free, Nunu’s arms around me didn’t budge.
Instead, she gently patted my head, as if trying to soothe a child.
If the commander had said something like this, I would have had a fit, but somehow, this doesn’t feel bad.
No, wait. Even if it’s not the commander, I don’t like being treated like a child.
But, but…
Why does this feel so good? It feels like someone is scratching an itch in just the right spot.
Thanks to that, my body feels languid.
Haa…
“You’re so pretty when you smile. Want to live with me?”
Oh no, it seems I was smiling brightly without realizing it.
This is the problem. My little body gets too easily pleased by light praise or being petted.
Because of that, my cool, tough, manly vibe is totally lost.
I imagined how the commander might react if he heard this and tried to escape from Nunu’s embrace.
“Ah, Nunu, let me introduce you. This is Maru, the one I mentioned earlier.”
“Maru, Maru… Your name really suits you. But no one told me Maru would be such a small, cute, and adorable child!”
But my struggles were easily ignored, and I had no choice but to watch as the commander and Nunu kept chatting.
Since my view was blocked, I couldn’t even really watch. When will they let me go? It’s getting hard to breathe.
“Ugh, ugh.”
“So, this little one caught the monsters that invaded the command center?”
“Of course. Maru is already the pride of this command center.”
Although I’ve only been here for less than an hour, the commander added.
I got the feeling he was talking like a proud father showing off his child, but that must be a mistake, right?
No, more importantly, when will they let me go?
This huge chest is making it hard to breathe…!
“Ugh, ugh…”
“Commander, you’re so lucky… The command center I was in before only had stiff, scary-looking guys.”
“Well, that must have been a big issue.”
“Of course. They kept fighting, and because they never prioritized missions, the commander of that command center was bald in his 20s!”
“…That’s really a big problem.”
Ah.
I can’t take it anymore.
Save me…
“Commander, you’re so lucky. To have such a cute Maru… Uh, uh? Maru?”
“Maru? What’s wrong? Get a hold of yourself!”
With two voices sounding confused, I lost consciousness.
A while later, in the command room.
Maru, who had passed out, was lying down on the sofa in the corner of the command room.
Nunu had laid Maru down and was now kneeling beside Maru, using her lap as a pillow.
And the commander was sitting at his desk, working. There were three people in the room.
After laying Maru down, an awkward silence settled between Nunu and the commander.
Tap, tap. The sound of keyboard typing echoed in the room.
“Sorry. Maru is just too cute, so I…”
“It’s okay. And you should talk about that after Maru wakes up.”
Nunu looked down at Maru.
Sleeping soundly…
Maru, with a slightly open mouth, smiling with a faint blush.
If you listen closely, you can barely hear a warm breath as they sleep peacefully.
With every breath, Maru’s soft and bouncy cheeks tremble slightly, making them even cuter.
“Sleep well.”
“Indeed. Even sleeping looks adorable.”
“*||-··”
When Nunu gently stroked Maru’s head with a soft hand, Maru let out a silly laugh and grinned.
Even in sleep, her personality couldn’t be hidden, as if trying to suppress the upward curl of her lips.
But with the repeated stroking, her mouth eventually stretched into a wide grin, creating a comical expression as they tried to resist.
Yet, the one watching this expression found it so endearing that they continued stroking Maru’s head lovingly.
“…What if Maru ends up hating me?”
“That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”
Even though less than a day had passed since meeting Maru, the commander could tell.
Although their first meeting wasn’t great, Maru had acknowledged her mistake and accepted punishment.
A ‘mercenary’ and a ‘commander’ have a contractual relationship, one that can be broken at any time if it doesn’t work out.
The commander didn’t know why Maru had been alone at this headquarters, but if she had wanted to, Maru could have easily squandered the budget or even fled instead of fighting off invading monsters.
After all, Maru was a valuable five-star mercenary, while the commander was just a nameless rookie.
Even if the commander had reported such things, higher-ups wouldn’t have cared.
But Maru didn’t run away. Instead, she listened.
“…Is that so? If you’re that sure, Commander.”
Nunu continued silently stroking Maru’s head after that.
Being careful not to wake her, their touch was as delicate as handling a piece of glasswork.
“Mmm… Huh? Where is this…?”
At that moment, Maru, who had been mumbling in her sleep, suddenly opened her eyes and met the commander’s gaze from across the desk.
…
But then, something unexpected happened.
As soon as Maru saw the commander, she puffed up her cheeks and turned her head away.
However, she still had her head resting on Nunu’s lap…
!…?!
“Hello?”
The moment Maru met those yellow eyes staring down at her, her face turned as red as a tomato.
“Ah, uh… This is… what…?”
Like a shy child meeting a stranger for the first time, Maru frantically tried to cover her flushed face with her tiny hands.
But her hands were too small to hide anything.
“Fufu, why did Maru suddenly become such a shy little thing?”
And then…
‘Why is Maru suddenly pouting?’
Seeing Maru’s puffed-up cheeks, the commander fell into deep thought.
What could have made Maru sulk so much that her cheeks swelled up like that?
He recalled the events that had just happened.
Seeing the banner in front of the gacha machine that read, [New Commander Special! Guaranteed 4-star if you roll now!], he had immediately summoned a mercenary.
And the mercenary that came out… was Nunu, a canine beastkin.
Nunu introduced themselves as an assassin-type mercenary, to which the commander had responded with surprise.
“Fufu, everyone says that. They don’t think I look like an assassin because of my gentle appearance.”
After that, they had only exchanged some casual conversation.
What could have made Maru storm in looking so upset…?
Ah.
Growl~
“Then, Nunu, you must be hungry after coming all this way. Want to try this?”
“Oh my, is this pudding?”
“That’s because, well… Maru…”
At that moment.
When the commander handed over the pudding after hearing Nunu’s stomach growl.
That was when Maru had rushed in.
‘…Did she think I was giving pudding to Nunu and leaving them out?’
Realizing the truth, the commander looked at Maru, who was still flustered, and let out a small chuckle.
‘Maru acts so mature during battles, but in everyday moments like this, she’s just like a little kid.’
The commander stood up and walked over to the sofa where Maru and Nunu were.
Noticing the approach, Maru puffed up her cheeks even more.
“Ah, what a funny face.”
Piiiuu~…
And then, Maru’s puffed-up cheeks deflated with a silly sound as Nunu poked them.