NOVEL NEXT “Lindera~ How do I do this~?”
“…Isn’t this something you’ve done before?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know! Just do this for me!”
Sigh…
It’s been a while since I returned, but, as usual, I was in the middle of work.
The situation was really no different from a month ago.
After returning, I had been working for a few days, but really, none of our colleagues had changed at all.
Really.
“Alright. I’ll help you with just this one thing. The rest is up to you to do diligently.”
“O!”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes! I will work really hard!”
Sigh…
“Lindera, help me with this too.”
“Corbin, why are you saying that again? You said I seemed more like the Commander last time.”
“That was then, and this is now. Just take care of the Boss’s tasks first.”
“…Sigh. Let’s report first, then decide.”
The Boss had returned to the Headquarters, and we were in a situation where we had a bit more work than before.
Of course, it wasn’t overwhelming or anything.
It had certainly increased, but it didn’t really matter since my sister had also joined, so it wasn’t a huge issue.
Both Corbin and Midori were quite bothered, but you know…?
“Why are you acting like that… And how can you react like this right after Midori started talking?”
“Actually, I didn’t call you to work; I just wanted to chat?”
“…Then why did you call? Let’s get back to work.”
“Eh.”
“We need to clock out, right? We should finish our tasks quickly and go home.”
“Oh.”
From the beginning, the tasks that the Boss ordered weren’t really that difficult.
They were mostly ordinary kinds of work that I’d done plenty of times before.
Basically, we were increasing the number of agents working on the ship, splitting the squads again, and these were really just tasks we had done in the past.
Nothing particularly different from what we used to do.
Anyway, it was just another day at work.
“Dolores, how did the task I asked for before lunch go?”
“It’s all done. I uploaded the files a little while ago.”
“Thank you for finishing quickly, unlike the others.”
“It wasn’t a tough job or anything.”
Thanks to the Boss, we ended up doing a lot of work right after returning, but it wasn’t like we were buried under it.
When I think back to a few years ago and compare it to now, it’s definitely better.
Seriously… back then… I worked so hard.
Without Dolores and Midori working, compared to back then… yeah.
Of course, it was tough for quite a while after Midori joined too.
Since neither of them had experience working in the office, I was under a lot of stress…
Looking back, how did I manage to work so hard back then without saying a word?
I was pretty impressive back then.
“Hmm…”
“Lindera, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. How about coffee later?”
“No thanks.”
“It’s coffee, but you know Corbin always wants soda or smoothies.”
“That’s true.”
I snapped out of my thoughts thanks to Corbin suddenly chiming in, but I still thought I was pretty amazing.
I worked so well that our ship is doing better and better now.
Yeah, I felt a bit better.
“Corbin, we have a purification operation in three days. What are you planning to do?”
“I’ll finish it quickly. It’s not that hard.”
“Can you finish it before dinner?”
“If we send out all four squads, we should be done before dinner, right?”
Oh… It felt like the ship’s situation was indeed improving compared to before.
Back in the day, I had to think so hard for each operation, preparing for terrain and enemy types.
Now we could just steamroll through with firepower.
That was definitely a huge improvement.
“Since 1st Squad just got back from a mission elsewhere… if we quickly put together Squads 2, 3, and 4 to send one more out… would that be okay?”
“You seem a bit clever.”
“Maybe not so much.”
It’s true, but I was just throwing out ideas.
I didn’t have much else to talk about, and what I had to do was ultimately work.
“If you don’t think so, why not focus on your duties? Charlotte said she wanted gambas for dinner tonight.”
“…Got it.”
“So, before going home, we need to stop by the mart. We have a lot to do.”
“Okay… I’ll hurry.”
“Good attitude.”
And so, I started working hard while teasing the Commander.
In fact, apart from Midori and Corbin, everyone else was working hard, so as long as I bashed those two a bit… there weren’t any issues.
Dolores had always worked hard, and my sister was also very familiar with working next to the Boss.
Anyway, even after taking a three-week honeymoon and returning to work, what we were doing was still the same.
That’s just how it is in the working world…
*
We completed the mission and finished the other tasks we had been working on.
While there was still quite a bit left to do, it felt like we were managing things well enough, right?
I was just… taking a bit of a break.
There were definitely fewer tasks than a few days ago.
Just as I was spending the day…
“…Ugh.”
Suddenly, my stomach felt really off today.
What is this?
I felt distinctly different from usual; my stomach was just not feeling good at all.
Back in the day, I might not have known how my body felt, but now I was well aware.
I knew exactly that my current state didn’t feel right.
“…Could it be?”
No.
Ugh.
While it felt like I had a lot to worry about, I had tried to prevent this from happening and had worked hard to wash it all away.
I didn’t take medicine every day, but I had taken it for a few days…
Um…
“Lindera, what’s wrong?”
“…Corbin.”
“Yeah, what? Hungry? Thirsty? Tired?”
“That’s not it…”
Corbin seemed completely oblivious to the signs of my nausea.
He looked at me with that clueless gaze while asking strange questions.
“…….”
“What?”
“Corbin, please go buy a pregnancy test.”
“…Huh?”
“Eh?”
“…What?”
As soon as I said that, everyone in the office turned to look at me.
This is a bit embarrassing.
But wouldn’t it be more strange to ignore this feeling I’m having, right?
Or is it…?
I wasn’t sure, but I went ahead and told Corbin while looking at the calendar on the desk.
…Thinking back, I hadn’t gotten my period this month.
I had been so busy playing, eating, sleeping, and having sex that I didn’t even notice.
On top of that, I jumped right back into work right after returning…
“…Haha.”
I hadn’t gotten my period for so long…?
It felt like something was already coming to me.
I hadn’t even taken the test, nor had I done a proper check yet, but I felt like something was definitely off.
My stomach felt uneasy, and it had been quite a while since I last had my period, and I suddenly felt really fatigued.
“…Hurry and get it.”
“Alright…?”
Corbin, upon hearing my request, went outside the office.
After he left, I thought while resting my forehead on the table.
I was recalling the exact moment I got Charlotte pregnant… or when I realized I was pregnant… it was… something.
“……..”
Just like the last time with Charlotte, I couldn’t understand why Corbin and I always ended up pregnant without planning.
“Ha… I’m in trouble…”
Just a few days ago, I thought I really needed to start working hard.
But if this continues… it will be another trip to the hospital instead of work.
Seriously…
“…Lindera, are you okay?”
“Um… is it really true?”
“Is it true?”
“………”
How do I even explain this to my colleagues?
It was a sudden headache.
So I ended up mumbling something vague about not knowing yet, nothing was confirmed, it could be a misunderstanding.
That was basically an excuse; I knew full well what the situation pointed towards, and I couldn’t say anything else.
How could I even explain this situation to the Boss?
Or to Charlotte…
“…Ha.”
Seriously, I’m in deep trouble.
“Huff… Huff… Hey… Lindera… I got this…”
“…Thank you.”
Corbin seemed to have run over in a hurry as he was breathing heavily.
It looks like he arrived pretty quickly, within 5 minutes.
…Now I need to go take a test.
*
There’s one thing for sure, and that is pregnancy happens easier than you think, and it tends to happen in the least expected moments.
I didn’t worry about being pregnant when I should have, but rather when careless, it seems to happen.
Of course, both when I got Charlotte pregnant and this time were similar; it was actually unusual if it didn’t happen.
But it’s not that Corbin and I didn’t take contraception seriously in the past.
On the contrary, we had been careful about contraception for quite some time… and we had been extra cautious on our last trip.
Well, even though it had already come to this.
Aside from the results, we could honestly say we had been very careful during the process.
Of course… there were moments we went without a condom, but we did try to stick with using one as much as possible… and that’s how our sex life went.
“…Haha.”
“…Lindera?”
“I think I might need to take a break for another year…”
…I never expected this situation to arise right after returning to work from a three-week break.
None of us—me, Corbin, Charlotte, or the Boss—would have seen this coming.
When exactly did this happen, and when did implantation take place…
“I really messed up…”
I was genuinely left speechless…