Harem Army: Impregnation Mission on a Frontline Base Full of Women - Chapter 17 & 18 & 19 & 20

Chapter 17: The Heavenly Maiden in the Shower Room ①

It had been a long… very long day…

Nagato opened the door to his room and stepped out into the corridor.

He was no longer wearing his high-collared uniform. He had on a white tank top, his uniform trousers, and slippers. In his hands were a towel and a day bag containing a change of clothes.

The time was a little past 21:00. There should still have been time before lights-out, but not a single light was on in the corridor.

In this modern era where visual attacks had become a thing of the distant past, there was no longer any need for blackout regulations. So this must also be part of the power-saving measures the secretary mentioned, Nagato thought absentmindedly.

However, the lack of lights didn’t mean complete darkness.

Moonlight poured in through the open spaces where rooms ended on both sides of the corridor, casting a pale blue glow. For Nagato, whose night vision was good, that light alone was more than enough to walk by.

As he headed toward the moonlight, he suddenly stopped and glanced beside his door.

The dishes are gone… Just as the secretary had said, someone had already taken them away…

Takizaki Ayame was now a completely untrustworthy person in his eyes. But at least when it came to meals, she hadn’t lied.

Nagato let out a small sigh and started walking again toward the moonlight. Almost unconsciously, he replayed everything that had happened since arriving at the base.

He had met Commander Asagiri…

She was incredibly beautiful… even more so than in his memories… And he and that person…

No… Stop…! Don’t think about that anymore…

More importantly… the mission the commander gave him… He had to figure out how to carry it out…

Nine female officers… All of them higher in rank and older than him… He was supposed to… with those women…

Lost in thought, Nagato passed through the moonlight and stepped into the darker corridor ahead. It was a windowless space that grew darker the further one went.

Even so, his eyes didn’t miss the destination. He placed his hand on the lever of the door labeled “Shower Room” and pushed it open.

Well, whatever…

I’ll think about it later… Right now, I have no idea how I’m supposed to do something like that…

Still… that secretary… Who the hell is she? What did she want…?

Is she trying to interfere with my mission…? Or maybe… even with the commander’s…?

After stepping up one level into the small changing area for removing shoes, he entered a changing room about the size of a six-tatami room.

There were no windows here, but beyond the frosted glass door leading to the shower room, there appeared to be a window. A faint light was leaking through.

Nagato headed toward the shelf with changing baskets closest to the shower room and began undressing. As he did so, he recalled his conversation with the black-hooded girl.

“Don’t tell anyone… about this…”

Using an unfamiliar knife, she had skillfully cut away the wires restraining him while saying that. The ping-pong ball gag had already been removed from his mouth by her hand.

“Th… this… you mean…”

The afterglow of the pleasure Kuratova had given him earlier still lingered in his lower abdomen, causing his cheeks to flush red.

Considering the broadcast greeting was due to start in less than ten minutes, it was a rather slow reaction.

“Don’t misunderstand… pervert…”

Her face below the eyes was once again covered by the black mask. He couldn’t see her expression, but her voice was as cold as permafrost.

With a sharp snap!, the final wire around his wrist was cut, sounding like a taut tendon snapping.

“You don’t have time… to be spacing out, right…?”

Nagato snapped back to reality. He stood up to search for his spare uniform and began rummaging through his luggage. He found it in the second bag.

“Thank goodness… I should just barely make it in time.”

With a relieved expression, he took off his saliva-stained uniform.

“Hmph…”

As if venting some grudge, she finely chopped up the restraint device — which now looked like a beached octopus — and tossed the remains into the trash bin beside the bed.

“That’s an amazing knife…”

Nagato said while changing.

“You cut through metal wire like it was ham…”

The black-hooded girl’s movements suddenly stopped. Her long platinum eyelashes blinked rapidly.

“…Was given to me.”

She said proudly, pointing the tip toward him. It was a jet-black knife with an unusually thick blade. It looked a little too heavy for such a small woman to handle.

“Heh…” Nagato said casually.

“Who gave it to you…?”

“Commander…”

“Eh…!”

His hands froze mid-change, losing strength. The belt he was fastening loosened, and his trousers slid down to his ankles.

“Pervert…”

She muttered while sheathing the knife at her waist.

“N-No…! That’s not what I…! Sorry…!”

Nagato hurriedly pulled his trousers back up. Considering what had just happened, he probably shouldn’t have been so flustered.

“So you’re… directly under Commander Asagiri’s command…? Did she send you here…?”

“Hm…? Directly… what…?”

“Ah… you don’t understand the word…? Um, how should I say it…”

Having finished changing, Nagato walked toward the desk with the terminal.

Below the “Standby” message on the screen was a notice saying the broadcast would begin in three minutes.

He picked up the military cap beside the terminal, placed it on his head, and straightened his appearance.

“Later…”

At some point, the black-hooded girl was standing in front of the cabinet by the wall. Its door was wide open.

“Wait…!”

Nagato left the desk and rushed over to her.

“Thank you…! I hadn’t thanked you yet…”

“For that…?”

“Th… that… um…”

Realizing what she was referring to, Nagato’s cheeks flushed again.

“I won’t do that… again…”

“N-No…! That’s not what I meant…! Thank you for saving me…”

“Ah… That…”

Her voice remained calm, but he could see the snow-white skin around her eyes turning red beneath the hood. Feeling like he had done something wrong, Nagato decided not to mention it again.

“By the way… what’s your name…”

Before he could finish the question, she swiftly jumped into the cabinet and vanished.

He had no idea how the mechanism worked. Even when he peered inside, it was just an empty cabinet. No matter where he pushed or pulled, there was no space or passage large enough for a person to enter.

In the end… I couldn’t ask her anything important…

Well… that’s not entirely true. From her behavior… she’s probably the commander’s subordinate…

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been given such an amazing knife… and she wouldn’t be able to freely come and go through a hidden passage into the private rooms of the quarters…

The fact that she saved me from the secretary’s restraints… means that Secretary Takizaki really is…

Completely lost in thought, Nagato stepped into the shower room without immediately noticing the strange atmosphere.

The steam, humidity, sweet scent of soap, and above all, the sound of running water clearly indicated that someone else was already there.

Nagato only realized this when the shower was turned off and the sound of water stopped.

Even then, more than half of his consciousness was still trapped in his memories and thoughts. Because of that, everything that happened next in the shower room felt almost like a dream to him.

With a soft clack, one of the shower booth doors opened. Thick steam billowed out like smoke through the widening gap.

The woman who emerged looked to him like a heavenly maiden descending from the moonlit world.

It wasn’t just because of the moonlight streaming through the window or the sparkling water droplets on her skin.

Chapter 18: The Heavenly Maiden in the Shower Room ②

She was slightly taller than Nagato, who stood at 162 cm. Her skin was so moist it seemed to glow like a pool reflecting moonlight, and wet black hair clung smoothly to it, hanging down heavily.

A thick bath towel covered her from her chest to the tops of her thighs. However, no matter how thick it was, it was utterly incapable of hiding the excessively curvaceous lines of her body.

Nagato felt his lower abdomen being pushed upward by something like a bull’s horn — hot and rock-hard. He pressed it down with his right hand, trying his best not to look unnatural.

“You don’t seem very interested…”

She said while wiping water droplets from her hair with a hand towel. Her voice was somewhat low, clashing with the divine aura she gave off.

“Peeping on your very first day here…”

“Eh… No, I…”

Without knowing what he should say or what he even wanted to say, Nagato unconsciously blurted out the question that had been stuck in his throat.

“Um… Are you… from this base…?”

“What?”

She stopped wiping her hair.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“No…”

Even he didn’t fully understand why he had asked such a question. Naturally, he had no prepared answer for her follow-up.

“I’m asking what you meant by that…?”

As she spoke, she stepped closer. She was now close enough that he could touch any part of her if he reached out.

A single transparent droplet slid down from between her towel-covered legs, tracing a path along her plump thigh before falling from her knee to her calf.

To Nagato, her wet skin looked so seductive that it made breathing difficult. He bit his lip and averted his eyes from her.

“What’s wrong? Look me in the eyes…”

She stood like a guardian deity and closed the distance even further. Her towel-covered breasts were now only a few centimeters from his bare chest. The moment he became conscious of it, Nagato’s cheeks burned hot.

“You can’t look me in the eyes… Does that mean you have something to hide…? Something you can’t say out loud…?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

He couldn’t handle her getting any closer. Deciding that, Nagato simply spoke whatever was in his confused mind.

“Um… I was lost in thought… Today has been full of… so many confusing things… So I didn’t notice… that someone was already here. Plus, the secretary… Miss Takizaki… told me that no one else uses this floor except me, so…”

“Hmm…”

While still looking somewhat suspicious, she slightly pulled back her upper body.

“I see… That kind of thing… or rather, something like that may have actually happened. At least for now… I don’t have enough evidence to conclude that your statement is completely false. So…?”

“Eh…?”

Nagato couldn’t think of anything more to say in this situation.

“Not ‘eh’…”

She pointed her right index finger directly at his bewildered face.

“Your explanation only covers the fact that you didn’t come here specifically to peep… Nothing more. Am I wrong…?”

She paused to give him time to understand her explanation. However, Nagato’s dreamy consciousness couldn’t keep up with the pace of her conversation.

Even so, pressured by her intensity, he awkwardly nodded.

“In other words… you still haven’t answered my original question…”

“Original…”

He started to repeat her words like an idiot. Of course, she cut him off.

“Why did you suspect that I might not be a person from this base…? Don’t tell me you thought I was a spy or something…”

Only then did Nagato’s mind finally catch up to the intent behind her question.

“N-No, that’s not it…!”

He instinctively raised his right hand, trying to dispel her suspicion.

“It’s just that… you didn’t look like a military person at all…”

“Hou…”

She narrowed her long, almond-shaped eyes. They flashed like a blade drawn from its sheath.

“Then tell me… what kind of person do I look like to you…?”

“Th-That…”

Nagato hesitated.

“Well…?”

Her narrowed eyes emitted a dull glow. Nagato felt pressure as if the tip of a sword was pressed against his throat.

He hesitated over whether he should speak the first impression of her that was still burned vividly into his mind.

If he said it, she would surely be stunned. But if he didn’t, he felt like her pressure would cut him apart.

“I’m asking what I look like to you…?”

The sharp blade pressed against his neck. A red line was slowly being drawn there. While drowning in such an illusion, Nagato finally spoke.

“A heavenly maiden…”

“What?”

“A… heavenly maiden… from the moon…”

The pressure of the blade against him suddenly softened. Encouraged, words began spilling out of Nagato one after another.

“The world of the moon… Of course I know something like that doesn’t really exist… But when I saw you… I suddenly thought you looked like a heavenly maiden living in the moon world from the fairy tale book my grandpa used to read to me… That’s why I…”

The sharp blade that had been pointed at him had completely rounded and become like a spoon.

“Are you… joking…?”

The pressure that had been in her voice had completely vanished, just like the shape of her eyes. Nagato finally looked straight at her again.

“I’m not…! Even I think… it’s stupid to think something like that…! Like a little kid… But…”

“No, I’m sorry…”

She apologized in a flat voice.

“I wasn’t mocking you… I was just… a little surprised…”

Perhaps because the shower room wasn’t well ventilated, the heat from when she had emerged from the booth still lingered around them.

The moist, glistening skin and black hair of the woman before him. The moonlight faintly illuminating the water droplets surrounding her. That scene once again brought back Nagato’s first impression of her.

“It’s not a lie…! And it’s not a joke either…”

“I understand…”

She said. To Nagato’s ears, it sounded like she genuinely accepted it.

“By the way… What exactly is this ‘heavenly maiden of the moon’ to you…?”

“What do you mean…?”

He was bewildered by the unexpected question.

Why is she asking something like that…? Is it important…?

He couldn’t understand her intention at all. Because of that, he felt like he was undergoing interrogation training.

“Someone… unreachable… like a goddess…”

“Hou…” Her eyes sharpened again.

“So you’re saying… you feel lust toward that so-called goddess…?”

“Lust…? Eh…!?”

To Nagato, her conclusion seemed like an enormous leap.

“No way…! I didn’t… not at all…”

“Don’t lie…” the heavenly maiden declared.

“I’m not lying…!”

As he tried to push back, she presented him with decisive proof of her claim.

“Then what is that…?”

“That…?”

Nagato followed where her finger was pointing. It was his crotch. He was completely naked. This was the shower room, after all.

From the moment he saw her, his member had been as hard as a demon’s horn. On top of that, he had been so absorbed in their conversation that he had completely forgotten to cover it with his hands.

“Wah…! I-I’m sorry…!”

Nagato quickly turned his body sideways, clamping the “demon horn” between his thighs, and tried to hold it down with both hands.

“There’s no need to apologize…” she said with a serious face.

“At this rate… you’ll be able to achieve results that rival — no, surpass — the many male officers who have been assigned to this base before you. Results in helping the female soldiers fulfill their quotas under the Special Measures Act…”

Nagato was far more shaken by the fact that he had exposed his lust toward her — to none other than the woman herself — than by having his naked body seen.

Because of that, he couldn’t say a single word in response to her comment.

“Even so… to get this intensely aroused by this level of skin exposure… Youth really is something that can’t be underestimated… That alone is quite a talent. On top of that… trying to seduce me by comparing me to a heavenly maiden… Such skillful technique, unbecoming of your age. Even I… for a moment… felt my heart waver…”

While being subjected to this unfair evaluation, Nagato began desperately wishing that she would leave this place as soon as possible.

Chapter 19: Intermission (The Shinobi’s Report)

“Report… complete.”

It was a little past 21:00 — the same time Nagato was encountering the heavenly maiden in the shower room. Kuratova was giving Asagiri Reika her report on Nagato’s activities for the day.

The ceiling lights in the commander’s office had already been turned off, just like the corridors in the quarters. The window curtains were drawn tightly shut, leaving no gap for moonlight to enter.

Instead, a small desk lamp on the table carved out a white circle with a roughly three-meter radius in the dark room.

“You were quite blatantly done in…”

Leaning back in her chair, Asagiri crossed her long, shapely legs that extended from her tight skirt.

“Honestly… you were completely toyed with.”

“Wh… What…!”

Hearing the commander’s murmur, the black mask over Kuratova’s mouth moved agitatedly.

“W-Wait…! I… didn’t… toy with him…!! I didn’t report anything like that…!”

The commander raised her well-shaped eyebrows at Kuratova’s unexpected reaction. Her deep-colored eyes, matching her intellect, widened slightly.

“What’s wrong, Kuratova…?”

“That’s why…” Kuratova said, sounding frustrated.

“I didn’t toy with him…!”

“Alright, alright… I understand. So calm down…”

The commander waved her white-gloved right hand up and down.

“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but I wasn’t saying that you toyed with anything…”

“O-Oh… I see…”

A relieved breath leaked out from beneath the black mask.

“Then… good.”

“What I meant was… about Secretary Takizaki…”

“Ah…”

Kuratova’s voice had returned to its usual cold tone.

“That pervert woman… She didn’t exactly toy with him, but… she was naked and doing perverted stuff with him… so…”

“No… that’s enough about that…”

The commander gave a bitter smile.

“I already heard the rather detailed version earlier… Still, Kuratova… you’re really good at remembering every single detail of what you observe… Even down to the… perverted acts, as you call them…”

“It’s my job…”

She said it as if it were nothing.

“If we’re talking about that… You… This afternoon… I watched very closely while you and that guy were doing perverted things… Should I report that too…?”

“Please don’t…”

The commander’s cheeks seemed to flush slightly, though it was hard to tell in the darkness.

“To me… that was simply… part of the job…”

Kuratova snorted “Hmph…” Clearly filled with doubt. But Commander Asagiri pretended not to notice.

“By the way, Kuratova… After observing Nagato for a full day — or rather, half a day — what do you actually think? Will he… be able to do it properly…?”

“Do it properly… You mean… whether he can do perverted stuff with the nine on the list…?”

The commander couldn’t help but burst out laughing at her words.

“What are you laughing at…?”

“N-No… sorry…”

She honestly apologized to her subordinate.

“I wasn’t making fun of you… It’s just that after constantly dealing with the scheming monsters from Central Command and the bureaucracy… hearing straightforward words from someone like you feels incredibly refreshing… So I couldn’t help but laugh…”

“Straightforward…”

That word stabbed into Kuratova’s chest like a sharp needle.

“Ah… by straightforward, I mean…”

“No… it’s fine…”

This time, she cut the commander off.

“I understand… what you mean…”

Inside the black hood, she debated whether to pull out the needle stuck in her chest. In the end, she chose to leave it there.

“Whether he can… do perverted stuff with the nine… I don’t really know… But…”

“But…?”

The commander repeated the word to urge her to continue.

“He’s… a bit of a weird guy. So…”

“He’ll succeed…?”

Anticipating Kuratova’s thoughts, Asagiri Reika’s words made the black-hooded head tilt sideways. Then she bent both elbows, turned her palms upward, and shrugged.

It seemed her honest opinion was simply “I don’t know.”

“Good grief…”

The commander, who had been leaning forward as if drawn in by the black hood, leaned back against her chair once more.

“Now that I think about it… Kuratova… You called Nagato a weird guy earlier too. Why… do you think that?”

“Why…?”

She tilted her head again. She seemed to be seriously trying to answer the commander’s question. However, the answer that came out had no logic to it at all.

“A weird thing… is weird…”

“Hmm…”

Naturally, the commander wasn’t satisfied with that answer. Even so, she didn’t press her subordinate for anything more.

She simply muttered to herself, “To me… I don’t think Nagato is as strange as you say…”

Kuratova, with her excellent hearing, didn’t miss the small voice.

“Is that so…” she said, once again tilting her black-hooded head.

“Then… I’ll think about it a little more…”

“No, it’s fine… Don’t worry about it…”

The commander waved her hand while still seated.

“It’s already late… You should get some rest too…”

“Duh…”

Kuratova started walking toward the cabinet by the wall, then suddenly stopped.

“Right… What about that…? That pervert woman…”

The commander wasn’t immediately sure which pervert woman she meant. Noticing this, Kuratova added:

“The pervert woman… who did perverted stuff with him…”

“Ah…”

The commander finally understood.

“You mean Secretary Takizaki…?”

“Duh… Should I… take her out…?”

She made a slashing motion across her throat with her thumb.

That gesture brought a smile to the commander’s face. However, she shook her head.

“No… Leave the secretary alone for now…”

“Is that okay…?”

“It’s fine…”

The commander said quietly.

“Even if you cut the claws… they’ll just grow back immediately…”

The meaning didn’t get through to Kuratova. She remained silent, head tilted.

But the commander didn’t feel the need to explain any further.

“Well… if that’s what you want… then it’s fine… But…”

She left her words vague, seemingly unconvinced.

“Are you worried…?”

Asagiri Reika spoke as if she could see straight into her heart.

“Because Nagato might get tortured by her again…?”

After a short pause, the black-hooded head nodded slightly. Seeing this, the commander’s expression softened.

“When that happens… I’m sure you’ll save him again. Right…?”

Beneath the black hood, the pale blue eyes framed by platinum eyelashes blinked rapidly. Then she shrugged and vanished into the cabinet without another word.

“Honestly… it really was a long day…”

She switched off the desk lamp and slowly rose from the leather chair.

Chapter 20: Infantry Unit Training First Day ① The Obsessive Secretary

In the white morning light, Nagato walked toward the headquarters building. Along the asphalt path between the quarters and the opposite warehouse complex, the branches of the aspen trees planted at regular intervals carried the fluttering of great tits and their cheerful chirping.

Although the summer solstice was still some time away on the calendar, the outside temperature was already high enough to make one sweat just by moving. It would likely grow even hotter with stronger sunlight from midday into the afternoon. To Nagato, this was a welcome thing.

Born and raised in a southern country, he was accustomed to life with high humidity and high temperatures. He had secretly been worried whether he could endure the cold of TSUGARU, located at the northernmost tip of the country — especially at night and in the early morning.

The time when global warming was being loudly discussed was now long past. Most of this country’s year was dominated by long summers and winters. Spring and autumn passed by so quickly there was hardly time to notice them. But for Nagato’s generation, that was simply normal. In particular, the heat of summer felt like a close sibling to him.

However, right now he could not fully enjoy a walk with that sibling. The reason was the woman walking a little ahead of him.

Ku… Kyumu… Ku… Kyumu…

Even this morning, her hips were fully displaying the softness of their flesh inside her tight skirt. On top of that, Nagato already knew exactly what was underneath that skirt. So it was perfectly natural that his lower abdomen was twisting and hardening.

“Did you sleep well… Sergeant Major…?”

She spoke in her usual calm voice while looking straight ahead. Her back was stretched perfectly straight, as if an iron rod had been driven through it.

“Eh… Yes… Well…”

Nagato gave a vague reply.

“I see… That’s good to hear…” she said in a bright tone. “Sleep is essential not only for resting the body, but also for clearing out unnecessary clutter accumulated in the brain… If your head remains cluttered with junk, you won’t be able to focus on the training that’s about to begin…”

What is wrong with this woman…?

Nagato was beginning to doubt Takizaki Ayame’s sanity.

How can she act so casually after everything…?

The knock on Nagato’s door had come just moments ago, right after he finished preparing to head to the commander’s office. The moment he saw the secretary standing there, his mind had scattered like toys dumped out of a closet, falling into complete chaos.

She tried to frame me, tortured me, and even tried to broadcast my humiliation to the entire base…

“But Sergeant Major…”

Her voice pulled Nagato back to the present.

“I myself… had trouble falling asleep last night… Do you know why…?”

While still walking, she glanced back at him slightly. A seductive smile played on her lips.

“W-Well… I wonder why…?”

Nagato gave another vague answer. He intended to keep his heart completely closed off from her. Yet despite that, he was engaging with her words far too much.

“Well…”

After turning left at the warehouses and entering a somewhat narrow alley beside the Mechanized Unit’s barracks, she suddenly stopped and turned to face him.

“You’re quite cold, aren’t you… Sergeant Major? Even though we showed each other… such shameless appearances… Fufu…”

“Eh… That’s…”

Nagato’s protest died in his throat. She had stepped closer and placed her hand on his waist.

“Sergeant Major…”

Her hand slid down over his black trousers, changing direction just before his knee and slowly crawling up the inside of his thigh.

“Kuh…”

A pained breath escaped from between Nagato’s furrowed brows.

“It’s quiet here…”

As she spoke, she tried to push him against the hard warehouse wall in the narrow alley.

“Do you remember… my proposal from yesterday…?”

Her hot, sticky breath mixed into her words. Of course he remembered. There was no way he could forget. It was a proposal he could absolutely never accept. At the same time, it was an incredibly tempting proposal. To him, it was the devil’s own seduction.

Aware of this, he consciously tried to block his ears and resist the powerful charm of that temptation. However, her hand was about to reach the base of his right thigh. The anticipation of her supple fingers touching his painfully twisted, rock-hard member made his spine tremble and his hips feel like they would give out.

“By the way, Sergeant Major…”

But for some reason, her fingers stopped just before reaching it and went no further. Instead, she leaned in close, almost covering him.

“Your arrival greeting yesterday… was quite wonderful. It seems to have become quite the topic of conversation among the soldiers as well…”

Nagato’s heartbeat pounded like a dance music bass drum inside his chest. Pressured by it, he looked up at the secretary’s face. Her eyes behind the glasses were shining with an almost bewitching light.

“I have one big question… Sergeant Major. How did you manage to…”

However, the bewitching quality in her eyes instead helped Nagato regain his composure. Like a rabbit, he quickly shifted his stance, jumped back, and escaped from her vine-like arm.

“We need to hurry…” Nagato said. “I can’t be late on the very first day…”

“You’re right… Sergeant Major…”

The secretary did not pursue him. She simply watched him with that seductive smile still on her lips, her eyes gleaming.

“Let’s hurry…”

After that, nothing else happened. Without trying to strike up any unnecessary conversation, she guided him to the headquarters building.

They stopped in front of the commander’s office. Without even glancing back at Nagato, Secretary Takizaki knocked on the door.

“Excuse me… I have brought Sergeant Major Nagato Kai…”

After a short silence, a deep, gentle voice said, “Enter.” The secretary stepped forward and turned the brass doorknob.

Commander Asagiri…

Nagato steeled his face, trying to hide the pounding of his heart. He passed by the secretary, who was holding the pushed-open door with half her body, and stepped into the room. The large windows behind the desk had their curtains wide open again this morning.

Sunlight pouring in through the aspen grove illuminated the woman in the pure white uniform. To Nagato’s eyes, she shone as if the very moment of the world’s creation had been captured. Because of this, he forgot not only to assess the situation in the room, but even the most basic etiquette expected when visiting a superior officer’s room. He simply stood there, mesmerized.

In other words, he stood frozen without introducing himself or saluting.

It was unclear exactly how much time the clock in the room ticked during that awkward silence. But the length of that vacant silence was more than enough to make the three women waiting to receive him into the unit feel skeptical about his qualifications as an officer candidate.

The three women stood in a line to the left of the commander’s desk, facing Nagato who stood in front of it. Closest to the desk was a sturdy woman with messy black hair. Next to her stood a woman with bright brown short bob hair and a beautifully proportioned figure. Last was a gentle-looking woman with black hair cut in a very short bob. All three wore camouflage uniforms.

Their heights increased by about a head each, starting from the woman closest to Nagato. If she was roughly the same height as Nagato, the woman furthest back near the desk might be over 180 cm tall.

The woman closest to him watched the dazedly standing Nagato with calm eyes befitting her physique, without moving. Beside her, the brown bob and black beret cut exchanged glances with each other.

Is this guy going to be okay…?

The brown bob’s eyes seemed to ask the beret cut.

“Nagato…!”

Unable to watch any longer, Asagiri Reika called out to him.

“Ha…!”

Only then did he finally snap back to his senses.

“I-I’m sorry…!”

On the long-pile carpet, he brought his feet together, straightened his back, and saluted. It was the same textbook-perfect, serious-looking salute as always. However, the timing was terrible. That awkward salute evoked more pity than admiration from the women in the room.

Noticing the atmosphere, Nagato’s face flushed red even later than it should have. However, he still hadn’t fully recognized the importance of the three women standing beside the desk.

“Well, never mind…”

As she spoke, she tried to make him notice them. While meeting his eyes, she guided his gaze toward the three women standing beside the desk. Only then did Nagato clearly see them.

Ah…! That’s right…! They’re on the commander’s list… And two of them…!

The irritation the commander must have felt toward his slow wits. But at the same time, the joy that she had arranged a place for him to meet the targets directly — helping him carry out her mission. In other words, she herself was pushing forward the moment when he would be united with Commander Asagiri, his ultimate goal—

Imagining that moment, Nagato fell into a strange state of excitement. He somehow maintained the proper salute posture, but his face was bright red. To the women who didn’t know the circumstances (except the commander), his reaction simply looked like a sleepy boy who had been scolded by the commander’s sharp gaze after failing to show proper courtesy.

However, their reactions to the boy were not uniform.

Some were exasperated, some felt sympathy, and strangely, some were moved by his appearance. But most of them didn’t show it on their faces. With one exception — Secretary Takizaki Ayame.

She was still standing in the same position where she had held the door open to let Nagato in. From there, she couldn’t see his expression clearly. But from his raised voice and reddened ears, it was easy to imagine that a storm was raging in his heart.

A smile similar to that of an audience member enjoying a tragicomedy at the theater played on her lips.

“You may leave… Secretary.”

As if she had noticed that smile, Asagiri Reika dismissed her.