Chapter 8: Chris and Mimi

Chapter 8:
Chris and Mimi

 

“MMM, THAT WAS a good meal!” I said, patting my belly.

At our victory party, we ate the Steel Chef 5’s pizza and fried chicken to our hearts’ content. After that, I took another bath and headed to my room.

The party was great. We had an incredibly savory meal made with artificial meat and had a great time. We were veritable clubbers—or at least Elma was, with how much she was drinking and chatting.

I was good and full, so I left the other two cuties and our capable maid to take care of the still-drinking sad elf, and bathed again before coming back. That fight exhausted me much more than I had imagined, both physically and mentally. I was dead tired for most of the party.

“What a pain…” I groaned. I operated my bedside console to display what the Krishna’s light sensors were currently picking up.

On the holo-display, I saw the state of the hangar we were stationed in. Maintenance personnel and robots busily buzzed

around the hangar. We were enjoying a party, but Count Dalenwald’s men, women, and bots were all still overwhelmed by cleanup work.

According to Chris, this ambush was made possible by Balthazar’s co-conspirators in the Kormat System’s own fleet—people who should’ve been working for the count. Thanks to that, Count Dalenwald and the Kormat System were in great turmoil.

Not that it mattered to a mercenary like me. We had been ordered to stand by in Count Dalenwald’s flagship for now, so as long as we did that, we were free to do what we wanted. Though we would have to launch if he ordered us to, of course.

Once they finished cleaning up the battle zones, Count Dalenwald’s unit would head to Kormat Prime, the Kormat System’s central colony. They would then hand off the ships they towed there, treat the injured, repair their damaged ships, and do other such odd jobs. Meanwhile, we would be on standby.

We were in the count’s own backyard now. The enemy ringleader had been captured, so I figured we would be released from duty. But Count Dalenwald was surprisingly diligent.

Just as I spread out to relax in bed, my doorbell rang. The door to the room was airtight and sturdy, so a simple knock wasn’t enough for a person inside to hear. As such, it came installed with a doorbell, although Elma would still bang on the door as hard as she could.

Wondering if Mimi or Mei had come to visit, I opened the door to see Chris there. “Good evening,” she greeted me.

I wasn’t expecting her, so I was just in boxers and a tank top—just my underwear, basically. “Hold on a sec,” I said.

“Okay. I’m sorry to bother you while you’re resting.”

Talking to her in my underwear would be silly, so I decided to at least put on some pants. Chris politely looked away.

“So, er, what brings you here?” I asked.

“I don’t have any particular business…but I did want to talk to you.”

“Oh?” It was kind of a strange answer, but I had no reason to refuse her. I guided Chris to a table and chairs near my bed. As a man, I certainly couldn’t have a noblewoman sit on my bed. Though honestly, just letting her into my room felt wrong in and of itself. “Sorry, I don’t really have any tea or anything. Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

I reached into the fridge and pulled out a black, non-carbonated, sugar water-like drink. I then set it out on the table and had some for myself. Mmm. It doesn’t have that kick, but I do love how it feels inside me.

“Uh…” I struggled with what to say. “Ah… All’s well that ends well, right? We’re out of danger, so that’s certainly nice.”

“Yes. Thank you so much. My grandfather praised you, too.”

“Did he really?” That old man always looked mad, what with those deep, angry wrinkles in his brow. But I suppose he was just acknowledging my skill as a mercenary.

“Yes. He looked unhappy, but he said that your strength was true.”

“Huh. Guess I can appreciate that.” I then stood up, having remembered something, and reached into the closet by my bed for a certain necklace with a lilac jewel. I’d kept it right in the pocket of my favorite jacket. “I oughta return this to you soon.”

“Oh…” Chris looked upon the glimmering necklace in my hand. She seemed sad, even lonely, as she did.

“I’m gonna keep working as your knight for a little longer, but Count Dalenwald paid out my reward for protecting you, so I think it’s time to give the necklace back. It’s important to you, right?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she answered, “Yes.” I handed over the necklace, which she obediently accepted and squeezed in her little hand. With that, I sat back in my chair opposite her.

“Erm, I…”

“Yeah?”

“I… I love you, Hiro.” Chris blushed bright red, still clinging to the necklace. Tears built up in the corners of her black eyes.

“…Okay.” I had a feeling that was the case, honestly. We had slept next to one another once. She was in her early teens, but she was a lady with a high-quality noble upbringing. She wouldn’t have slept beside me if she didn’t at least like me.

I could see why she might feel that way about me. Truth aside, from her point of view, I was like a prince on a white horse who’d come to save her from danger. Except I was just on a small black battleship instead of a gallant white steed.

To a girl in a sensitive period of her life, a man who would protect her was a reasonable target for her affection. It would only be a passing feeling, but to totally brush her off would be too mean. To her, this no doubt felt serious. I could only imagine how much courage she had to muster to tell me how she felt.

“I appreciate that you feel that way. It’s not every day that a guy gets to hear that from such a cute girl. But I can’t say much more than—Aww, c’mon. Don’t cry.”

Tears started gushing from her eyes, so I hurriedly brushed them away with my fingers. Sorry I don’t have a handkerchief around. You can tell I’m not good at this.

“Look, there are a lot of…circumstances. That goes for you and your noble duties, too. Balthazar’s sure to get disowned, so without you, Count Dalenwald won’t have an heir.” They could maybe give the title to someone outside of the direct family, but I wasn’t sure if they were willing to go that far. “I really doubt Count Dalenwald would be okay with you being with some random bozo like me. Not that it would be okay if he said yes, either. I’m not planning to give up mercenary work right now.”

If Count Dalenwald was somehow fine with a relationship between us, I suppose I would become a noble. But would my ambition of living on a residential planet and drinking soda all day come true? Maybe it would, but that felt wrong. I wanted to earn that freedom with my own hands.

“Truly…?” Chris urged. “Even if I was willing to leave my family, is it still impossible?”

“Yeah. Honestly, that would probably piss off your granddad so much that he would come and kill me. Sorry, but I’m not willing to give up my life for you.”

Chris started crying even harder. What I had just said was pretty much a final no. Put more bluntly, I had completely rejected her. Like I said, I wasn’t willing to give up the mercenary life with Mimi and Elma just for her. If Count Dalenwald came after us, the girls would be at risk. As a man, and as owner of the ship, I couldn’t expose my girls—my crewmates—to such danger.

Put frankly, I cared more about our life together than Chris’ feelings. I did have to feel bad for her, though. I used my terminal to summon Mei. Before long, she appeared and looked to me, and then to the girl suppressing sobs next to me.

“Sorry, Mei,” I sighed.

“It’s okay. Leave it to me,” Mei said, taking the crying girl out of my room.

I probably should’ve consoled her myself, but unfortunately, I wasn’t equipped with the romance skills necessary to console a girl I had spurned myself. How awful could one man be, pushing all of his troubles onto Mei?

“Uuuugh…” I heaved another great sigh and dove into bed. I’m just gonna go to sleep. Let’s do that. Tormented by images of Chris sobbing, I did my best to drift off to sleep.

 

***

 

I woke up from my frustrated sleep. My head and shoulders felt awfully heavy, and I had a strange headache. Basically, I was in awful condition. I had spurned an innocent girl’s heartfelt emotions just to protect myself and my lifestyle. Realizing this anew, my heart sank.

There were a million excuses. Her grandfather-slash-patriarch wouldn’t accept it, I would have to give up my life as a mercenary, and I would probably have to break up with Mimi and Elma.

But maybe the count would say yes, and I could still blow-up pirates in space with my Krishna even without mercenary work, and Mimi and Elma could be like, concubines or whatever. Could I still truly enjoy my life without care if all that happened? I certainly don’t think so. Married into the family or not, being a noble meant a lot of limitations. No doubt Chris would suffer, too.

That just meant I would need to support her all the more, but honestly, I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to carry myself in noble—

“Hup!”

“Wha…?!”

There was a cute noise of exertion as someone pressed some soft, heavy things into my back. What’s this?! I struggled and writhed to find out which traitor had awoken me, and I found bright-brown eyes staring at me. Though they remained fixed on me, they wavered with unease.

“Mimi.” I greeted her, but she said nothing and buried her face into my chest. What is she, a puppy? I imagined her brown hair adorned with dog ears. “What’s up?” I scratched her head, prompting her to rest her chin on my chest and look me in the eye. Her eyes quickly filled with tears.

“I…I…”

“Seriously though, what’s up?” Totally confused, I wiped away her tears. Yet that only made her cry for real. Mimi buried her head in my chest again, and so I continued to pat her head until her wails finally subsided.

Is she done? I wondered to myself as I looked down at her. She was sniffing hard, snot leaking from her nose. “C’mon, babe. Don’t mess up your pretty face like that.”

“Bleh…”

I grabbed some recyclable wet wipes from my nightstand and wiped the area around Mimi’s nose. Once that was done, I tossed it into a specialized bin, where it would automatically be turned into a fresh wet wipe once again. I still have no idea how that works.

We then waited for Mimi to calm down, still sniffling and on the verge of tears as I stroked her hair. As we lay together, I realized that Chris’ gloomy image was fading from my mind. I felt a little cruel, but at the same time, I realized more than ever that life with Mimi and Elma was what truly brought me peace.

“Mimi,” I said.

“…Yeah?”

“I think being with you calms me the most.”

“Waaaah!” Mimi started crying again. You’re a real crier today, huh? I smirked inwardly as I continued to stroke her. “I’m sorry for bothering you…”

“Don’t worry about it.” The only sacrifice was the shirt I was wearing. One trip to the washing machine, and it would be nice and spiffy again. Though I guess I did lose a few wet wipes. It would take a while for them to get restored, after all. “So, why were you crying?” I asked, prompting more tears to well up in her eyes.

But Mimi held back this time and began to mutter. “Um… Mei told me about you and Chris.”

“Yeah?”

“I was just…really happy that you chose me and Elma over her.”

“Oh. Er, what?” I could see she was happy, but not how that was related to her crying a whole river. Oh, could that be it? I thought to myself, but I couldn’t be certain.

“I was happy that Chris lost. That you chose us over her! It made me think I was such a meanie… Eventually, I got all lonely from ruminating alone in my room, so I just wondered how sweet you would look if you got all worried about me, and…!”

“Ooo…kay. There, there.” I pulled Mimi into a hug and resumed my stroking as the tears flowed anew. She just couldn’t forgive herself for being happy that I ended up hurting her friend like that.

“It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I thought you would be sad, too, and I wanted to make you feel better…but now you’re just consoling me. I never knew I was such a mean, shameful, awful girl…” Mimi exhaled the longest sigh into my chest. I noticed that my eyes were starting to get a little damp, too. Another shirt was lost to tears and snot, but hey, no big deal.

“Come on, now. I was feeling the lowest of the low, but you brought me back up to ‘just a tiny bit worse than usual.’ You did a good job, Mimi. Don’t beat yourself up too much.”

Mimi looked up at me with teary eyes, sniffling. Stop doing that: I already wiped your tears away! Fine, ugh, I’ll do it again. Blow your nose, girl, before I run out of wet wipes. You’re using them up faster than they replenish! How are you doing that?!

“I’m a little hungry. How about we go to the cafeteria?”

“Okay…”

I got Mimi out of bed and changed shirts again. We then headed for the cafeteria, throwing my shirts into the combo washer-dryer along the way. I ignored Mimi’s apologetic look.

In the cafeteria, Elma sipped at a glass of something alcoholic, while Mei stood by next to her.

“Wow, that was fast,” Elma said. “Mimi, why’s your face all red?”

“I will deal with this at once,” Mei declared. “Miss Mimi, please sit over here.” As soon as she saw Mimi’s face, she sat next to the poor girl and began working on something.

“You seem calm, Elma.”

“Duh. Not like we can do anything about it.” She placed her glass on the table and offered a wry grin. “Realistically, Count Dalenwald wouldn’t want you near Chris. And I doubt she has time for you, anyway.”

“How so?” I raised an eyebrow, confused by that last statement.

“With the proper heir—Chris’ father—dead, and with Balthazar dealt with, Chris is probably gonna inherit their territory. Count Dalenwald could live a long time with the right treatment, but that still has its limits. If he died suddenly, he would just be leaving poor Chris as the new countess. Might as well plan for that eventuality, so he’s probably gonna rush Chris’ education.”

“I see.”

“They’re gonna teach her how to be a noble and a countess, all under heavy supervision. She doesn’t have time to fuss over love. Lucky for her, she still has time until she’s formally of age, so she’ll probably be educated in time. But in return, she pretty much has no freedom.”

“That’s kinda sad in and of itself.”

“That’s what being imperial nobility means. You get the power of a noble, but you also get the responsibility of one. I do feel bad for her, but…” Elma glanced over at Mei, who was currently applying some sort of towel around Mimi’s red, inflamed eyes.

“But?” I urged.

“Nothing. I hope nothing happens.”

“Hold on! What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Out here, machine intelligence kinda…prioritizes fulfillment in romance. They’re basically obsessed with happy endings.” Elma’s words were disconcerting, made worse by her unpleasant gaze toward Mei.

“Love will save the universe,” Mei responded coolly, her reply just as disconcerting. Hold up! For real, Mei, what in God’s name did you say to Chris?

“How old was that girl, again?” Elma wondered. “Twelve-ish? In three years, she’ll be of age. I just hope she changes her mind by then.”

“Don’t worry, Elma. He’ll be head over heels for us long before that time comes.” Mimi wrung her fists, having fully recovered thanks to Mei’s help.

“Hmph,” Elma replied dismissively, her long ears turning just a little redder. While Mimi had recovered, and Elma seemed as cool as ever, I was absolutely not calm at all.

“Mei, what did you tell Chris?” I asked.

“Nothing that you should worry about.”

“Just tell me.”

“Very well,” Mei responded. “As Lady Chris is nobility, and she will be the indisputable next Countess Dalenwald, I simply advised her that she will be free to use her power to keep you as a lover.” She was calm, but her words were terrifying.

“Mei, I seriously don’t plan on being a noble—”

“Yes, you’ve said that before. You do not want to be a noble because you wish to keep your freedom. But there are ways to deal with that.” She grinned just slightly, a bone-chilling smile.

What? Is she enjoying this? I don’t know what she’s planning, but I’m spooked!

“You have no need to fear. All I do is for the sake of your pleasure and fortune, after all.”

“She’s right!” Mimi chimed in. “You have to trust in Mei. She’s a good person!” She seemed awfully fond of Mei these days.

“True. She probably won’t do anything to hurt you, so don’t worry too much, whether she’s a ‘person’ or not.” Elma seemed to not care, as if she’d given up on the subject. I felt her usual bend-but-don’t-break aura. “Anyway, that’s enough talk about Chris. Our next stop is Dalenburg, and once we have our reward, we’re free mercenaries again. Captain, I hope you’re coming up with a plan for what we’ll do after.”

“Y-yeah… Right. I’d better get to thinking about what we’re doing next.”

The gateway had taken us far from our previous haunts, so we would have to gather info on nearby star systems. We also had quite a bit of money saved up, so looking into buying a mothership might be a good plan. That would let us earn money through shipping, and we could free up the Krishna’s cargo space to put more equipment and appliances in it.

I wanted to buy a mothership, but preferably for cheap and of good quality. Repairing one when it was shot down typically cost as much as buying a new one, so the cheaper the ship proper and the parts needed to customize it, the cheaper maintenance would be. And if I wanted a cheap ship, then going to where they were produced would be best. Basically, a star system with ship manufacturers.

Hmm. I’ll be sure to keep all this in mind.