Spending Time with the Mechanic Sisters

Well, I decided to go around and see everyone, but where do I start? There's

Mimi, Elma, and the mechanic sisters… Let's start with the mechanic

sisters then. Mimi and Elma were somehow already accustomed to my

reckless stunts, and I didn't really have to worry about May, so that leaves

the sisters, who've just newly boarded my ship. I'll spend time with Mimi

and Elma later tonight.

And so, I went straight to the sisters.

"Oh, boss, what's up?"

The two were sitting side by side on the sofa inside the break room. They

weren't doing anything in particular and were just sitting right next to each

other while gazing at the terrarium filled with alien plants.

"Um… I was thinking of going around to check up on everyone y'see. Am I

in the way?"

Since the sisters seemed to be getting along just fine, it doesn't look like

there's any room for me.

"We're just fading out a bit, big brother. Don't mind us."

"Nah, it's fine. Come and sit down over here with us, boss."

After saying so, Tina separated from Whisker and tapped the now-open

space between them.

"Right between you guys…? Is that really okay?"

Doesn't this seem like getting in between two lilies? Wouldn't I be struck

by karma or something? Uh, but it's not like the two of them are in that kind

of relationship anyway.

"What are you hesitating around for, boss. C'mon over and sit here

already."

"U-Umu…"

"You're so strange sometimes, big brother."

I sat down next to the laughing Tina. Since I was right next to Tina, that

meant I was right next to Whisker as well.

"There you go."

"Oi?"

A few moments after I sat down, Tina scooted over and hugged me from

the side.

"C'mon, Whisker. You too."

"Uh… T-There."

After getting prodded by Tina, Whisker also scooted over to me from the

other side. What the heck did I get myself into?

"Skinship really feels good somehow. And I don't mean in a naughty sense,

okay, boss?"

"I'd be really troubled if you meant it in a naughty sense."

"Why? Tina-chan's really cute, right? Whisker's pretty cute too."

Tina cutely sulked as she kept hugging my arm.

"I acknowledge that you two are pretty cute, but…"

Them being cute and seeing them 'that' way are two very different things. I

mean, sure, they're cute, but their bodies were quite small, and somehow, it

really smells like a crime… I'm afraid of unwittingly opening a brand new

door for myself that I can probably never close again. Scary…

"Let's set that topic aside. Um…"

"Hmm?"

"…I can't come up with a good topic."

"So you aren't good at socializing, boss? But I wonder why Mimi and Elma

are so head over heels for you?"

"Shut up, you. If you're so good at socializing, how about you come up

with a good topic."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's see. How about we talk about Whisker's

embarrassing stories?"

"Big sis!"

"Oh, I got one. This happened four months ago. We were tasked to give a

ship a new paintjob that day. So we were busy painting the ship, but

Whisker didn't realize some of the paint got onto her butt. Whisker went all

day without noticing and left lots of butt-shaped paint stamps all around the

workshop."

"Big sis!!!"

Whisker let out an embarrassed scream with a beet-red face. So she was

unexpectedly the airheaded type huh.

"Ain't she cute?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Kuu… If that's how you want to play, then I got some stories about sis as

well."

"Oh, go ahead and spill then. I'll tell twice the amount of Whisker's

embarrassing stories to Boss."

No matter how embarrassing those stories are, I actually think nothing beats

the time when the two of them rushed to our hotel room wearing nothing

but negligees and tried to sell themselves off. I listened to the two's stories

while inwardly thinking that.

"Gununu…"

"Mumumu…"

They were able to tell me loads of embarrassing stories regarding the two of

them in just a short period of time. Well, the episodes seemed more like

clumsy bloopers though.

"I liked the episode where Tina came to work while half-asleep and still in

her pajamas."

"W-Who was half-asleep? I just came to work in pajamas. Is there anything

wrong with that…?"

"There's quite a bit y'know."

That's an out no matter how sleepy you were. There's a limit to being halfasleep y'know.

"Fufun. As I thought. Big sis is even more careless than me."

"That's not true. Whisker's the one who's careless."

"You're the careless one, sis."

"It's you, Whisker."

"No, it's you, big sis."

""Gununu…""

Are you guys familiar with the expression 'scant difference'? There's no

point no matter how much you two compared yourselves. Well, I'm a

proper adult, so I guess I'll just watch over them quietly. They really

seemed quite similar in my eyes though.

Come to think of it, aside from Tina, now Whisker was hugging my arm

tightly as well. I guess she got too worked up so she didn't realize what she

was doing… I added a 'careless girl' point to Whisker's name in my head.

With this, Whisker was slightly in the lead when it comes to being careless.

"Or rather, isn't it unfair that only the two of us shared our embarrassing

stories?"

"Mu… That's certainly true. Please tell us some of your embarrassing

stories as well, big brother."

"My stories huh…"

But what should I tell them? I haven't told them anything regarding my

situation yet, so I really can't say much. I guess I'll have to use the amnesia

excuse I told Mimi and Elma first here.

"I don't really remember much about my past. I only remember the

memories from when I met Mimi and Elma until the present clearly… I was

involved in a hyperdrive accident you see. And as a result, I apparently got

amnesia."

"You sure know how to crack a joke, boss… Eh? Seriously?"

"Yep. Seriously. Before I realized it, I already found myself sleeping inside

Krishna's cockpit. It was really freezing so I was forced to wake up. My

body still remembered how to pilot Krishna for some reason, and that

somehow helped a lot. I was then suddenly attacked by pirates, and after I

brought them down, I found myself in the Termaine Prime colony. I was

treated as a suspicious guy since I didn't have any records available; not

even ship logs."

"That's… Then what about memories of your family or siblings…?"

"There's nothing. I don't really mind though–"

The sisters peered up to my face with moist eyes when I said I didn't mind

not having memories. What's up with them? I tilted my head.

"You look like you don't have a care in the world, boss, but in truth, you

were actually suffering…"

"You aren't sad…? Are you really okay…?"

The two of them reached out their arms and patted the top of my head

caringly. U-Un… I can't really say I was blessed with an ideal family

environment, but it's kinda hard to see them being worried about me this

much.

"No, uh, I really don't mind guys."

"Lying is no good. Anyone who lost their memories of their family will

surely feel very uneasy."

"That's right, big brother."

"I-I see…"

I got overwhelmed by their overflowing concern. The two of them were

displaying such serious expressions after all. I really felt their genuine

concern, so I couldn't bring myself to ignore them.

"If you're sad, then you can always rely on us, okay?"

"Uh, that's…"

"You don't want to…?"

"I-It's not like I don't want to."

Be cool, me. And think. Think hard… How will I get myself out of this

awkward situation– Wait, that's it!

"Let's set that topic aside for the time being. Are you guys interested in how

I met Mimi, Elma, and May? They've already told you the gist, but I'm sure

they didn't go into detail about the events, right?"

"Nn… Yes, that's certainly true."

"Yes, yes. Of course. I'll start from my time on Termaine Prime then…"

I then started telling them about how I met Elma, Mimi, and Major Serena.

And so, we exchanged stories while closely glued to each other. It somehow

feels like their impression of me has changed a bit due to this little event…

But it wasn't bad to spend time with the two of them leisurely like this.