"Claire!"
I scrambled up the Humanoid Heavy Machinery and yanked the emergency manual release lever to pop the cockpit door.
Thank god it was heavy machinery.
If it had been a fighter, I would've wasted time wrestling with the authentication systems.
Inside, Claire was slumped over, unconscious and covered in blood.
She was still breathing.
Her glasses were shattered, but luckily, no shards seemed to have pierced her face. For now, it was a relief.
"Leo-kun!"
The Fairy appeared, looking completely frantic.
"Claire-chan hit her head! Blood is gushing out of her nose!"
"That’s not good!"
Head injuries were nothing to sneeze at. Nanomachines were miracle workers, but they couldn't always bring you back from the brink.
"Fairy! Call for a medic!"
"Y-Yes!"
The call went out immediately, and she was soon airlifted to the hospital by military heli.
I volunteered to go with her—mostly hoping to ditch work—but my request was flatly rejected.
I was told she'd be fine since she had family in the Imperial Capital.
Apparently, they worked at a supermarket chain her family owned. Her parents were a real power couple; her father was the CEO at the home planet headquarters, and her mother was a government official who spent her days flying across the galaxy to promote regional industries.
...They sounded way more competent than my own family.
Back when we lived in the Imperial Capital, my old man was stuck in a department full of useless high-ranking nobles. It was a wing dedicated entirely to ordering supplies.
And not even the big stuff—General Affairs handled that.
My dad’s office was specifically for ballpoint pens.
He wasn't even trusted with the pens themselves; they were sent straight to the warehouse. He was a miracle of incompetence, sidelined even in a dead-end job like that!
The Fairy had double-checked the records, so I knew it was the truth.
...If I let it get to me, I'd already be losing.
Anyway, since my attempt to slack off failed, I was kept busy. I set up cordons, moved crates with a forklift, and hauled sandbags to set up machine gun nests facing the direction the creature had come from.
Work sure was wonderful.
Once the physical labor was done, I moved on to the brain work. I installed intrusion detection sensors and mapped out the security drones' patrol routes. Since they used infrared, I ordered fences to be put up to prevent any accidents with bystanders.
I even drafted and submitted a construction plan to the military.
Man, I was getting fast at this. Pretty impressive, right?
Heading outside the facility, I spotted some damage on the roadside slope. I sent a drone up to snap some photos and fired them off to the Department of Transportation.
While I was at it, I checked for blood trails. There was a ton of it.
I forwarded the data to the military and the police, requested extra security, and initiated a road closure. I whipped up the plans for that and hit send.
To top it off, I updated my squad’s shift roster to include the new guard rotations and sent it to the Base Commander.
We were clearly understaffed, so the commander wasn't in any position to complain.
Phew. I really put in a solid day's work.
"You’ve really settled into your role as a manager, haven't you?" the Fairy remarked, having helped me with the paperwork.
Who did this?! Who was the moron who promoted me to Captain when I’d made it perfectly clear I didn't want to move up the ladder?!
The sheer injustice of it made my head throb.
"Never mind that. How's Claire?"
I figured she was fine, but I couldn't help but worry.
"She's awake. It looks like she just blacked out from the impact and overexerting her ESP."
"ESP?"
"The records show she originally tested positive, but she wasn't strong enough to be scouted for the Special Task Force."
"Huh."
Maybe I’d pushed her too hard. People who’ve just awakened their ESP tend to get overexcited and burn themselves out.
I felt a twinge of guilt. I’d have to keep a closer eye on her from now on and stop her before she overdid it.
"Claire doesn't know her own limits. I need to be the one to hold her back."
"Look at you, being all responsible. Even though your own brakes have been broken for years."
Hahaha!
Her words stung, but I laughed them off. Since I'd lost count of how many times I'd danced with death, I decided to just play dumb.
Once my shift ended, I showered and put in a request for a bike. I changed into a military uniform suitable for public appearance and got ready to visit Claire.
Then Melissa and Ren—along with basically every girl from the Officer Academy—decided to come along, so I had to upgrade the request to a microbus.
At the base, I was intercepted by Prince Thomas's Personal Guard, who were busy working out at the gym.
They were a bunch of pretty boys, but they were lazy as hell. Their reputation among the girls was in the gutter. It seemed the girls had decided that us idiot boys were actually the better option.
Better a reliable moron than a useless pretty face.
The girls at the Officer Academy were real go-getters.
As I was staring off into the distance, one of them said, "We'll give you a lift."
Oh, right. They were still assigned to guard me.
I let them drive the old bus—a model from decades ago—that they'd pulled for the loan.
It felt a little weird having the high-and-mighty Personal Guard acting as our chauffeurs.
In fact, the handsome guy behind the wheel had a noticeable twitch in his eye. I couldn't blame him.
For some reason, the escort vehicles trailing us were way more luxurious than our bus, even if they were heavy-duty military models.
Still, they did their jobs. I had to give them that.
"Thanks a bunch!"
We reached the hospital—the Military Mutual Aid Association Hospital. A dedicated military facility.
Since we'd called ahead, the place was under military watch. An administrator led us to her room.
It was a private suite. Damn.
"She is a member of Princess Veronica's Personal Guard, after all..."
Ah, that made sense.
I went to knock on the door, but the girls behind me were already making a racket. Claire probably knew exactly who it was before I even opened the door.
"Yo," I said, stepping inside.
Claire was sitting up in her pajamas. She was wearing a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, likely a spare.
"Oh, hey guys."
"Good to see you're okay."
"Ah, Auntie. These are my squad mates and my captain."
Her aunt was a young woman, maybe late twenties or early thirties.
The woman's eyes went wide.
"Aaaah! The famous Leo Kamishiro!?"
"Uh, hey."
"Goodness, Claire! You didn't tell me a celebrity was coming!"
The aunt looked at me, then at Claire, and a mischievous grin spread across her face.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my~♪ How very interesting~♪"
For some reason, the rest of the girls joined in on the teasing.
"My, my, my~♪"
They really were on the same wavelength. Even Melissa and Ren were chiming in. Were they twelve?
"We’d better get out of the way and let you two talk~♪ I have to tell your mother about this!~♪"
"Come on, everyone, let's give them some space~"
"Okaay~♪"
They all filed out of the room in a giggling swarm.
Claire let out a huff. "Honestly..."
Then she turned back to me.
"Leo!"
"Uh, yeah?"
"I'm going to follow you! No matter what!"
"Sure!"
"I’m going to get stronger. I promise!"
"I know you will! You're my partner, Claire!"
"Yeah!"
From out in the hallway, a chorus of disappointed groans drifted back into the room.
"He went for that route!?"