"Undo them now! Or fuck me while I’m tied up!" Rea shouted. "The choice is yours!"

The declaration had been made with such confidence and pride that both Cero and Lith were stopped in their tracks, frozen.

"Well? Which will it be?" Rea shouted, her gaze moving from Cero to Lith.

"Quiet down, little rascal."

"Ha?!" The Paru’s hand pushed down on her head. "Y-You… You chose to-"

"Undo them-"

"NOOOOO!!"

A minute later,

"You really are a horny little thing." Cero whispered as he undid the seatbelts that were holding Rea’s leg to the seat. "Are there times when you’re less horny than the usual? I kind of want to have a serious talk later."

"Shouldn’t you start by undoing my arms?" Rea muttered to herself. "Nope. Always horny. Nope. No serious talk for me."

"Really? You don’t want to talk?"

"I would rather not. Hey, why did you stop undoing them."

"Hm… It’s as they said…"

"Who’s they?! And what did they say?!"

"That you were a spoiled brat. Well, I suppose it makes sense." The Paru whispered while holding his chin, as if deep in thought.

"Yeah, well… I am a spoiled brat. So what? They should just deal with it, or fuck off to leave space for those who can."

"Well," The Paru’s hand took hold of Rea’s face. "I think I can deal with it."

"I… Know you can!"

***

’No serious discussion with Rea, huh? Hm… I kind of feel like delaying it, but I shouldn’t. Yeah, might as well get it done on the same day.’ Cero nodded to himself.

"Why are you nodding?" Roka asked, a confused expression on her face. "I haven’t said anything yet."

"Well…" The Paru raised a hand. "Parus, am I right?"

"Makes sense to me." Raya shrugged.

"They do be like that." Rea nodded.

"Yes, yes. I’m sure I would have related was I a Paru-"

"Alright." Roka sighed, interrupting Liz’s sentence. "Sure, we can joke around. We can even drink wine, as we have. But we can’t let our guard down just yet. The mission isn’t over until we get the Tsero Crystal to the people. And there are still a couple of steps before we can reach the people."

"Isn’t it basically a done deal?" Al asked, raising a hand. "I mean… All we have to do now is do stuff we’ve already done, right? Like… That pretty Planet, you know? The one with a bunch of colorful flowers and all?"

"Oh, yeah!" Jay shouted as he pointed. "I liked that one!"

"Hm." Kris nodded. "It’s a beautiful place.

"Yes…" Liz pressed her lips together. "I agree. I did like that one." She slowly turned towards Cero. "I think you’ll like it as well. The whole Planet is covered by…"

It took a couple of seconds for Liz to realize that all eyes were on her.

"W-What?"

"You’re interrupting the meeting to tell him about Folynia?"

"I’m not interrupting, you did!"

"Um… No?" Al frowned, slightly confused. "Not really."

"Alright, everyone shut up." Roka clapped her hands. "Al, no. It’s not a done deal. Liz, you can tell Cero about the flowers and leaves for however long you want once the meeting is over."

The sentence made some of the crewmates chuckle, and turned Liz’s face even redder then it already was.

"In any case… Sure, Folynia will be our next stop. But after that, we’ll be back in civilized territory. After that, we won’t have to look, scavenge for, and gather fuel. We’ll be able to simply buy it."

"God, I can’t wait for that time…"

"I want to get my nails done… Yeah, that’s the first thing I’ll do once we’re back in civilized territory!"

"I’d like to get some fresh food…"

Roka paused while murmurs and whispers filled the command room.

She noticed that Raya was staring at her.

’Are you really going to tell them?’

Roka could tell that this sentence was exactly what was going through Raya’s mind.

Her doubts that the Syndicate might truly turn into an enemy and problem, not just for the crewmates and their mission, but for Wor… Sharing such doubts isn’t always the best thing to do.

’In the first place, you know how those who doubt the Syndicate are seen. Those who doubt governments and officials… In a way, we’re all going against the Syndicate here. Still, to say that they would actively move against us… That would make you sound like a conspiracist… I don’t really care either way but…’

"Well?" Cero urged, following Roka’s lengthy silence.

"Information about Folynia will be shared by Raya." The Commander cleared her throat. "Meeting adjourned."

"Huh?" The Paru frowned, and expected everyone to complain.

No one did.

It was a useless meeting. One that didn’t bring to any conclusion or discussion.

Fruitless meetings weren’t rare… Except when led by Roka.

The Commander has never called a meeting for no reason. She has never called for a meeting that didn’t turn out to be crucial one way or another.

"Is…" Kris whispered. "Is there something you’re not telling us?"

"Nothing worth telling, for now." Roka answered as she turned away.

"Shouldn’t you still tell us?" He frowned. "That’s what you usually do. So that if it becomes relevant suddenly, we’ll have been aware of the possibility, and be able to move quickly."

The Commander remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"This is different. It’s completely useless. I felt the need to discuss it before, but that was simply me being rash."

The Paru tilted his head, listening silently.

"I understand." Raya muttered as she turned away. "Please think about it more before calling a meeting. Don’t change your mind after bringing all of us together."

"It’s not like you have that much to do…" Bak whistled.

"What was that," Raya turned towards him, her eyebrow twitching. "You little shit?"

"N-Nothing! Just a joke!"

’I wouldn’t want to make them overly cautious or fearful… Or paranoid. It’s just a stupid thought anyway. Still, it makes sense. It makes sense… But it is far-fetched.’

The Paru slowly tilted his head closer to Liz’s.

"Any idea what this is about?" He whispered.

"No… Not exactly." Liz hid her mouth with a hand. "It looked like Roka was about to talk about something, but then changed her mind. She’s not the kind not to share stuff, whether it’s her ideas or theories or worries… My best guess is that she talked it over with someone else. Probably Raya."

"Why do you say that? Because of what Raya said? That would make sense."

"Yes, but it’s only part of it. Roka usually goes to me when she has ideas about getting shit done. For example, trying to find the best way to do something, or if it’s feasible… That kind of thing. Raya though… She usually goes to Raya when she has no idea what to do, or what to choose… I guess? It’s something like that-"

"Whispering?" Rea clicked her tongue as she walked past them, hands in pockets. "Are we back in middle school?"

"I really thought we were, seeing your size." Liz sneered. "By that, I mean your height-"

"I got it. You couldn’t be talking about my ass after all." Rea shrugged with a smile. "Oh, so it’s the opposite situation, huh? You got height, but no ass! It’s like we’re both 50 percent middle schoolers!"

"This fucking bitch…" Liz cursed under her breath while Rea walked out of the command room. "Seriously, what do you see in her?" She whispered.

"Huh?"

"What do you see in her? Rea’s such a spoiled brat!"

"D-Did…" Cero frowned, feigning confusion. "Did you not see that ass?"

"Oh… Oh! So that’s what it is! I see, now it makes sense." Liz sighed.

It was a sigh of relief, which worried the Paru.

"Yes, if it’s her ass… Then it’s completely understandable. Still… Putting up with a spoiled brat just for that ass…"

"I don’t dislike her," The Paru shrugged. "Personally."

"Yes, I don’t either." Liz smiled. "I kind of hate her."

"Ha? Since when?"

"Since I learned that-"

"You two can stop whispering." Roka sighed. "Everyone is already outside." She waved, and took the final step leading to outside the command room.

"..."

***

"Hey!" Raya waved. "Happy to see you. How was your talk with Liz? I wonder what it was about, since you had to delay-"

"What was that about?" Cero interrupted. "The meeting."

"Really? You’re going to delay whatever you wanted to say further?"

"If you don’t want it delayed too much then…"

"Ugh, fine." Raya raised her arms to the sides and let her body fall against her bed, causing her white lab coat to flutter. "I guess you won’t see it as weird, since you’re not from… Any place that has heard of the Syndicate."

"The Syndicate…? That’s the Intergalactic Alliance thing, right? Liz told me about it. A bit."

"She did?"

"Yeah."

"Huh…" Raya shook her head while clicking her tongue. "Looks like you’ve already been brain washed by the dark side."

"...?"

"That was a joke. I don’t know what Liz told you… I don’t know where she stands on that so… Anyways, it was just a joke since I saw you two whispering together so…"

"So Liz became the dark side because you got jealous."

"...!"

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