203: Chapter 203 The Bet

"Phew... I'm home..."

"Yo? Is the big hero back?" Anshan, who had been lounging on the sofa, sat up when she saw Li Ming open the door and walk in. "So? How was your wonderful night with Miss Dunkerque?"

"Well... it was almost there." Li Ming slumped into the sofa as well. "Something happened, and I narrowly escaped."

"Ho? The duck in your mouth actually managed to fly away?" Anshan looked at him with disappointment. "If you're like this, what are you going to do when the other Ship Girls return?"

"I'll deal with it when it happens..."

Li Ming sighed. "Who knows what that was? Encountering a street gunfight in the middle of the night... the public safety is really... sigh..."

"That's terrible." Anshan noticed the hickey on his neck. She could tell things had progressed to the final few steps before being interrupted by whatever happened.

Or so it seemed? Anshan didn't know for sure.

Li Ming rolled over and sat up. "Dunkerque bought clothes for everyone."

"Clothes? Oh, right." Anshan lost interest. "Go deliver them to the others."

"There's some for you, too."

"Huh?" Anshan raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get my measurements?"

Li Ming reached out and patted her stomach.

"Hey?!"

"Don't you know how I know?"

"How could I possibly know!"

"Then I'm not telling you."

"If you won't say, then don't. Like I care." Anshan turned her head away.

"Don't you want to take a look?"

"I told you, I'm not interested!"

"Alright then, I'll leave it here. You can take it in yourself later."

"Go, go, go! Get out, get out!"

"Fine, fine, I'm going..."

Anshan watched him walk into his room to check on Alert, Kano, and A6, then turned her gaze to the large paper bag on the sofa.

As if possessed, Anshan picked up the paper bag, quietly returned to her room, closed the door, and then opened the bag...

Children's clothes?

???

The girl's blush might not have been from shyness, but from her temperature hitting the boiling point.

Fine, fine, fine...

Well, at least the others were fairly normal...

What's this?

A maid outfit?

A sailor suit? JK uniform? OL? Oh, there's even a qipao...

"..."

Anshan was so angry she laughed. She had known for a long time, but this was the first time she had such a direct sense of his wicked side.

He's a total closet pervert!

Unpacking the clothes and putting them in the wardrobe, Anshan stretched. She had already planned how to get back at him.

Silently calculating her revenge plan, Anshan continued to take clothes out of the surprisingly large bag.

A khaki fleece coat, everyday T-shirts, and some neutral-style jeans and workwear.

This guy actually knows my preferences? Hmph.

I guess he still has a bit of a conscience...

A dress? A gown? This must be Dunkerque's doing.

Sigh, that lucky guy.

Looking at her suddenly overflowing wardrobe, Anshan fell silent for a moment.

Should I buy some stockings later? Always wearing cotton socks seems...

What am I even thinking?

Tapping her forehead, Anshan hung all the clothes from the paper bag in the wardrobe and then stuffed the bag under the bookshelf.

"Ha... Anshan, what's for breakfast today..."

"Breakfast?" Anshan gathered her thoughts and stood up to open the door. "Kano, are you still half-asleep? It's almost eleven o'clock."

"I'm hungry..."

Kano was in her pajamas, poking her fingers together with a look of grievance.

"Fine, fine, I'll go make lunch right away... No, wait, go tell Li Ming to make it for you."

"Okay~"

——————

"With all due respect, Miss Vow. I must maintain a high level of concern regarding this matter, but given recent developments, I am worried about my Commander's safety."

"Your Commander might be a virgin, but he's certainly no fledgling."

In Edenia, at the General Bureau of the Federal Ship Girl Bureau, Aussie stirred her coffee with a spoon. "Just based on the fact that he hasn't appeared on any surveillance footage so far, the capabilities behind your Commander are far beyond our understanding."

Ms. Fujian leaned her arms on the table, resting her chin on her clasped hands. Her deep red eyes flickered with a blood-red light. "It better be."

"I'll stake my life on it. We have no ill will toward him now; in fact, we even have to rely on his... whimsical ideas for certain matters," Aussie continued. "However, since you care about him so much, you shouldn't have let him undergo our inspection, let alone send him to us. Therefore, you are well aware of certain issues regarding him, and yourself, aren't you?"

"You're right. But I hope you can understand that while I have supreme jurisdiction over Horizons Edge, it doesn't mean I can control its actions in an emergency," Ms. Fujian replied. "I hope you understand that I don't want myself... or our Commander to be threatened."

"Danger is inevitable, Ms. Fujian." Aussie sighed. "What he wants to do is already dangerously close to the edge."

"That is precisely why..." Ms. Fujian looked at her. "I want to know what my Commander is facing, what I can do, and how you can help us. Since I've come here, I've naturally brought enough chips."

"I believe that. Even I was impressed by how Ms. Fujian handled the negotiations with those big shots these past few days." Aussie tossed the spoon aside. "To give up such massive interests just like that... it was truly surprising."

"Those interests are trivial compared to our goal. If they must be given up, so be it; I am not greedy." Ms. Fujian narrowed her eyes. "It's just that I'll need your support for the upcoming handover work."

"Naturally, I will certainly help with that." Aussie sighed again; it felt like she had sighed more in the last two days than in the previous decades. "I don't want to see thousands of people dying every year because of these strange schemes anymore, either."

"That's good."

"As for the Oronia side... how about this: I'll have Verres give you a detailed report later. It should help you understand the situation there."

"Aren't you worried? This counts as whistleblowing."

"If I wanted to, what part of the Federation could be hidden from me? It's just that I don't have the energy to manage it all." Aussie picked up her cup. "Li Ming... if he wants to change something, then let him do it. Consider it my gamble. How about we make a bet? The stake is the Federation itself."

"Playing for such high stakes?" Ms. Fujian narrowed her eyes. "Aren't you afraid of losing everything, including the principal?"

"I have no choice, Ms. Fujian." Aussie shrugged.

...

...