Translator: SFBaka
When we got back to the ship, the first thing I did was guide Mimi to her room. I was using the single room as my bedroom, so sheâll have to choose from the two double rooms. Theyâre literally just across from each other along the hallway, so it didnât really matter which one she chooses.
âIâll take this room. Um⦠Would that be alright?â
âOf course. Once you arrange your luggage, you can take a shower. Afterward, Iâll have you undergo a simple vital check on the med-pod.â
âIt even has such equipment⦠T- This ship is amazing! Itâs comparable to a first-class residential unit.â
âReally?â
Iâm not really a good judge for these things since I lack this worldâs common sense. Afterward, I toured her to the laundry room, kitchen, medical bay, training room, cockpit and cargo hold. It was more efficient to show them to her all at once after all.
âPlease donât enter the cockpit unless I expressly allow it.â
âI understand.â
âWhat else should I⦠Ah! Weâll have to buy you a portable data terminal too Mimi.â
It would be better for her to have a personal terminal so I can contact her anytime. She could also use it to gather info. Guess a tablet type would be a good choice.
âBut such an expensive thing isâ¦â
âItâs a necessary expense after all.â
Thereâs not much work to do inside the ship. Letâs buy one tomorrow to pass some time. And didnât we only manage to buy the minimum amount of clothes and living essentials? Letâs buy some more clothes and household items too.
âAnyway, you must be exhausted so take a shower first and rest up. Letâs talk about vital checks and other business afterward.â
âYes. Iâm sorry.â
âIâd like to hear a âthank youâ rather than âIâm sorryâ though. Youâre familiar with how to operate the shower right?â
âYes, Iâll be fine. Thank you very much.â
âThatâs more like it. Iâll either be in the cockpit or my own room, so just tell me if you need something okay. Donât hesitate to say if youâre hungry. Weâre going to be living together from now on, so thereâs no need to be reserved alright.â
âI understand.â
Mimi nodded obediently. Great. Itâll be troublesome if you hold back even if you feel hungry after all. This is good.
I canât just watch a girl as she takes a shower, so I left the room and moved to the cockpit. I havenât asked Mimi about her exact age yet, but she doesnât seem to be at an age where she still needed adults to supervise her. I wonder how old she is? Judging from her earlier story, she seemed to still be a student in the middle of adolescence. Her heightâs on the smaller end, but some other aspects have grown splendidly⦠Hm. About 17 years old, give or take? Iâll just ask her later.
I didnât have much to do, so I decided to research about the layout of the 3rd Block in order to prepare for tomorrow. Weâll have to buy some more daily necessities and clothes for Mimi. Speaking of which, should I also buy some medicine just in case? Yeah, Iâll get some too. Weâll also need to buy an information terminal. Thereâs a lot of stores listed huh?
Well, since thatâs the case, all the more need to research each shop and read reviews about all of them. When I did so, I was surprised with the results: things like shops selling illegally procured goods, selling medicines long past their expiration dates or coming home with your purchase only to find nothing inside the package except for scrap materials.
When I excluded those from the search results, the number of relatively âdecentâ stores inside the 3rd Block turned out to be quite few. Oh, and the convenience store and clothing shop Elma led us to were actually some of those few âdecentâ ones.
Iâve always mocked her as a disappointing space elf, but she really was quite reliable.
While I was busy doing some research, Mimiâs face peeked out from outside the open cockpit hatch. She really was quite the cutie; specially after taking a shower and getting refreshed. But her clothes seemed a little thin. The temperature regulation system inside the ship was pretty high-end, so she wonât end up getting uncomfortable from being cold anyway.
âAre you hungry?â
Mimiâs cheeks turned red from my question, and she gingerly nodded her head.
âAlrighty then. Letâs eat go eat some grub. Feel free to tell me if youâre hungry, just like now okay.â
âYesâ¦â
She still seemed embarrassed about being hungry. Itâs alright. I understand. I led the embarrassed Mimi to the kitchen. Well, even though I called it a kitchen, there were actually no kitchen equipment inside apart from the Auto-cooker. The said device basically handles all food preparation, so it may be more appropriate to call it a dining area instead of a kitchen.
âYou can eat whatever you like. I bought some artificial meat earlier. I actually feel like trying it now. Do you want to try it too Mimi?â
âIâll try it.â
I set the Auto-cooker to prepare a menu using artificial meat and activated it. I selected the large serving for myself and the normal amount for Mimi. After a few moments, the Auto-cooker let out a ping which indicated that the meals were ready.
âHm. So this is the so called artificial meat dish⦠Itâs white colored, but it does seem fairly delicious huh?â
âYes, it does.â
What appeared on our plates were meat resembling fish fillets covered in sauce, with pilaf and potato salad on the side. The amount on my plate was quite a lot since I ordered a large serving.
âMuh⦠This really is pretty good stuff.â
âItâs delicious.â
This artificial meat things was delicious. It was sweet and juicy, non-greasy and with just the right texture. And the sauce used was also quite exquisite. The pilaf had also soaked up the artificial meatâs juices, which served to enhance its umami flavor. The potato salad? It tasted like your normal potato salad.
âYou donât have to force yourself to finish it all, okay?â
âIâm fineâ¦ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Mimiâs stomach was already bulging a bit. It seems like sheâs forcing herself to finish her food. Letâs order a smaller serving for her next time. Yep. Mimi peered at my face as I put the plates inside the dishwasher. Whatâs up? I tilted my head in puzzlement.
âW- What are you going to do after this?â
âAfter this, huh? Hm. Well, if you sleep after eating, youâre more likely to get fat. I guess Iâll head to the training room to move my body a bit or something?â
Krishna also had a well stocked training room. The various exercise equipment are all designed for preventing muscular degeneration while out in space. Iâve also basically spent most of my time since coming to this world holed up inside my ship, so I need to exercise inside the training room to avoid putting on weight.
âItâs fine if you went and rested up some more Mimi. You must be pretty exhausted right?â
There really were a lot of eventful stuff today. I already feel kind of worn out because of them. Iâm sure Mimi feels more exhausted than me.
âU- Um⦠Okay, Iâll do so.â
Mimi seemed to want to deny it first, but thought a bit and changed her mind. Yup, itâs better if you rest up obediently. After bidding her good night, I headed for the training room.
I donât really intend to become a bodybuilder or anything, so I just exercised moderately. I completed each exercise in a menu set by an AI instructor. This AI instructor created an optimized exercise routine based on the data about my calorie intake gathered from my information terminal and the Auto-cooker.
The workout was quite intense, but having a definite goal displayed helped motivate me to complete the menu.
After sufficiently exercising, I went and took a shower next. I sort of just went with the flow earlier today, but I ended up having to live with a young girl under one roof from now on. I want to avoid being seen as some sort of creep while weâre living together. My heart wonât be able to take it.
After washing up a little more than usual, I finally went to bed. After coming to this world, I kinda felt the urge to live a healthier lifestyle. I planned to exercise regularly, eat a well-balanced diet and get adequate sleep. Yep, how healthy.
âNnn⦠Haa.â
I took off my jacket and pants and laid down on the bed in just my underwear. A lot of stuff happened to me today. Why the heck did it turn out like this even though I just went out to buy some food? It felt like my meeting with Elma was the trigger that started it all. Did that space elf have a quality that attracts trouble or something? It might be better to keep some distance from now on.
âUmâ¦â¦â
While I was absorbed in thought, Mimiâs face peeked out from outside the open door. For some reason, her face was bright red and she seemed quite tense.
Man, I messed up. I ended up leaving the door open due to habit. And I was even just in my underwear.
âWhatâs wrong? Uh, hold that thought. Iâm in my underwear, so let me change into something decent first.â
ââ¦â¦â
âWait up a bit okaâ Eeh!?â
Whyâd you suddenly come in when I told you to wait? Rather, why the heck are you wearing a transparent negligee!? You arenât even wearing bra and panties oi! Thatâs bad! Really bad!
âStop, stooo~p! What the heck!?â
I reflexively covered my eyes with my hands. But Iâd like you folks to forgive me for peeking through the gaps of my fingers. Itâs a manâs natural instinct.
âIâve come to fulfill my nightly dutiesâ¦â¦â Mimi whispered in a small voice as she slowly drew near the bed I was lying on. The only thing sheâs wearing was a transparent negligee. She doesnât even have slippers on.
âUh, well⦠Donât we do this kind of thing after getting to know each other better or something?â
âUm, this is the only thing I can offer you⦠And I donât hate it if itâs with Hiro-samaâ¦â¦â
She called me by name for the first time just now. No, wait. Nowâs not the time for thinking about that. Aa~ah! You mustnât dear customer! You really mustnât! While I was busy panicking, Mimi finally reached the bed and snuggled up to me. Uooh! Two soft things are touching me! It was Mimi-sanâs large-caliber chest missiles! Critical! Critical hit! This is bad!
âUmâ¦â¦ I already drank some medicine, so it should be fine.â
âMe- Medicine!? What medicine!?â
âUm, contraceptives⦠and some that would prevent it from hurting for my first time⦠Elma-san gave them to me⦠Even this underwear is from her.â
Nanii!? So it was that damn elf! Does she expect me to thank her for this!?
âUmâ¦â¦ Do you not like me? Do you prefer someone beautiful like Elma-sanâ¦â
âI canât. I really canât, okay. I didnât really help you out aiming for this sort of stuff!â
âBut this is the only thing I can do⦠And, well⦠Iâm scared⦠So pleaseâ¦â
Scared? Of what exactly? What does she mean?
âI have nothing else⦠so this is to make sure. If I do this⦠then big brother wonât⦠abandon meâ¦â
Mimiâs voice gradually lowered to nothing more than a whisper. I see. So she thinks sheâs no good for anything else other than âthisâ. So sheâs worried Iâll suddenly change my mind and throw her out. Thatâs why she wanted for us to have a sort of connection through our bodies. So thatâs it. Thatâs it huh? Does she really think Iâm that kind of lecherous guy? It kinda hurts man.
âBig brother⦠Hiro-sama wonât do anything like that. So please donât worry, alright?â
âBut⦠Um.â
In other words, if I donât deal with Mimiâs doubts about my character, she wonât feel relieved. While I was thinking about how to deal with this matter, the information terminalâs ring tone rang out. I saw the message âTake responsibility and properly embrace her.â when I looked at the screen.
There was only one person who would send me such a message in this situation. In other words, it was that disappointing space elf who planned all of this.
âPlease⦠Donât leave meâ¦â Mimi cried out with a sorrowful voice while hugging me. She was probably worried about this sort of stuff because of the things Elma said earlier. Iâm gonna give her a good armlock when I see her next time. Absolutely.
âFine, I get it.â
ââ¦â¦!â
Ah, what the hell should I say at this point? This stuff was way over my head so I ended up mostly speechless.
I donât really have any clever words on hand to say in this situation. It was a bit too special. For the meantime, I pulled Mimi closer to me and lightly returned her hug. I gently patted her back in order to reassure her a bit.
âIâll be as gentle as possible.â
Mimi wordlessly nodded her head and relaxed her body. What the heck is with this eroge-like development?