Chapter 54 : Mint chocolate pudding

Meanwhile, the commander, who had just finished dental treatment, looked around as they came out of the examination room.

With one hand still pressing gently on the throbbing gums with soft cotton, they were looking for Maru, who had probably left first.

“Where did they go… Ah, there they are.”

As expected, the commander soon found Maru crouched on a chair in the lobby.

Although it was unclear why they were sitting like this, as if they were taking a nap, the commander had to approach and check on them.

Maru, what are you doing there?

“I’m feeling down.”

“…?”

The commander tilted their head.

Suddenly feeling down? What does that mean?

Was it because of the injection? Or the dental check-up?

The commander had countless question marks popping up in their mind when they picked up a small piece of paper lying near Maru and nodded.

The paper had “Health check-up results report” written on it.

Height 109 cm, 20 kg… Maru, you’re smaller than I thought?

Ah.

The commander quickly realized their mistake and hurriedly covered their mouth.

“I shouldn’t have said that to Maru, who is already worried about their height. We’ve become quite close lately, but… that comment definitely crossed the line.”

“Maru, are you okay?”

Maru just shook their head without saying a word.

This was serious…

For Maru not to say anything meant one of two things: either they were “really angry” or “deeply upset.”

In other words, the commander had hurt Maru’s feelings with their earlier comment.

The commander tried to shake off the feeling by thinking hard, but… would there even be an answer?

At this rate, Maru’s favorite pudding might not be enough to cheer them up.

“Maybe there’s an answer in this paper.”

In a desperate attempt, the commander read through the health check-up report, but it seemed there was nothing helpful…

Wait?

There was something.

At the very bottom of the report, in the small “Remarks” section, a shocking note was written.

Remarks [Maru]

For some unknown reason, Maru’s growth plates are closed.

While there is a chance they may grow taller, no significant growth is expected.

An extreme explanation that the growth plates are closed and they won’t get taller.

The commander sighed lightly and pressed their forehead after reading this.

“I thought Maru had no side effects…”

Side effects.

A phenomenon often seen in young mercenaries, where they experience various physical discomforts, from mild hair loss to asthma, for reasons that are not entirely clear.

They hadn’t seemed much different from other children their age, except for their love for sweets, so the commander had been reassured.

But to find out it was this type of side effect…

After reading such shocking information, it was no wonder Maru felt down.

As the commander nodded in agreement, Maru’s soft cheek suddenly pushed into their face.

Commander?

“Ah, you scared me…”

Maru had appeared so suddenly that the commander almost fell.

Just moments ago, they had been crouching on the chair with their head down, but when had they stood up?

“Has the dental treatment ended already? That was fast…”

“…Huh? What did you say?”

While the commander was trying to calm their surprised heart, Maru’s words were enough to make the commander tilt their head again.

“Already finished with the dental treatment? It’s like you just noticed I came.”

The commander, with a glimmer of hope, cautiously asked Maru,

“Uh… just to check, did you not hear the man’s words earlier?”

Huh? What words?

Seeing Maru tilt their head in confusion, the commander sighed in relief.

“It’s nothing. But… the fact that you can’t grow taller… that’s a big deal.”

Right. I wanted to grow much taller than you, Commander. Does this mean stretching exercises won’t help anymore?”

Maru stopped speaking, seemingly having realized something, and stood up.

Then, they suddenly started stretching their arms and legs repeatedly, doing a few stretches before looking around with a confused expression.

What are they trying to do?

“Heh, uh… Ah, found it!”

“Maru?”

After a while of turning their head, Maru noticed something in the corner and ran towards it, panting.

“Maru, slow down a bit!”

“This is really important!”

The commander, forgetting the pain in their gums, followed Maru with a worried look on their face, concerned they might trip and hurt themselves.

At the end of Maru’s gaze stood a long… height-measuring tool.

…Could it be?

“Okay, Commander! I won’t even stand on tiptoes, so you have to watch closely!”

“Uh, okay. I understand.”

Maru stood in front of the measuring device with an exaggeratedly stiff posture.

Soon, with a beeping sound, a stick came down and bonked Maru on the top of the head.

At the same time, numbers appeared on the scoreboard next to it. …112.5cm was written.

“How much did I get?!”

“…It says 112.5cm?”

“Huh? What? Really? Are you serious?”

Maru hurriedly stepped down from the measuring device and, with a look of disbelief, squeezed between the commander’s legs to check the scoreboard.

She rubbed her left eye, then her right, then both together, but the numbers didn’t change.

With a great cheer, Maru started jumping up and down.

In reality, the only one who knew that her height had increased because she had kept her shoes on was the commander, who was smirking knowingly.

“Yay!”

“112.5cm! I knew that stretching exercises worked!”

“See? All that talk about growth plates closing was just a lie! It was definitely a high-level scheme to stop me from growing taller!”

“Oh my, Maru, you seem to be in a good mood?”

“Something good happen?”

As she spun around, celebrating her small step toward becoming long-legged Maru, she heard Nunu and Bada’s voices from beside her.

“You all came earlier than I expected. I guess there weren’t many people since it’s still morning?”

“Oh, don’t even mention it. There were so many people that we almost had to wait in line for an hour! If Rinne hadn’t worked at that store before, we wouldn’t have been able to get them.”

No way.

I thought I was the first to finish the check-up, but I guess not.

Rinne, who remained silent, was holding a plastic bag filled to the brim.

On the bag, in small letters, was written ‘Phantom Bakery.’

What does that mean?

“Anyway, we brought pudding, so let’s eat. There were a lot of puddings that our Maru would love.”

“I put a lot of thought into picking these, so you better be grateful!”

It’s been a while since I’ve seen something like this.

Anyway, it’s finally time to eat pudding.

‘Pudding’—what a wonderful word. Whoever invented it must be a genius.

My mouth watered instinctively, and my tongue started moving in anticipation.

“Hehe, looks like Maru can’t hold back anymore.”

“Of course! Let’s eat already!”

“Alright, then… let’s open it!”

As soon as the bag was opened, a soft, sweet scent brushed past my face.

Familiar yet always new—the fragrance of pudding.

“Here, these are the puddings we picked, and over there, the ones separately wrapped are the ones Bada chose.”

“…Huh?”

I tilted my head.

They were packaged separately, meaning they had been chosen separately… but why?

“Hehe, Bada put a lot of effort into picking these just for you, Maru. Even I and Rinne don’t know what’s inside.”

“Ahem. Go ahead and open it, Maru.”

Bada wrapped her tail around the pudding box and carefully handed it to me.

…Wait, her tail can do that? That’s so convenient.

“Whoa, it’s really heavy.”

“Hehe, of course!”

What could possibly be inside to make it this heavy?

I opened the box with eager anticipation.

“…Huh?”

“Surprised, right?”

I was indeed surprised.

The contents were… well, surprising in a different way.

Mint chocolate pudding, octopus wasabi pudding, soup rice pudding…

And pineapple pizza pudding? What even is this? Why couldn’t it just be pineapple-flavored?

“I’ve never seen any of these before… I didn’t even know puddings like this existed.”

“Of course! I knew Maru would love them, so I bought them all! How do they look? Tasty, right?”

“U-uh… yeah, sure.”

I guess I should be grateful that at least it’s not like that jelly from a certain movie that tastes like earwax.

“…The flavors are a bit weird, but I should at least try them. Bada put a lot of thought into choosing these.”

“Oh, right, Commander. You said our mission area this time is in Zone E… isn’t that where we fought the antlion last time?”

“No, that was Zone E’s command center. This time, we’re going to Zone E near our own command center. It’s much closer.”

“Ohh, I see.”

After glancing at Nunu, who was having an animated conversation, I turned my attention back to the pudding.

I should start with the mint chocolate pudding since it seems the least controversial.

At least mint chocolate ice cream tastes good, so maybe the pudding will too.

“W-well… here goes nothing.”

“Okay!”

Nom!

Huh.

…Why is it actually good?