Ch.132Born for the first time!

#132

“Hmm, still drinkable.”

Dexter, who had roughly dried his short hair with a towel, said as he drank the wine that had been left out all night since morning.

Himena, also drying her damp hair with a towel, was awkwardly making her way out of the room.

“Dexter-ssi, you’re so energetic this morning… Ow, owowow…”

“Hey now.”

When Dexter gave her a stern look as she walked with a limp, holding her waist, Himena responded with a disgruntled expression.

“…Honey.”

“That’s better. I told you to speak comfortably, so what’s with this ‘Dexter-ssi’ business?”

“I’m dying of pain here, and you’re worried about how I address you?”

“You’re worried about how I address you?”

“…Is how I address you really the issue?”

“Of course, it’s a critical matter.”

When Dexter, sitting on the sofa, gestured for Himena to come closer, she sat down right next to him.

“We’ve seen everything there is to see of each other, so are you going to keep building walls with your speech?”

“I guess not…”

“But?”

Himena nuzzled her face against Dexter’s chest and said:

“It’s just… awkward.”

“Awkward?”

“I’ve been calling you Dexter-ssi for months, and suddenly switching to ‘honey’ feels strange.”

Dexter laughed lightly at Himena’s embarrassed expression.

The story went like this.

After spending time with Himena until the early morning, Dexter woke up later than usual to be considerate of her.

As soon as he got up, he carried the exhausted Himena in his arms and washed away the traces of their early morning activities in the shower. Then, Dexter made a subtle suggestion.

‘Let’s be proper lovers, shall we?’

‘What? We’re already lovers, aren’t we?’

‘As long as Himena-ssi—no, Himena—keeps calling me Dexter-ssi, I don’t think we can be proper lovers.’

And so, after sorting out how they would address each other in the shower booth, they came out of the room.

But that had happened just 20 minutes ago.

Getting used to calling someone “honey” in just 20 minutes was quite difficult.

“Wine?”

When Dexter offered her an empty glass, swirling it in his hand, Himena reluctantly accepted it and said:

“You drink wine first thing after waking up?”

“It sticks pleasantly to my mouth.”

Dexter downed half a glass of wine in one go and poured some for Himena.

“So, are you feeling alright?”

“If we’d gone for another hour, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get up today.”

After saying this, Himena glared at Dexter.

In truth, despite Dexter’s attempts at restraint, Himena had been knocked out midway through, just like Jessie and Emily.

“I do exercise regularly, but I think you have too much stamina, honey.”

“That’s because the nanobots help me recover quickly.”

Dexter said, withstanding Himena’s piercing gaze.

“I could ask Eliya right now, I think.”

“For what?”

“A nanobot ampoule.”

“Isn’t that really expensive?”

“The one I got is for Earthlings, so it takes time to specially manufacture. If you order now, it’ll arrive on time.”

Himena pondered Dexter’s words for a moment, then shook her head and said:

“Hmm… maybe later.”

She had more to say to Dexter, but she was too tired.

Himena took a sip of wine and then leaned back on the sofa.

“Today I think I just need to… rest.”

Himena slumped on the sofa.

Dexter carefully massaged the nape of her neck, and they spent the morning hours in comfortable silence.

* * *

A few days after that incident with Dexter.

As Director Makoa had suggested, Dexter and Himena were scheduled to infiltrate Orbis Inc. in a few days.

However, as Himena had realized while trapped in Pink Industry’s storage room, they needed additional manpower.

Fully recovered, Himena headed to the maintenance department to see how Jessie, who had started working there today, was adapting.

“……”

Upon reaching the maintenance department, Himena wore a peculiar expression.

Jessie, dressed in maintenance overalls, was sitting in a plush chair with a bewildered look, while the senior maintenance workers who would be her supervisors were bustling around.

‘Something seems off…’

Unlike other departments in the OSA, the maintenance department was almost entirely devoid of women.

Moreover, without a rotation system, the work environment was closed off and exuded a distinctly masculine atmosphere.

Himena had recommended this department without knowing much about the departmental environments, but a new maintenance worker from the US Army who had recently joined had said it was similar to the military.

“Oh, Himena?”

Jessie, who had been looking bored, brightened up and waved at Himena standing in the doorway, startling the maintenance workers around her.

When they realized who she was waving at, they relaxed and returned to their work, causing Himena to make a subtle expression.

‘They’re really on guard, huh?’

“What brings you here?”

“Well, since it’s your first day, I wanted to see how you’re doing… but it seems like you’re adapting better than I expected.”

“…Everyone’s kind and treating me well. Hahaha.”

Despite her words and smile, there was an unmistakable awkwardness in Jessie’s expression.

Noticing this, Himena moved closer and spoke in a low voice:

“What’s going on?”

“…It’s fucking uncomfortable, really. They seem to think I can’t do anything without them.”

Himena flinched at Jessie’s rough word choice before responding to her complaint:

“Well, I told you before. The maintenance guys think you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I know that, but I didn’t expect them to be this overly attentive.”

Jessie said, pouting her lips.

While Jessie might be weak in front of Dexter, she had always been known for her fierce personality, which made the maintenance workers’ excessive kindness all the more frustrating for her.

“What can you do? Jobs like this aren’t easy to find.”

“I know, that’s why it’s worse. I can’t just flip out.”

After patting Jessie’s shoulder, Himena brought up a work-related matter:

“As I mentioned before, we’re planning to infiltrate Orbis Inc. in a few days. I think we’ll need your help. Would that be possible?”

“I have no reason or excuse to refuse. Of course I’ll help.”

Jessie expressed her agreement in a cheerful voice.

“But there are many other capable agents, why specifically me?”

“It’s a matter of trust.”

“Trust?”

Himena rubbed her chin thoughtfully before answering Jessie’s question:

“Let’s say you’re planning a prison break. Would you escape with an inmate who claims to be an escape expert but whom you’ve never met before, or with an inmate you’ve known for 10 years in the same cell?”

“Ah, I understand what you mean.”

As Himena said, the most important factor in this infiltration mission was the trustworthiness of the person watching their backs.

“But I’m not sure if I can do it well…”

Despite her willingness and enthusiasm, Jessie looked uncertain, worried about the possibility of failure.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we prepare thoroughly.”

Himena clenched her fist confidently.

“That’s good then. Oh, what should I call it? A request for work cooperation? Is that right? Should I do that?”

Even as a special investigation team, they couldn’t just take personnel from other departments at will; they needed to submit a cooperation request form when they needed someone from another department.

“That’s right. But you probably won’t need to say it directly. I’ll submit it in writing, so don’t worry too much.”

“It’s not just that, I feel bad about being away so much when I’ve only been here for a day.”

“Oh, come on.”

Himena poked Jessie’s side in response to her concern:

“I probably shouldn’t say this as an OSA agent, but you should definitely take what you can get. Especially when receiving intangible favors like this, you should grab them tenaciously.”

“I guess so…”

Having only recently entered society, Jessie still had a somewhat tomboyish personality and hadn’t thought about easily taking advantage of men’s kindness.

“I’ll explain that to you better later. It works well with most cases, except for weird ones like Dexter.”

Jessie nodded as she listened, then snapped her fingers as if remembering something important:

“Oh right, Himena.”

“Yes?”

“How was it?”

“How was what?”

“With Dexter, I mean.”

When Jessie grinned, Himena looked around uncomfortably before answering:

“…He wasn’t just big in size.”

“It didn’t hurt too much?”

“I thought I was going to die until the day before yesterday. I don’t know if he’s considerate or not.”

“But you know what?”

“What?”

“That was him being considerate.”

“…What?”

Himena made an incredulous face at the suggestion that going for hours without rest was a form of consideration, and Jessie whispered:

“Dexter told me something a few days ago.”

“What?”

“He said when he gets serious, one person isn’t enough.”

“…Is he crazy?”

“But Himena, you know it’s entirely possible.”

Himena nodded, blushing at Jessie’s insinuating tone.

“True, he seemed fine even after draining all my energy. He even carried me to the shower in the morning.”

“Really? I’ve never heard that story before.”

“So what happened was…”

Just as Himena was about to share more details with an intrigued Jessie, her phone started ringing.

“Excuse me. Hello, Ribero speaking.”

-Is this Agent Ribero? This is Mohave Spaceport.

It was a call from California’s Mohave Spaceport, the space equivalent of an airport for aliens visiting and staying in the United States.

Himena responded in a bright voice, as if she had been waiting for this call:

“Ah, yes! Have they just arrived?”

-Yes, they’re currently in quarantine, and we’ll be distributing education materials and disguise kits shortly. Should I tell them to wait in the spaceport lounge?

“Yes, please ask them to wait for a moment. I’ll head there right away.”

After hanging up, Himena explained to a puzzled Jessie:

“Sorry. Dexter’s guests have arrived.”

“Guests? Dexter’s? Why are you the one receiving them?”

“Oh, it’s related to the work I used to do before joining the special investigation team.”

Himena’s role in the Residence Management Department had been to handle various residence permits, including granting alien residence qualifications.

Although she was now assigned to the newly established special investigation team, it was decided that Himena would separately process the paperwork related to Dexter’s visitors.

“Didn’t Dexter mention anything about the guests?”

“No. This is the first time I’m hearing about any guests.”

“I wonder why he didn’t say anything… The daughter of the boss from the workplace where Dexter worked before coming to Earth and Eliya-ssi’s bodyguard are coming together.”

“…Why would Dexter’s former boss’s daughter and Eliya’s bodyguard come together?”

It was an unlikely combination by anyone’s standards.

“I don’t really know that either… Dexter-ssi said he would explain later.”

When Himena first heard about this, Dexter was still working at the prison, so she didn’t know the details either.

Himena decided to ask the two visitors directly when they arrived at the spaceport.

“Is that so? Hmm, if they’re coming to the house, make sure to let me know. Got it?”

“Of course. I’ll tell you as soon as they arrive.”

After a brief farewell to Jessie, Himena headed to California’s Mohave Spaceport.