A Place to Lean On
With repairs scheduled at the training grounds, tomorrow's training session was postponed.
I headed out late at night to deliver the news to Roberta.
...?! W-who's there?
Roberta? You in there?
O-oh... It was you.
Whew... I thought it was one of my team members. You startled me...
Roberta let out a deep sigh and placed the bottle she'd been hiding onto the desk.
You were drinking...?
Yeah... Work ran late and I missed my window to head home.
And there's something I absolutely have to finish by tomorrow morning...
If I go home now, I'd just have to come right back.
So I figured I'd just crash here in the office...
Haha... then I thought I'd have a quick drink to wind down.
I grabbed some fried snacks too. Care to join me, Captain?
I took the fried shrimp she offered and followed it with a gulp of liquor.
Whoa, that's burns...!!
The liquor scorched its way down my throat.
Fufu... too strong for you? You've got a long way to go, Captain.
The more stressed you are, the sweeter it tastes...
After enough late nights, only something strong does the trick.
At this point, I don't even taste it more. It's like... water.
...
...Gahh! That's really strong...!
That's what I said!
...M-maybe this one really is too strong... Should've bought my usual...
You've been under lots of stress lately, huh...
It's not stress... It's anger.
I couldn't find a single flaw in the Observatory reports.
I stayed up night after night digging through everything...
But on paper, the discrepancies all fall within acceptable margins of error.
And here's the kicker—some calculations claim accuracy has supposedly improved!
I refuse to believe it. It makes no sense at all. My field instincts can't be wrong.
I know... I just know something's wrong. I can feel it...!
So why does the data say everything's fine...?!
Ugh...! How can this be happening?!
It's infuriating...! I can't even sleep!
Slamming her desk in frustration, Roberta downed more of the liquor.
Ghh...!
Easy there!
...We were lucky with Lugh last time. It stopped at an injury.
What if next time it's a life?
I'm the team leader. I can't pretend I don't see the risk.
It won't leave my mind alone. I can't just sit and do nothing.
What about asking your team for help?
No... I can't.
They're already swamped with work. I need evidence before I say anything.
I doubt I'm wrong... but what if I am?
Then I'd just be scaring them for no reason.
So I'll handle it myself as far as I can.
*Sigh...* As if I didn't already have enough on my plate. My head's going to explode...
Something else bothering you?
Oh, tons. That goes without saying.
As team leader, the paperwork alone is endless.
Cleaning up Naru's messes, expense reports, approval forms...
Writing performance reviews and evaluations for each member...
And I'm moving soon, so I'm dealing with housing paperwork and loan approvals.
And with all the overtime lately, I've even been looking up which supplements to—
...Oh. Those last few were... kind of personal, weren't they?
...No, sounds pretty normal to me.
Hah...! Still, venting to you seems to have helped. My chest feels lighter.
Thanks, Captain. Because of you—
Ugh...! Wait, hang on.
I've been rambling nonstop, haven't I...
Sorry. Ever since I became team leader, it's been hard to really open up to anyone...
Guess it all just spilled out.
You've probably got your own worries too, and all I did was talk about my—
...You're saying I can talk to you anytime?
Really...?
Of course. I'm your Captain.
...!
Yes, you are...
...Yeah. Fufu! You're right!
For the next year, you're basically my boss, aren't you?
So maybe I can lean on my boss a little tonight...?
Ghh...!!
...Roberta, I think you're pretty drunk.
Pfft... I'm not!
I just... feel relaxed drinking with you...
I was having such a good time that I maaaybe drank a tiny bit more than usual...
Ah, Captain! You can't tell my team about this, okay?
Don't let them know that I drank until I got this sloppy...
They won't see me as a reliable leader anymore...
Got it...? You swear?
I won't tell.
Phew... Hehe... Talking to you like this...
It's so relaxing I ended up chatting waaay too much...
Captain... you're so kind that when I'm with you, I just...
I kinda wanna act needy for once, you know? Hehe...
I'm... gonna be a reliable team leader, I swear...!
Hey, Captain...
Let's have one last drink—
One... more...
Roberta slurred a few incoherent, drunken words before finally passing out.
As she dozed off at her desk, I draped my coat over her shoulders like a blanket.
Uugh... What a hangover... My head's killing me... I need water...
Did I drink too much last night?
Captain...? Could you get me some wa—
Oh. He already left.
I should probably get it together and get ready for work too...
...Huh?
Wait... I remember drinking with the Captain last night...
And this coat... It belongs to—
...?!
I-I didn't confess anything weird last night, did I...?
...
I didn't spill my guts, right?!