“I’m sorry, Heath.”
When Fii came back, she found York bowing to her.
The suddenness of it all caused her to panic.
“I-, I’m the one who should be saying sorry! I called you an idiot, Captain,” she cried as she shook her head.
York’s expression was serious.
“Then, you’ll forgive me?”
“Yes! Of course!”
She had been worried that things would be awkward between them, but who would have expected that York would apologise to her.
Feeling relieved, she thought to herself again that the Captain really was magnanimous.
Fii’s mood was great now, having reconciled faster than expected.
“Then from now on you’ll treat girls more nicely, right?”
“Huh? Why would I?”
His expression told that he truly had no idea what she was talking about.
Fii began to sweat.
“C-, Captain, wasn’t your sorry an apology…?”
“Umu. I upset you, after all. I’m quite sure my att.i.tude offended you somehow. I’m also quite thankful for the good relationship we have. That’s why I decided to apologise first. But it looks like you’ve forgiven me. Thank goodness.”
Fii could feel a deep sense of despair welling up inside.
(This guy… is totally hopeless… He didn’t reflect at all…!)
She finally realised it.
York was simply apologising.
It wasn’t that he realised he had done something bad; he simply wanted to continue his relationship with Fii, so he decided to say sorry.
It was terrible.
She needed to have a word with him.
“Captain… The reason I was angry is because you said something cruel to a girl!”
“Something cruel?”
“Didn’t you make that maid girl cry?”
“But it was necessary.”
“Even if it was necessary, couldn’t you have said it in a nicer way?”
“No, I am quite certain that was the best way. There’s proof. After saying it like that, I suspect she will never approach me again.”
Fii’s mouth hung open in shock.
“Y-, You don’t think at all that you should be gentler with girls!?”
“Why. Even if I do that, it won’t help get any jobs done. In fact, by saying it the way I did, I improved efficiency by reducing downtime.”
“If you keep doing things like that, one day a girl is going to make you suffer, you know?”
“You mean if the women stage a rebellion? Bring it on. When they come, I’ll show them just how I suppress them!”
Even though Fii thought they had been talking about how he needed to be gentler to girls, for some reason she could see a weird aura around York and hear the sound of excited rumbling.
Why. Why did it turn into such a weird conversation…
Fii was at her wits’ end.
But, she understood the gist of things. In other words, being kind to women wouldn’t help his job, so he wouldn’t do it. In fact, they got in the way when they approached, so he wanted them to stay away.
“Captain…”
Fii hung her head a little sadly.
“Captain, if I was useless to you, would you not treat me kindly like this…?”
‘I don’t want him to nod…’
Those words pa.s.sed through her heart.