"Commander, you do know that Bailey is an alien from planet Bunny, don't you?"

The Commander—who just moments before was strolling around the town on a paid vacation and minding his own business—realized he was trapped as soon as he found both his hands in the firm grip of the redhead before him.

Sure, Bailey's a petite girl and a little on the thin side, yet she's deceptively strong; and if he tried to break free, one of them—him, most likely—might get hurt.

More urgently, he—or they— needed to get out of there as soon as possible; some of the passersby were already starting to shoot him judgmental looks as they passed, or at least he thought so. He can't blame them. From their viewpoint, he indeed would seem like a suspicious person; to be precise, a loli-

Wait a minute, he told himself, why am I envisioning myself like that? Gotta get out of here ASAP.

Unfortunately, he knew the only way for him to do that was to play along with whatever Bailey wanted.

"Yeah...Uh, you need something, miss extraterrestrial? I am at your mercy after all."

"So, do you know what aliens do when they are interested in something...or someone?"

Gah. That smile, the Commander swallowed a lump forming in his throat. Bailey was practically beaming; it was hard to resist, and for a moment, he wondered if the destroyer was indeed an alien with hypnotic powers before he quickly reminded himself how stupid that was.

"Uhhh...I dunno? You take them away...I guess?"

Bailey giggled. "That's riiiiight〜you are so going to get abducted! Heeheehee!"

And before he knew it, as though she had him on a leash—in a way, she kind of did—the giggling Bailey dragged the Commander away from where he stood, giving no room for protestations. The Commander resigned himself to this fate; at least, it was way better than being scrutinized by random strangers on the street. But still...

So much for me time.


Bailey led the Commander through the town, and when they reached their destination, he was genuinely surprised. He initially thought the destroyer would surely take him to some shopping centers or a video arcade, not the recently opened planetarium.

"Ah, we are here..." Bailey said after catching her breath; they traveled quite a distance to get there.

"A planetarium, huh," the Commander took the opportunity to pry himself free, though he—out of decency and partly out of pity—had no plans to abandon the girl. "Well, you like stargazing after all..."

"Yup! I don't wanna go alone, but big sis Benson is busy, Kalk and Hobby are not interested, and Laffey...well, is being Laffey. Why don't you go with me? I think it will be interesting for you. I'll pay for the tickets!"

"Alright, alright, but I don't want you to pay for me. At least let me pay for my own ticket."

"Don't worry, Commander. I got this; Bailey just got a big fat bonus."

Big fat bonus? Who gives her that? Eh, whatever.

"Alright," the Commander relented before hurriedly adding, "but I'll be the one to buy em'. Hand over the money."

"Heeheehee, abductee talking big. Okay, here you go!" Bailey declared as she handed him a small bundle of banknotes she fished from within the confines of her pocket. The Commander noted that she wasn't kidding when she said she got a big fat bonus. He quickly put the money in his own pocket to hide it from the public and walked towards the ticket booth, bracing himself for a long wait in the lines.

After nearly fifteen minutes in the line and getting pushed around more than twice—after which he considered calling Maryland over to open fire at the queue—the Commander returned to Bailey.

"Here, your ticket. Man, what a long line. Never thought these people are that interested in space," he grumbled as he handed her the tickets, which she happily received.

"Come on, Commander. The final frontier is always interesting. Remember the moon landing? People went nuts over it."

"Yeah, sure. The show's about to start; we better hurry inside," the Commander replied, allowing himself to be ushered by Bailey into the theater.


"Wow, that was...fun! Don'cha think so too, Commander...?"

"...Uh...yeah. Surprisingly, it was fascinating...even for a Navy guy. Though I did sleep through the last ten minutes or so," the Commander answered, accompanied by a yawn. You can't blame me; that seat was criminally comfortable. Seriously, I want one of those.

Bailey pouted slightly at the revelation that the Commander had fallen asleep, but only for a moment, and then she smiled again.

"Ehehe, when you think about it, space is just like a very, very big sea, you know. I would love to go there one day!"

Sure, it was undoubtedly a silly dream, but when one is so earnest like that, the Commander decided he had no problem with it. "Well, quite a dream you have. Tell you what, for now, let's go here again sometime when they put on a new show."

"Really? Will you come here with me again?" The destroyer said with an ear-to-ear grin, though she was also slightly skeptical at the same time.

"Yeah, really..." The Commander replied and saw Bailey extending a pinky finger.

"Then let's make a pinky promise!"

"I'm not doing such a clichéd thing. Since when do I ever break a promise anyway...?" The Commander told her flatly. Bailey looked deflated at his reaction but quickly bounced back.

"Eh, I'm just going to abduct you again then if you decide to be a promise-breaker," she said, voice calm yet with a mischievous glint in her eyes. The Commander chuckled at that.

"Rest assured, next time, it won't be easy. Well, where do you want to go now?" he asked.

"Oh, nowhere in particular. Where do you want to go?" she asked back, catching the Commander off-guard.

"What? I thought I was being abducted?"

"Well, you're free now! After all, you indulged my selfish request, so you can go wherever you like...and if I annoy you, just say so! I will be fine on my own!"

"What kind of Commander am I, abandoning a subordinate like that? That said, wanna hit the arcade...?"

Clearly relieved and also happy at the offer, it didn't take long for Bailey to accept, nodding with such a vigorous intensity that the Commander honestly believed her head might come off at some point.

"...Oh, one more thing... I'm glad you are a nice alien. You know what bad aliens do when they kidnap people...?"

Bailey's smile diminished as she heard the question and saw the Commander's sly grin.

"...Um...No...?"

"Here, let me tell you," he went up to her and whispered into her ear. When he pulled away, the destroyer's face was red all over.

"An-ana-an-pr-prob...COMMANDER! THAT'S SEXUAL HARASSMENT!"