The sparking cake made me a bit uneasy. Fur is highly flammable, and I can’t help but wonder what the inventor of fireworks as celebration tools was thinking.

“Private First Class Luther, time to cut the cake!” José said with a grin, handing me the knife. As I sliced through the cake, I found a shoulder insignia embedded in the pudding filling.

“Oh, you guys,” I said with a hint of insincerity. “You're all so thoughtful.” There’s a serious hygiene issue here.

“It’s just a small tradition of the Empire’s Heart,” Ian shrugged, accepting the cake after I cut it. “New recruits officially shed their rookie status after participating in their first flagship landing ceremony.”

“So, I was the only recruit boarding the ship during the last ceremony?” I guessed, given there were no other celebratory groups. I continued distributing the cake, not intending to have any myself.

“The Empire’s Heart doesn’t often take on new recruits,” Ian explained. “There are quite a few on other ships; for example, the Vibrant has ten of your batch.” The big yellow dog paused, seemingly recalling something. “Although, I suppose ranks might not mean much to you…”

“Rationalism, they grow up so quickly!” José said, hugging Abel and speaking with a mock sorrowful tone. “Next voyage, our mutt Luther will be a noble!” Abel returned the hug, patting José’s back but rolling his eyes at the others, eliciting friendly laughter from those around.

“Do you think they’ll accept my cake?” I tried to change the subject, glancing at the table of the trainee officers, where the atmosphere was also quite lively.

“They’ll just become insufferable bureaucratic asses. Better to keep your distance,” José said, sticking out his tongue, only to get a sharp look from Ian. “What? As if I said something wrong.” José defended himself, mimicking a commanding officer’s orders in a comically exaggerated way, causing more laughter.

“Low-ranking officers aren’t worth mentioning in the face of nobility from the German House, right?” José said, lying back on the table and grabbing my collar with a pitiable look. “Don’t forget us when you make it big, alright?” I struggled to resist, trying to keep our lips from touching. “I can shine your shoes or pour your tea. If you also have a fetish for cuckold, I’m more than willing to go through everything for you. I have a few candidates for you to consider,” he suddenly became serious. “I’ve heard that Countess Ava from the Belgian branch owns a large estate and has a sizable…”

“Ugh!” I pushed the coyote away as far as possible, but he stubbornly held onto my hand, planting a flurry of kisses on my knuckles.

“Rationalism above, José,” Ian couldn’t take it anymore and placed his hand on his forehead. “Even by your standards, this is too disgusting.”

“Hey!” The coyote put on a serious expression. “A cuckold fetish shouldn’t be discriminated against; everyone should respect each other!”

“Rationality bear witness, I’m really starting to want to see you get flogged,” Abel said with a disgusted gesture, starting on his cake.

“I should start selling tickets,” I shrugged as I handed out the last piece of cake.

“The protagonist can’t not have cake!” José said with a mouth full, speaking indistinctly, and I decided to pretend I didn’t hear.

“Seriously, Luther,” Ian turned to me. “Have you decided on someone yet?”

"Uh... I've never really known how to explain this to everyone, so I've let people assume that I'm going to marry into the German House—for the most part, it doesn't seem too far from the truth, does it?"

For some reason, this thought made my ears feel hot. Seeing my reaction, José burst into laughter, spraying cake everywhere.

“Private First Class Luther, Alpha Section One, the port side, report immediately,” the terminal chimed in. I never thought I’d want to kiss my own terminal. I also thought Alpha-class terminals would be more polite.

“Sorry, everyone,” I stood up, apologizing. “Duty calls.”

I quickly bid farewell and accepted congratulations. José spread his fingers wide, pretending to hold something in front of his chest with both hands, making the lip shape as if saying 'sizable'. I sighed in resignation, ignoring him.

On my way to the command room, I felt a gentle tug at the edge of my consciousness. “Over here,” Richter’s soothing voice flowed through me like a warm current. I quickly looked up, scanning around to make sure no one saw me with red ears, grinning like an idiot in the corridor.

“Although I appreciate you rescuing me from that awkward situation, I really think you should stop abuse your power for personal purposes,” I complained to Richter once we were in the Admiral's quarters, gesturing to my personal terminal.

“Bite me,” he said with a teasing tone. “Who’s going to stop me? I’m the fleet Admiral.”

To express my dissatisfaction, as he wished, I lightly bit the white wolf’s ear, causing him to emit a low groan.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he laughed, pushing me away, but I could tell it took a lot of willpower. “Nobody eats main course before the appetizers.”

I followed his gesture to the table, which had a silver dome cover, two plates, and two chairs beside the dining table.

“Don’t tell me you made this yourself?” Since I was responsible for Richter’s meals, I knew the kitchen hadn’t sent anything today, making it clear that Richter must have cooked dinner himself.

“You could say that.” He smiled mysteriously. Damn, I had no resistance to that smile.

“I didn’t expect you to be into this sort of thing.” I wouldn’t admit it, but it was somewhat touching.

He merely smiled at my comment, pulling out my chair and sitting down. Then Richter lifted the dome cover to reveal our dinner.

“Oh, Rationalism above!” I couldn’t say anything else, my nose tingling and my vision blurring.

It was a green gelatinous cube that even wobbled slightly due to the impact as we sat down. Next to the jelly was an amorphous pink substance with an undulating shape.

“Even the taste is exactly the same,” I wiped away my tears and swallowed the mustard-flavored gelatin.

“You really should see my first ten creations,” Richter shivered. “The seventh one took me ten minutes to completely kill.”

“Must have been a tough opponent,” I said seriously, tasting the coffee set aside, only to spit it out immediately.

“Adding salt doesn’t suit it, does it?” He grinned maliciously, using a napkin to absorb the small brown droplets floating in front of him.

“You really have no sense of humor,” I complained, wiping my mouth.

“I thought this was a display of humor,” he defended himself.

I was about to retort, but was interrupted by the mechanical voice of the announcement.

“Black alert warning, entering Gaia buffer zone in ten minutes…”

I glanced at the green jelly and the pink goo, and a thought began to form.

“You know…” I covered the dish back up, activated the magnetic feature on the table, and pushed the utensils aside. “I actually wanted to start with an appetizer.” I forced myself to suppress a smile and the blood rushing to my ears, sitting at the table with my hands behind me. Richter tilted his head, giving me a questioning look with his deep blue eyes. “I heard… that enjoying it in zero gravity has a special flavor.” My mouth betrayed me, curving upward. “If you can wait ten minutes.”

Richter scratched his ear, and I could even see the blush beneath his fur. “Well…” He met my gaze, slowly tilting his head to the other side, folding his ears down. “I have an alternative.” The white wolf gently placed his hand on my knee, and his eyes instantly turned bright red.