6:30 p.m.
Haru and Yukino had just finished washing the dishes and were sitting back down when Haru received a ssage from Utaha.
Yukino could guess who it was from, but didn't bother looking. She waited until Haru finished replying before asking, "What did Senpai say?"
"She said she got ganked by her parents. Won't be coming tonight," Haru replied truthfully.
"Speak like a human."
"Her father got promoted and wants to celebrate properly. Sounds like she'll be spending the next few days with her family."
Only then did Yukino shift her gaze back to the TV, casually petting the orange cat in her lap. "Finally… a few days of peace."
Haru glanced at her freshly bare face, now free of makeup, and asked curiously, "So even you get tired when clashing with her?"
"Tired? Don't underestimate . I just don't want to waste ti on sothing so pointless," Yukino replied calmly.
Haru nodded in understanding.
On the TV, a pet food comrcial started playing. Yukino watched it for a mont before saying, "Oh, right. My sister ntioned yesterday that a senior she knows is filming a pet comrcial. Should we let Jelly join?"
She gently tapped the orange cat's head.
"ow?"
The cat looked up, puzzled, clearly wondering why Yukino had stopped petting and started patting.
Haru, hearing this, rembered sothing too. "Haruno-nee did ntion sothing like that before. I don't really mind, but shooting a comrcial with a cat sounds way more troubleso than with a dog."
Yukino, a proud cat lover, imdiately disagreed. "I think Jelly is well-behaved. And you trained her to use the toilet and not scratch the furniture. She's not like ordinary cats."
"You're not wrong. But cats are still way less obedient than dogs."
"Then why did you adopt an orange cat instead of a dog?"
"Because you like cats," Haru said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Yukino paused for a beat, then smiled faintly. "That answer satisfies ."
Haru glanced at their chubby cat. "You seriously want Jelly in a comrcial?"
"Why not? There's ti. According to my sister, the shoot won't happen until New Year's."
"As long as it makes you happy."
Haru had no objections. If Yukino wanted Jelly to star in an ad, he was more than willing to support her.
Yukino, ever efficient, imdiately called her sister. It didn't take long to settle everything.
She was clearly in a good mood—not only had she dodged another encounter with Utaha, she also accomplished sothing she cared about.
"When are you taking a bath? I can go ahead and run the water," Haru asked.
Yukino hesitated. "Let's wait a bit."
Truthfully, she wanted to squeeze in so training, but she also felt she should do so research on pet comrcials first—at the very least, to avoid looking clueless on set.
Though it was technically Haru who adopted the orange cat, Yukino had been taking care of her for over two years. The bond ran deep.
Especially since Haru had trained the cat so well—obedient, calm, nothing like the troublemakers out there. Yukino was seriously considering whether she should start preparing.
Haru, unaware of her inner thoughts, saw her hesitating and joked, "Don't tell you want to drag out to train. You've been extra fired up about getting stronger lately. Not a bad thing."
Yukino rested her chin against her hand. "Why do you think I'm trying so hard to train?"
"To beco a braver knight, of course."
"Shut up."
Yukino glared at him.
She wasn't angry because of the teasing. She was angry because he'd hit the nail on the head.
Lies don't hurt. The truth is what cuts deep.
Every ti she took the lead, her legs would go weak afterward, yet Haru remained as energetic as ever.
No matter how many tis she experienced it, she couldn't help feeling a little defeated.
That's also why—despite realizing Utaha had snuck into the living room late at night—she chose not to confront her about it.
From what she could observe, even if Utaha had taken a "played a relay race" it didn't seem to affect Haru's stamina at all.
What a Monster, she muttered internally.
The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she beca. She stopped petting the cat and stood up.
"Train with ."
She tied her long hair into a high ponytail. That was one annoying thing about having long hair—it got in the way of so many things.
"Figured," Haru chuckled.
They trained together until 9 p.m., then took turns showering.
Haru did try to convince her to bathe together, but Yukino, blushing furiously, turned him down.
Later that night—
Wearing nothing but a camisole nightgown, Yukino leaned against Haru's chest, absentmindedly watching TV.
"You haven't shown up as the Hooded Hero in a while. Your popularity's dropped off completely."
"That's actually a good thing. I never cared about the fa anyway," Haru replied with a smile.
Yukino tilted her head slightly, her eyes glinting. "What I an is… if the Hooded Hero doesn't show up anymore, won't those scumbags start crawling back out at night?"
Haru blinked, thought for a mont, then nodded. "Probably. I did notice that when the buzz was at its peak, the streets were a lot quieter."
He was referring to that ti when he went out for a stroll and didn't even run into a single bar brawl.
Back when he first started grinding experience, he'd see occasional scuffles outside host clubs—but those hosts hit like wet noodles, so he never bothered stepping in.
It was the drunk punks wandering the streets picking fights that had beco his go-to "exp farm."
"Perfect," Yukino said, her eyes lighting up.
Haru caught on. "You want to play war correspondent?"
"I wouldn't put it like that… but you could say that."
Her interest growing, she grabbed her phone and opened the photo album. "I have pictures of us. I even have a collection of Utaha-senpai's defeat. But I don't have any footage of you in action as the Hooded Hero."
Haru couldn't help laughing.
It wasn't childlike curiosity or the thrill of chaos that motivated her—she was simply fascinated by how he actually fought cri.
That very night, Haru granted her wish.
They t up in Shinjuku, focusing their "patrol" around the red-light district.
Haru, with his superior speed and perception, took the lead in locating cris-in-progress and ssaged Yukino once he found sothing worth seeing.
He also avoided all security caras, making sure no footage would ever show the two of them together—just in case.
Kabukicho wasn't as wild as it used to be. Haru passed a few drunk guys laughing and ssing around. At one club entrance, he spotted a lone man being ganged up on by three provocatively dressed won.
Looked like a deal had gone south. The guy was clearly in the wrong and getting his butt handed to him. The crowd nearby was laughing it up.
That is, until soone noticed a shadow standing under the streetlight.
"Isn't that the Hooded Hero?"
"No way! I thought he disappeared!"
"Careful, might just be so cosplay guy."
Even the fight stopped as the three won and the man turned to look, intrigued or excited.
Not far away, Yukino stood hidden in the shadows, phone raised, her eyes gleaming.
"This really does feel like a scene from a superhero movie."
Although the initial fight had stopped, Haru's appearance stirred up new drama.
A group of overly confident drunk guys approached, thinking he was a fake and decided to ss with him.
They quickly found themselves sleeping like babies.
Yukino stopped recording, satisfied.
Watching a superhero at work up close was nothing like seeing it on the news.
Especially when the one fighting cri… was the person she'd grown up with.
That made it all the more surreal.
She picked the shortest clip from her recordings and sent it to Utaha.
The reply ca instantly, as if she'd been waiting:
"The Hooded Hero? Why are you sending this?"
Yukino responded simply:
"Because you don't know anything."
Only then did Yukino rember — even her sister and Kato had found out about Haru's identity because they were following the hype around the Hooded Hero.
But Utaha was different. She'd never cared about those kinds of news. If it hadn't been for the viral trending topic, she probably wouldn't have known at all.
A playful smile tugged at Yukino's lips.
She typed out a ssage:
"Senpai knows nothing. How amusing."
Utaha replied with a string of question marks:
"???"
Yukino chuckled happily.
But the next mont, Utaha sent back:
"Yukinoshita, you don't know anything either. How interesting."
Yukino raised an eyebrow and shot back:
"Trying to imitate my tone? Isn't that a bit childish?"
Utaha didn't hold back:
"No, I an I've been in your bed before… but you didn't even know."
Yukino blinked in shock, instinctively glancing at Haru still out on patrol, her eyes wide with question.
Been in my bed? What does she an by that?
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