On his way home, Haru received texts from both Haruno and Shizuka.
Haruno's message came first, followed by Shizuka's.
The former asked whether he had noticed Shizuka's missing panties, while the latter simply thanked him for taking care of her.
Even though the two of them had gone through the same experience, their words couldn't have been more different.
Haru chose to reply to Shizuka first, telling her that he had only looked after her out of habit and that there was no need to think too much of it.
As for Haruno's message...
He wrote back: "Take a guess—do you think I was staring at your yoga pants the whole time?"
Haruno: "I'm not guessing, but I know for sure you noticed Shizuka wasn't wearing anything underneath. She's dying of embarrassment right now."
Haru: "Leaving that aside, don't you think you bear some responsibility here?"
Haru: "Honestly, I think everyone there was responsible in some way. But you were the one who suggested doing yoga, which led to Hiratsuka-sensei ending up in such an awkward situation. Just imagining your evil intentions makes my hands and feet go cold—I'm literally trembling all over."
On the other end of the line, Haruno sat in the living room, staring at the message in silence. "There he goes again, saying strange things."
"What are you two talking about? He didn't mention… that incident of mine, did he?" Shizuka asked nervously, equal parts embarrassed and curious, having already changed back into her own clothes.
Haruno smirked slyly, just about to answer, when her phone buzzed again.
Another message from Haru.
She glanced at it casually—and her smile froze on the spot.
Haru had written: "Guess what? Maybe I recorded that little moment when you called me Onii-chan."
Haruno's chest rose and fell rapidly.
She tried to recall the exact moment, but the problem was—she had been far too relaxed at the time. She hadn't paid attention to a single detail.
"What are you two talking about?" Shizuka asked, impatient after watching her fall silent for so long.
Composing herself, Haruno slipped her phone away and answered calmly, "Nothing. He just said drunk women give him a headache."
Relieved, Shizuka let out a breath and laughed awkwardly. "I really didn't expect Asahi beer to have such a strong aftereffect."
Haruno silently agreed.
Neither of them had the faintest idea about the existence of "sage-time." To them, the blame naturally fell on Asahi beer.
"From today, no more drinking." Shizuka declared firmly.
Haruno blinked at her in surprise. "Wait—you already quit smoking, didn't you?"
"I quit ages ago. Bad for my health," Shizuka muttered vaguely.
The real reason was something only she knew.
Maybe it was because she didn't want a certain someone to hate the smell of smoke.
Or maybe, in some dream where she kissed him, she feared he would pull away in disgust.
Either way, it was a truth Shizuka would never say aloud.
And Haruno didn't press her.
Right now, her mind was on Haru's message.
Logically, she told herself, he wasn't the type to stoop so low.
But then again, every time she called him Onii-chan, the irritated, pained look on his face wasn't fake either.
They had been bickering since childhood—constantly trying to outmaneuver one another, pulling every trick in the book.
In that sense, it wouldn't be strange if he had decided to keep such an embarrassing moment as blackmail material.
If he really did record it, then he'd never show it to anyone else. He'd just hold onto it… waiting for the perfect moment to use it against me.
Haruno rubbed her temples, troubled.
Damn. If I start off on the back foot , I'll never be able to tease him again. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⟡𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⟡𝓷𝓮𝓽
Unless… she evened the score.
What if I sent him a pair of panties and secretly recorded his reaction?
An absurd idea flickered in her mind.
In the days that followed, Utaha—after stumbling through the rough beginning—finally launched into her role as a rookie director, with help from both Haru and Yukino.
It was only a short film, but one she had written herself. She had put in tremendous effort, and because of it, she barely stayed over at Haru's place anymore.
Her explanation was simple: "Even if my mom bothers me sometimes at home, it's still better than staying here and risking you shoving bunny ears on me again."
And what happened after the bunny ears went on… didn't need to be said.
Haru didn't bother denying it either. With the absurd boost from his [Steel Body] perk, his strength was still broken beyond reason. Even if you dropped him into Detective Conan's world, he'd still rank at the top in terms of raw power.
As for Shizuka, despite the yoga incident, she continued helping out with the Photography club. Haru, not wanting to embarrass her, never once brought that night up again.
It became their unspoken pact.
Even so, there were times when Haru caught her sneaking glances at him. But whenever he turned his head, she would immediately look away.
On the surface, everything seemed normal. And yet… something was subtly off.
On Valentine's Day morning, while Haru and Yukino were having breakfast, she suddenly asked, "Are you ready to receive gifts today?"
Haru thought she meant the chocolate she had prepared and teased, "If it's chocolate made by you, of course I'm looking forward to it."
Yukino replied coolly, "You should know I'm not the only one who will be giving you chocolate today."
"You mean Utaha-senpai?"
That didn't surprise him—Yukino was smart enough to have expected it already, and it hardly seemed worth mentioning.
But then Yukino shook her head as she sipped her milk. "I'm talking about the girls at school."
Haru froze. "School?"
As far as he knew, everyone at school already saw him and Yukino as a couple. The rumor had long spread, and by now, it was practically common knowledge.
If that was the case, how could any other girl even think of giving him chocolate today?
"Wait," Haru frowned, realizing something. "You mean obligation chocolates? Did you hear something?"
"It wasn't me. It was Kato," Yukino answered.
She explained: "Utaha-senpai didn't want to lean on you too much for her filming project, so she set up a private group chat with just us three girls. Yesterday, Kato mentioned it there."
"What exactly did she say?" Haru asked.
"She said that a lot of the girls at school are scared of me. At the same time, they're jealous of me. So they decided that giving you chocolate as a 'friend' would be their safest bet. That way, even if I find out, I'll have no reason to interfere."
Yukino's tone shifted slightly as she added, "Some of them have even started paying attention to Kato. They think she spends too much time with you—and that made them suspicious."
"…Wait." Haru narrowed his eyes. "You got all this from Kato?"
"Yes. She told me herself."
"Hold on. With her personality, why would she ever bother gathering intel like that?"
"I thought the same. But Kato said she just happened to be sitting right next to them when they were talking. They simply never noticed her."
So that's what she called 'information gathering'?
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