“Yaaawn~”

Amelia kept yawning because of last night’s incident.

Damn Dad.

He couldn’t even dote on his lovely daughter he hadn’t seen in a while.

‘He pounced on me, saying he’d test my skills.’

“Ugh, my legs…”

If there hadn’t been someone to stop him saying there’s work to do tomorrow, she might be lying in rubble somewhere nearby.

‘He did give me medicine, saying I’ll be fine if I take it, but…’

Inflicting the injury and then giving the cure.

Anyway, he’s too much.

Even if she did expose his tastes.

If Dad had just listened to her request from the beginning, it wouldn’t have turned out like this, right?

“…Oh, it’s working well.”

As soon as she took the medicine, the pain in her trembling legs started to heal slowly.

Is it because it’s the frontlines that they carry such good medicine?

She looked around in admiration of the effect of the medicine Dad gave me.

She should be around here somewhere.

“Dorothy? Are you up already? That’s early.”

“Ah, Amelia. Good morning.”

“Morning. Why are you up so early?”

“The teacher got up early to have a meeting with the others. I woke up early because of that noise.”

Is that so?

It seems Dorothy and investigator Lee were using the same room.

…Wait a minute.

“What about Arte and Siwoo?”

“…”

Seeing Dorothy turn her head towards the other room, she realized what Dorothy wanted to say.

They’re over there.

“I think I know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not the only one thinking that, right?”

“…Shall we take a peek?”

“Sure. I always say we’re on the same wavelength.”

“That’s my line.”

Dorothy and Amelia know.

The fact that Siwoo and Arte are living together.

And they already knew.

Siwoo’s feelings for Arte.

And they also knew that while Arte hadn’t fallen for Siwoo, she had special feelings for him.

“For whatever reason, they ended up using the same room, right? Then…”

“We can’t miss this chance!”

Heh heh.

Dorothy didn’t bother hiding it and kept smiling.

…Well, she was no different.

“I’ve always been curious… What the two of them do…!”

“Could they have made a lot of progress without us knowing? Like, with each other…”

“N-n-n-no way…! That can’t be!”

Eek, eek.

In case other people wake up. In case Arte or Siwoo hears us.

Their voices were loud, but their footsteps were light.

“Here we go, opening it…?”

“Yes…!”

Thump, thump.

They were so focused that it felt like they could hear each other’s heartbeats.

They knew the two were living together, but they’d never heard of them doing anything inside that house.

In the first place, there’s no way they’d tell them.

But they were curious.

Amelia remembered trying to set up Siwoo and Arte, making plans, and putting in a lot of effort.

How frustrated they were with Siwoo openly showing his interest in Arte and her not even noticing it.

…But why were they trying so hard to get those two together?

No, such trivial things don’t matter in this situation.

Right now, it’s a chance, perhaps the only chance, to secretly see Arte and Siwoo’s love nest…!

“What are you doing?”

“Ah.”

“Um, well…”

However, there was no scene to satisfy our curiosity.

They thought it was the only chance.

When we opened the door, Arte was staring intently at them, somehow having noticed.

“Ah, we thought you might have had breakfast! Since it’s about time…!”

“…Sigh. I got it. I’ll be out soon, so please wait a bit.”

D-did we make it…?

Feeling chills, they stood still for a long time, even after Arte closed the door.

“Phew… That startled me.”

“That was good quick thinking, Dorothy…”

Seeing Arte’s cold eyes, she felt a chill for a moment.

What’s with those eyes?

It surprised her.

She thought she had gotten used to Arte’s suspicious smile.

‘Now that I’m used to it, did she come up with a new smile?’

Her eyes are smiling, but her mouth is still, as if…

“If we mess with her too much, it feels like we’ll get sliced up…”

“I know…”

Dorothy and Amelia agreed with each other.

Let’s save the peeking for next time.

***

“…Did something happen?”

“It seems Dorothy and Amelia came looking for us.”

“Those two? They’re early.”

Sigh.

I sighed and watched the two return to their room.

That surprised me. So it was Dorothy and Amelia.

Anyway, those two are quite playful.

Were they trying to surprise me and Siwoo? They approached while hiding their presence, like assassins targeting Siwoo, so I ended up getting tense.

[Just what are you so worried about…]

I lightly ignored the Author’s murmuring.

If she looks back on what she’s done, there’s no way she can say such things.

I was confident it could lead to an even more absurd development, let alone assassins.

Suddenly, one of the heroes at this location is a secret member of Übermensch, and for the organization’s revenge…

She could come up with a story like that.

It doesn’t matter if it makes sense or not.

Because the Author just does it if it seems interesting.

It’s best to be wary first if it looks dangerous.

“By the way, Arte, yesterday…”

“Those two said it’s about time for a meal, so shall we head out too?”

“…Ah, yeah. Okay.”

***

Siwoo looked at Arte, recalling yesterday’s events.

Does she not want to talk about what happened yesterday?

He stared intently at her.

“Are you not coming?”

“… I’ll be right there.”

At this point, sharing a room with Arte wasn’t embarrassing.

Because it was something they had done to the point of being sick of it.

It felt awkward because it was a new place with a different feeling, but only for a moment.

He was used to being with Arte, so he unpacked and moved around as usual.

‘Yeah. I acted as I normally would. I thought it was no different from usual.’

But it seems Arte wasn’t like that.

“…”

He looked at her back, which seemed the same as always. Looking unbothered.

She had always been like that. Hiding her weaknesses, hiding her fears, hiding her worries.

Arte had always hidden something so she wouldn’t appear weak.

About the Author. Thinking of people as puppets.

‘And being obsessed with me.’

He thought it might be okay for her to talk about trivial things now, but it seemed she didn’t think that way, so he felt a bit down.

‘Does she still not trust me enough?’

Yesterday, when that person warned that this place is dangerous.

She confidently said they would be fine.

That no one would get hurt.

But did Arte really think that?

That she, who worries about trivial things and becomes anxious as soon as he disappears, is that unstable?

That night.

He was spending the night worrying about the unfamiliar sleeping arrangement and what lay ahead.

Arte had approached him.

“Siwoo, are you asleep…?”

She whispered quietly into his ear.

At that moment, he hesitated about how to react.

Arte seemed to judge that he was sleeping and crawled into his bed.

He was startled for a moment but closed his eyes when he felt trembling from behind.

Because he realized why Arte had to hug him secretly in the middle of the night like that.

“… You’re anxious.”

Yeah.

Arte was anxious too.

That confident appearance in front of that person, saying they’ll be fine and won’t die, was just a façade.

As usual, hiding her weaknesses, being confident.

She showed a confident appearance in front of that person, but in fact, she was anxious.

Thinking, what if he gets hurt? What if Amelia and Dorothy get hurt?

Perhaps she had such thoughts.

“…”

Verbally comforting her would be meaningless.

The method was simple then: They should not waste the practice they’ve done so far.

Siwoo had made countless efforts.

To protect people.

That’s how it has been since he first entered the academy.

A simple wish to become a hero.

For that simple wish, he worked hard to protect people.

But not anymore.

He found someone he wanted to protect. Someone he wanted to help.

‘That’s why I worked hard.’

To protect Amelia. To protect Dorothy.

…And above all, to protect Arte.

“Don’t worry, Arte.”

Even if he tells Arte directly, she probably won’t believe it.

Because she’s the type to worry a lot.

So, instead of telling her directly, Siwoo made a pledge.

To not let anyone get hurt.

Arte, Amelia, Dorothy.

Anyone.

Siwoo took a step.

His intuition was screaming loudly today as well.

That there’s a powerful enemy here.

That there’s a huge threat here. So run away quickly.

But Siwoo didn’t run away.

So that no threat can hurt them.

So that no hardship can torment Arte.

Because Siwoo decided to become a shield to protect her.