Shizuka crossed the room in four steps and snatched it before he could stop her.

She looked at the screen.

Her mouth opened a fraction.

Then her eyes narrowed.

Kaito grabbed his phone back.

"Delete it," she said.

"No."

"Delete it right now."

"It’s a great photo."

"It is NOT a great photo, Kai, delete it—"

She reached for it again.

He switched hands.

She leaned across the table.

He leaned back.

Her hand caught his wrist again.

He raised the phone higher.

She made a short, frustrated sound.

"Delete it," she said, breath tighter now, "or I swear—"

She stopped.

She let go of his wrist.

Her eyes moved over him slowly, the anger folding into something else.

"Delete it," she said, her voice dropping, "and I will let you take pictures of me that you will never forget."

Her fingers found the neckline of her crop top, tracing the edge of it, the fabric pulling slightly.

Her breasts pressed forward against the thin material.

The line of her cleavage deepened.

Clear.

She held it there.

Her chin tilted.

Her red eyes stayed on his, with a flirty smile.

He looked at her.

"Never," he said, and put the phone in his pocket.

She stared at him.

Still.

Then she made a small sound of pure frustrated defeat, pulled the apron on with more force than needed, picked up the ladle, and turned back to the stove.

She was pouting.

He could see it from the back.

A minute passed.

She came back with the hot dish and set it in front of him, a little harder than necessary.

The apron came off as she moved, dropped over the back of the chair, and instead of taking her seat across from him she dragged it around and sat beside him.

Close enough that their shoulders almost touched.

He started eating.

"I mixed Reisou in the rice," she said, nodding toward his bowl as he took the first bite.

"Exorcist herb. Promotes faster healing by enhancing spiritual energy circulation." She shifted her chin into her palm and watched him. "It may burn slightly when it works. That is normal."

"I know. Thank you," he said., "I still hate how it tastes."

She didn’t answer. Just kept watching.

He got through a few bites under that gaze before glancing sideways at her.

"Do you want some."

"Only if you feed me."

He looked at her with half-closed eyes.

"You are serious?"

She nodded.

Then he loaded his chopsticks and held them out.

She leaned in before he fully extended his hand, closing the distance herself.

Her lips closed around the chopsticks, her eyes still on his face.

He didn’t pull back right away. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Then he did.

"This is poison for you," he said. "Reisou is an exorcist herb. It interacts badly with dark energy."

"I know."

He paused, chopsticks still in his hand.

"Then why did you eat it."

She chewed slowly. Didn’t rush it.

Swallowed.

Then smiled at him.

"Because you fed me."

She held his gaze.

"This is proof that I would gladly even eat poison if you feed it to me."

He watched her

Then shook his head and looked back down at his food.

"You are a fool."

"Yes," she said immediately. "A fool in love."

She leaned in without warning and kissed his cheek.

Quick.

Warm.

He wiped it off at once with the back of his hand, almost automatic.

When he looked back at her, there was a faint red mark along her cheek, a burn. The herb’s reaction.

It was already fading.

She didn’t even flinch.

He stared at it for a moment.

Then went back to eating.

He ate a few more bites.

"Did you do anything weird while I was asleep," he asked.

"What!?"

She snapped upright.

"No. No no—nothing weird. I didn’t do anything. I was just there. You woke up and I was there and that was—"

She cut herself off.

"You woke up right before that anyway."

He didn’t answer immediately.

Just looked at her.

Suspicious.

She looked back at him with very wide and very innocent eyes.

"Fine," he said at last.

He went back to eating.

The kitchen settled around them.

The soft click of chopsticks, a bicycle bell outside, the low hum of morning traffic drifting in through the window.

"Don’t do it again," he said after a while, not looking at her.

"What?"

He lifted a small bite of rice and held it out toward her.

"This."

She stared at the chopsticks.

Then at him.

Something in her expression broke open all at once.

"Kai~~~," she said, already leaning into him. "Are you worried about me?"

Both hands settled on his arm.

"Wait. By chance... are you falling in love with me?"

"No."

"You hesitated."

"I didn’t hesitate."

"There was a pause."

"There wasn’t."

She leaned closer instead of backing off. Her silver hair slipped forward between them.

Her red eyes stayed on his, bright, pleased, studying him like she had already decided the answer.

"You are a tsundere," she said. "You absolutely are. You made me food yesterday too, didn’t you? That was also a classic tsundere behavior. And you said thank you for this breakfast now. That was—"

"I said thank you because it was polite."

"Tsundere."

"Shizuka."

"Tsundere."

She leaned in further.

"Tsundere tsundere tsundere—" She had started to climb onto his chair, her hands on his shoulders, her face close to his, her voice dropping into a singsongy rhythm.

"Kaito is a tsun-de-re, Kaito is a tsun-de-re—"

"Ahh—" he groaned.

He raised his right palm. It glowed faint white for half a second, spiritual energy pooling fast into his hand.

He slapped it flat against her stomach.

The burst hit.

She lifted clean off him, thrown backward across the kitchen, arms out, and hit the wall with a sharp crack.

Plaster split under the impact.

She slid down it and landed in a loose heap on the floor.

A beat.

He took another bite of rice.

Chewed.

Didn’t look at her.

From the floor, Shizuka raised both thumbs.

"Impressive," she said, a little breathless. "You’ve recovered well."

He swallowed.

Took another bite.