Haruto narrowed his eyes, ignoring Daiki's amusement as he climbed the stairs, leaving Ren's battered body behind in a pool of his own blood.
At the top, he was greeted by Ayaka, who handed him a white towel—smiling.
That caught him off guard.
He had expected her to be terrified, to shrink away from him after witnessing the way he had brutalized Ren with a bat.
His face and clothes were still soaked in blood, the metallic scent thick in the air.
But she wasn't afraid.
In fact, there was a strange gleam in her eyes—something unfamiliar.
Something unsettling.
She was looking at him like… like he was someone else.
Like she was gazing at a hero. An idol.
'Is she just relieved?' he wondered as he took the towel. 'Happy that Ren will never lay a hand on her again?'
That made sense. It has to be that.
And yet—deep down, something told him otherwise.
'This… This is the system way of telling me something, that she is hiding something.'
