"Ta-da~ The food is ready!"
Kitagawa Marin, wearing an apron around her waist, carried the dish over with light footsteps like a deer prancing through the forest.
Natsuki's gaze shifted slightly downward, landing on the plate in the girl's hands.
"This is the dark cuisine you mentioned?"
"That's right."
Kitagawa Marin tilted her chin up, the corners of her lips curving upward. Her pretty face showed an expression of undisguised pride. "Go ahead and praise me."
Natsuki silently gave a thumbs up: "You said you'd make dark cuisine, and you made dark cuisine. A person of your word."
"Ehehe~"
Kitagawa Marin placed the dish on the dining table, planted her right hand on her hip, and introduced it proudly: "This is squid ink Italian pasta."
"Earlier at the supermarket, the thing I went to buy alone was packaged squid ink."
"I went to the beach with friends before and tried squid ink pasta once. It tasted amazing, so I specifically learned how to make it."
The blonde girl let out a proud little hum: "Amamiya-kun, hurry and wash your hands. Get ready to eat."
"..."
Chatterbox girl—truly lives up to the name.
"Yes, yes—going to wash my hands."
A moment later.
"Thanks for the meal."
Natsuki sat at the table. Looking at the squid ink pasta before him, he picked up his chopsticks.
To be fair, squid ink pasta really didn't look good. The noodles were pitch black. Calling it "dark" cuisine—absolutely no one would doubt it.
Natsuki used his chopsticks to pick up a few strands of pasta and put them in his mouth.
"How does it taste?"
Kitagawa Marin looked at him expectantly.
This question doesn't even need asking. No normal person would say it tastes bad, right?
"Not bad. Very delicious."
Natsuki gave the standard response.
Aside from being slightly salty and savory, he honestly couldn't taste any difference from ordinary pasta.
"I wasn't lying—it really is delicious, right?" The blonde girl's smile was exceptionally bright.
Natsuki's eye twitched slightly: "Stop smiling."
"Eh?"
"Your mouth is completely covered in black ink."
Whether or not squid ink pasta tasted good was one thing—but the staining effect was absolutely first-rate.
After just these two bites of noodles, Kitagawa's lips were already pitch black. Even her teeth had changed color somewhat. If she didn't brush her teeth before going out and suddenly collapsed on the street, people would think she'd died of poisoning!
"Squid ink pasta is just like this." Kitagawa Marin covered her pink lips with her hand. "Amamiya-kun looks the same too."
Natsuki reminded her with a somber tone: "Aren't you worried about getting it on your hands?"
"Eh eh—it really did get on my palm!"
"..."
They finished lunch simply.
At the same time.
The spy maid who'd slept in this morning had just woken up. She sat at the computer to check the surveillance. Seeing the two people in the video with pitch-black lips, she was instantly shocked.
"What's going on? Why are their lips so black?"
"Aliens?"
"Visitors from another world?"
Ai Hayasaka wrapped her arms around her knees, a lollipop in her mouth.
"I'll go over again tonight and install more surveillance... I'll put one in the bathroom too. Who knows if they'll suddenly transform while bathing?"
"Does the young miss know about these two?"
Hayasaka finished her lollipop, stood, and left her room. She walked to the dining room, glanced at Kaguya Shinomiya playing on her phone with puffed cheeks, and instantly understood.
Kaguya hadn't known this morning, but she clearly knew now.
That's right.
Kaguya Shinomiya definitely knew about the fact that Natsuki and Kitagawa were "living together." She was very unhappy.
If Fujiwara hadn't revealed the truth during their chat, she'd still be kept in the dark even now.
Kitagawa had gone to stay there due to force majeure. Even if she'd known, she wouldn't have objected—she wasn't that petty!
So then—why tell Fujiwara but not her?
Too much.
This was way too much!
Going over to monitor in person...
Kaguya's heart wavered slightly for a moment. She quickly dispersed the impulse from her mind. It seemed like she could do whatever she wanted, but going to a boy's house—that definitely wouldn't be allowed.
Besides, running to a boy's house so eagerly—no matter how you looked at it, it was too humiliating!
Kaguya bit her lower lip, hesitating over whether to send a message.
"I heard about Kitagawa's situation. Why didn't you tell me?"
Delete, delete.
Proactively messaging a boy—how is that any different from raising a white flag in surrender?
Good thing Mom was around. She could gather intelligence from her...
Time quietly slipped away as the humiliated miss struggled with her dilemma.
In the blink of an eye, night fell.
Nine o'clock at night.
Ai Hayasaka set out once more, prepared to execute today's spy infiltration plan.
Taking a car to outside Natsuki's house, Hayasaka first had the driver leave, then expertly hid by the window.
To be safe, she decided to wait for the two to fall asleep before infiltrating covertly.
But she'd barely waited any time at all when Hayasaka discovered an excellent opportunity.
Inside the house.
"Ahh—!"
A cry of surprise came from the bathroom.
"Kitagawa?"
Natsuki, who'd been watching TV in the living room, furrowed his brow and quickly stood, heading to the bathroom door.
Had the Grim Reaper spirit somehow gotten into the bathroom?
Click.
Wrapped in a bathrobe, skin white with a rosy flush, hair not yet dried—the blonde girl quickly pulled the door open.
Natsuki stood at the doorway and looked inside. A piece of black fabric caught his eye.
As a gyaru, wearing black underwear is perfectly normal.
The bathroom wasn't large. Natsuki inspected it at a glance. Seeing no evil spirit present, he couldn't help but ask:
"What were you shouting about just now?"
"Contact lens." Kitagawa Marin looked pitiful. "I accidentally dropped my contact on the floor."
Hearing this, Natsuki couldn't help but look at Kitagawa's eyes.
They were still large, full of luster.
However, her pupils had changed from their usual pink to brown.
"Don't look at me."
Kitagawa Marin quickly covered her eyes. The bathrobe on her body began showing signs of slipping.
Natsuki reminded her:
"Right now you should be holding the bathrobe, not covering your eyes."
"If the bathrobe falls, I'll just have a wardrobe malfunction." Kitagawa Marin spoke with conviction. "Without contacts, I'm super ugly—I absolutely cannot be seen by people."
So in your view, a wardrobe malfunction is less important than contacts?!
"You look fine without contacts too." Natsuki sighed. "Don't make such a fuss."
"In any case, without contacts, I can't go out and see people." Kitagawa Marin spread her fingers to create a gap, her voice pleading. "Let's go out to the convenience store to buy contacts, okay?"
"Food that falls on the floor can still be eaten if it's under three seconds..."
"That's food! And the contact has already been on the floor for more than three seconds!"
"..."
For some reason, Kitagawa Marin was incredibly obsessed with her contacts. Natsuki could only accompany her out to buy them.
"They went out again?"
Hayasaka's ears twitched slightly. After confirming the two had left, she calmly emerged from the shadows.
She walked leisurely to the door, pulled out her lockpicking tools, opened it, and pushed her way inside like she owned the place.
"Woof."
The Akita ran up to Hayasaka, wagging its tail for food.
"Be quiet."
Hayasaka bent down, reached out to pet the dog's head, then pulled out an ordinary sausage and handed it to the Akita.
After feeding the dog, Hayasaka entered the house, installed more surveillance equipment, then went to the kitchen.
"Squid ink, and Italian pasta..."
In fact, when reviewing the surveillance footage at noon, Hayasaka had already learned the truth behind their black lips. Right now was just to be safe.
"Not aliens."
"But that phone floating in mid-air still can't be explained."
"Those two are definitely hiding secrets."
Not certain when Natsuki and Kitagawa would return, Hayasaka didn't linger. She quickly erased the traces she'd left behind, then exited the house.
The evening breeze was cool.
Hayasaka slipped into the shadows and headed toward the train station. Passing by a convenience store, she suddenly stopped.
Inside the convenience store.
Natsuki and Kitagawa were shopping.
As a spy maid, Hayasaka believed the saying "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated" made a lot of sense.
Compared to only checking surveillance, close-range contact was likewise necessary.
After brief deliberation, Hayasaka quickly made a decision. With both hands in her pockets, she walked into the convenience store like an ordinary passerby girl.
Past nine was half-price bento time. There were quite a few customers in the convenience store. Hayasaka quickly locked onto her targets, naturally positioned herself behind Natsuki and Kitagawa, pretended to browse merchandise, and covertly observed the two.
"We agreed to come buy contacts." Natsuki complained. "What are you buying?"
"But the half-off sushi bentos smell way too good." Kitagawa Marin looked left and right, continuing her search for half-price items. "They look so pretty—not eating them would be such a waste... Eh eh eh?"
The blonde girl suddenly cried out in surprise.
Natsuki furrowed his brow and came to an abrupt halt, his expression grave.
"What happened?"
Hayasaka wondered internally.
The next second.
The world before the spy maid's eyes suddenly shattered.