Chapter 60: Night Raid and Single Defense
According to the last signal from the tracker, at 10 PM, Satou arrived at Ren's doorstep after finishing her part-time job.
Found you~
Looking at the only lit room on the second floor, Satou felt incredibly delighted.
Ren only locked his door when preparing for bed, and it was far too early for him to sleep at this hour. Instead of ringing the doorbell or pushing the front door open, Satou climbed over the wall.
Strangely, when she passed through the courtyard gate and reached the main entrance of the house, Satou noticed the door was left slightly ajar, as if prepared for her in advance.
How could Ren be so careless? If a bad person showed up, wouldn't they have an easy time?
After entering the house, Satou closed and locked the door. As she passed through the entryway hallway, before even reaching the second floor, she spotted someone sitting on the sofa in the dimly lit living room. The faint glow from a phone screen illuminated half of her face, and from Satou's perspective, when she slightly raised her head, she looked like a pale-faced female ghost.
"?"
"Shh~"
Yuno raised a finger to her lips, signaling Satou to be quiet.
"What do you mean by this?"
Had they crossed paths?
Satou never expected to encounter Yuno. Could it be that she, too, intended to sneak in at night?
"You can't disturb Ren. Go back and rest."
Yuno offered no explanation. Having foreseen Satou's plan to sneak into Ren's home tonight, she had prepared in advance, infiltrating the house earlier to lie in wait.
"Leave and let you have your way?"
Driven by the mentality of "since I'm already here," even though caught red-handed, Satou had no intention of giving up this opportunity.
She ignored Yuno and continued toward the stairs.
"I already said not to disturb Ren. Boys really hate being interrupted when they're gaming, you know."
Yuno stood up with a smile, blocking Satou's only path forward.
"Move aside!"
Satou's expression grew increasingly cold. Whether it was a disturbance or not, she had to see him in person. She had gone through so much trouble to locate where Ren lived—how could she return empty-handed?
"No can do~"
Yuno remained unfazed by Satou's seemingly murderous attitude, standing her ground calmly.
"Bitch!"
"Homewrecker."
Satou and Yuno stood at a stalemate for a while, neither making a move. After all, this was Ren's home, and he still didn't know he had guests. If they started arguing or fighting, things would change.
If Ren found out they had sneaked in, it might lower his opinion of them.
After a brief standoff, Satou didn't dare force her way through. She glared fiercely at Yuno and said, "Fine, I'll leave, but you can't stay either."
"Deal."
Seeing her goal achieved, Yuno didn't push for additional conditions. She left the Watanabe residence with Satou, and the two parted ways on the street.
...
...
Ten minutes later, the two met again in front of Ren's gate, silently locking eyes. Yuno wore a faint smile, while Satou's face remained stern.
They said nothing as they returned together to Ren's house, went up to the second floor, knocked on the door, and then pushed it open to enter his room.
"Huh?"
"Why are you here?" Ren, who had initially thought it was Anon dropping by, turned around and looked somewhat surprised.
Not you two, how did you get here? I don't think I ever told you where I live, did I?
"Sorry to intrude."
Yuno gave a slight bow in greeting. How could they possibly explain to Ren how they had come?
Satou felt the same way. Together, they played dumb, acting like neighbors who had just dropped by for a visit.
"So how exactly did you find out I live here? Tell me the truth."
If it were anyone else, Ren might have chalked it up to coincidence, but this was Yuno and Satou. He didn't believe it could possibly be an accident.
"We happened to discover it while taking a walk after school."
Yuno averted her gaze, avoiding eye contact with Ren as she said this.
"I was drawn here by your presence after finishing my part-time job."
Satou looked up at the ceiling, brushing it off casually.
"...Looks like I should've locked the door as soon as I got home."
Ren couldn't even be bothered to call out such blatantly obvious excuses.
Most importantly, it was downright creepy. Even Anon rang the doorbell when she came to visit, but these two had silently infiltrated his home. To put it bluntly, it was practically criminal behavior—yet they didn't seem to have any awareness of that.
"Don't be like that~ I just wanted to see you, Ren. I won't do anything, I promise~"
Seeing that Ren's reaction was unusually calm, Satou breathed a sigh of relief and then flashed a sweet smile, trying to sidle up to him. But Yuno grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back.
"I'd prefer if we met at school instead of in my room. I'm not angry because I consider you both friends, but if this happens again, we might not be able to stay friends."
It was only because Ren had nerves of steel that he wasn't breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Sorry, next time I come to visit you, Ren, I'll message you in advance."
After stopping Satou, Yuno smoothly added her own excuse.
If not for this infiltration, it probably would have been impossible for them to visit Ren's house.
But now that they had successfully sneaked in, they realized that Ren, who had noticed their unconventional methods, might just accept their visits in the future. After all, even if he didn't agree, they could always sneak in again.
Lock the door? Was picking a lock really that difficult? At the very least, they were experts at it.
"I think it's better if you don't come at all. It's already so late—you should hurry back before you miss the last train."
Right now, Ren just wanted to get them out. He didn't even want to dwell on how they had found out where he lived. Sometimes, it was better for everyone to let minor details slide.
"Alright, Ren, goodnight."
It was a failed night raid and infiltration—after all, there were two of them. But as long as the other party's goal wasn't achieved, both Yuno and Satou could accept the outcome.
They were seen off at the gate by Ren. It was now 10:30 PM, and they still had plenty of time to get home. After watching them leave, Ren returned home and locked all the doors and windows.
His sense of security might have been a bit lacking, but who would have thought Yuno and Satou would stalk him, doxx him, and then try to sneak into his house at night?
These were no ordinary people, but Ren felt it wasn't necessary to take drastic measures yet.
After his warning this time, surely they wouldn't come back, right?
And why did this feel somewhat familiar? Had he warned them about something before?
Lost in thought, Ren returned to his room. Distracted by their intrusion, he stopped playing games and started chatting with Hitori instead.
After midnight, he and Hitori exchanged goodnights and settled down to rest.
...
At half past midnight, Yuno and Satou stood silently facing each other outside Ren's front gate.
"Aren't you afraid of making Ren angry?"
Satou asked impatiently. Why did she feel like Yuno was always targeting her? Why had Yuno come back again?
"I just don't trust you. Wouldn't it be better to listen to Ren and go home obediently?"
Yuno smiled faintly. As long as Satou intended to sneak in at night, she would keep blocking her—after all, she couldn't let Satou have the advantage.
"If I go back, will you go back too?"
Faced with Satou's question, Yuno only smiled without answering.
"How about we cooperate for now?"
Stalling indefinitely wasn't getting them anywhere, so Satou decided to take a step back. Otherwise, if they fought to the bitter end, neither of them would gain anything.
"Fine."
Their common enemy for now was Hitori, and Yuno didn't want to keep fighting with Satou either—that would only benefit someone else.
And so, they reached an agreement: until Hitori was pushed out of the picture, neither of them would make a move alone.
To show their sincerity, they even shook hands. After a brief, evenly matched struggle of squeezing each other's hands, they released their grips expressionlessly and turned to leave.
"? "
Ten minutes later, the two with their supposedly unbreakable alliance met again.
Without a word, Satou turned and left. She had wanted to test whether Yuno could catch her this time—and the result was obvious.
Was Yuno lying in wait the whole time, or did she have some other ability?
After this test, Satou's wariness of Yuno grew even deeper.
Yuno, for her part, glanced at her phone to confirm that Satou wouldn't return before finally turning to leave.
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