A warm sensation pressed against her cheek. Yukino, who hadn't left and was instead sitting on a bench outside the police station, turned her head in a daze to find the source of the touch.
She saw Ren holding a tall can of tea, pressing it firmly against her face. This was the cause of that warmth just now.
"Yukinoshita, it's this late and you're still not going home?"
He shoved the can into Yukino's hands, looking at her with a beaming smile.
Ren had bought five cans of tea in total. Aside from Shoko and Yuzuru, he had also prepared a can for Yaeko and the Police Chief. And this specific can was one Ren had prepared for his cute fiancée, Mahiru.
What Ren hadn't expected was that the moment he stepped out of the police station, he would see Yukino sitting on a bench across the street, staring into space.
The sunset had long since slipped away quietly. The curtain of night had wiped away the colorful hues the sunset had draped over the streets, seizing total dominance over the evening. A beautiful girl sitting alone in the middle of the night without going home—how could she not attract attention?
"Ren, can I interpret this as you hitting on me?"
Clutching the lukewarm can in her hands, Yukino shed her earlier dazed look and reverted to her "Ice Queen" persona from school.
Yukino herself didn't really know why she hadn't gone home and had chosen to stay here instead. However, none of that had anything to do with Ren.
"Yukinoshita, you really are terrible at holding a conversation."
As Ren spoke, he moved to sit down next to her. Seeing that Yukino didn't budge an inch, he frowned slightly. "Make some room for me."
Yukino ignored him, only shifting slightly to one side.
"Yukinoshita, do you think Shoko is a lot like how you used to be?"
The atmosphere didn't fall into silence; Ren took the initiative to speak.
Earlier, when they were inside the station and he had set Shoko back on the ground to chat, she had specifically asked him if the person who had been following them the whole time was his friend. Ren didn't have eyes in the back of his head, so he hadn't known who the "person following them" Shoko mentioned was. Afterward, with Yaeko's arrival, Ren had pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
Now he knew exactly who the "friend" Shoko spoke of was. In a certain sense, Shoko was indeed right.
"Ren, you want to... mm."
Yukino, who had originally intended to deny it, ultimately did not. She simply admitted it. Her personality was awkward, but she wasn't obstinate. She would listen to others' opinions and use them to reflect on herself, repeating this cycle to find her own "genuine thing."
"You and Shoko are not alike."
"Shoko has a hearing impairment. There were many things she couldn't see or hear clearly at the time, and that was the cause of her being bullied."
"You are different, Yukino. You are perfectly healthy—you can even be called a genius. You were bullied because of your own surrender."
"Shoko's family situation is very poor. Her compromise might have been because she didn't want her mother to worry. You, Yukino, have an excellent family background. Where did your compromise come from?"
The environment shapes the person. A child from a prominent family, even if they are a "playboy," will not be worse than a child from an ordinary household. There was no comparison between Shoko and Yukino.
Perhaps in a home like Shoko's, the adults would tell the child to stay out of trouble when they are out, so as not to burden the whole family. Such words make a child more and more insecure, and they become afraid to voice their grievances to their family, eventually driving themselves insane.
But in the Yukinoshita family, Ren was certain the head of the house wouldn't instill such thoughts in Yukino.
The most normal scenario—and the one that best fit Yukino's current state—was likely her mother comparing her to Haruno Yukinoshita. Ren estimated that her mother probably wanted the eldest daughter to be a role model for the younger one, to encourage Yukino to develop in a good direction.
But the message wasn't clear, and as a result, Yukino lived in Haruno's shadow, becoming as "insecure" as a child from a common family. The reason Yukino didn't dare tell her family about these things was also because of this "inferiority."
This "inferiority" made her afraid to ask her family for help. Yukino was afraid that what she would receive after asking wouldn't be help, but her family's disappointment in her.
"Is it because of Haruno Yukinoshita?"
Seeing that Yukino didn't speak, Ren added another line.
Hearing Ren speak her sister's name, Yukino snapped her head up and looked at him.
"You know my sister?"
She didn't even use a name or title. It seemed Yukino truly cared deeply about Haruno.
Ren nodded and admitted, "We've met once."
"Is that so..." Failing to get the answer she wanted, Yukino prepared to lower her head again.
Ren reached out a hooked index finger and forcibly tilted up Yukino's pale chin, preventing her head from dropping. He then used his thumb to press down, forcing Yukino to look him in the eye.
"Ren, this already qualifies as molestation. Are you that eager to go back into the police station?"
"Or do you want to see if I will actually use the Yukinoshita family to deal with you?"
She didn't panic like a little girl; Yukino's expression remained indifferent, as if the person being touched wasn't her at all.
"Yukino, why is it that the moment I mention Haruno, you lower your head?"
"Is it because you think you are inferior to your sister? Or is it that..."
"Whenever you and your sister appear in public together, everyone else always refers to you simply as 'Haruno's younger sister'?"
A trace of predatory greed flashed deep within Ren's red eyes.
No one is truly perfect, and Ren was no exception. Since birth, Ren's life had been too smooth; he lacked many complex emotions. This was the reason why Ren would occasionally show "kindness." He needed to capture these emotions he did not possess to complete himself.
Honami's "purity," Chie's "resentment," Airi's "dependence," Kushida's "endurance," Sora's "living under someone else's roof," Mahiru's "walking corpse" state, and Shoko's "school bullying."
There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world, even if that lunch looks free to these girls. While Ren gives them everything they need, he is also extracting what he needs from them.
Mutual benefit, mutual dependence, and finally, becoming one.
The complex emotion currently possessed by Yukino—the one named "Living in someone else's shadow"—was like a small cake emitting an enticing aroma.
In Ren's eyes, it looked absolutely delicious.
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