“Here, let’s eat.”

Carbon had handled all the meal preparation on his own. He slid the plate of fragrant, good-smelling food in front of Hyde and placed the utensils in her hand.

But for all the fork he had given her, Carbon quickly cut up the food on his own plate and began feeding small pieces to Hyde. Hyde received what he offered as naturally as breathing.

The fork and spoon Carbon had personally placed in Hyde’s hand were used maybe three or four times at most.

“You eat too, mister.”

Only when she picked up a piece of the food he had cut and put it in his mouth.

“Here, open up.”

Carbon obediently opened his mouth at Hyde’s direction. Hyde smiled with her eyes curved after feeding him.

“Good, right? I didn’t make it, but my partner did, so it’ll be good. He’s a great cook.”

Carbon chuckled quietly along with Hyde’s easy chatter and replied,

“Indeed, what a fine partner you have, miss.”

⏰ 8:00 A.M.

“Thank you again today, Carbon. I feel so well-fed this morning!”

“I’m the one who’s grateful that you eat so well.”

“Hehe.”

Fully awake now after eating, Hyde looked at Carbon with bright, clear eyes, very different from her drowsy state earlier, and smiled a smile full of happiness. But she soon checked the time and startled.

“Oh! I’m going to be late. Carbon, I’ll do the dishes.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do them, you go get ready.”

“But you cooked too……”

“I want to.”

When Hyde hesitated, Carbon lifted her up and carried her into the bedroom. He left her with instructions to finish getting ready, closed the door, and came back out, Hyde’s cheerful voice following him through the door.

“Thank you, mister!”

Hyde, having called out her thanks through the door, moved quickly. She washed up, changed into comfortable going-out clothes, and finished a light touch of makeup in no time.

“Good. Not bad at all.”

Hyde turned her face this way and that in the vanity mirror with a satisfied expression, and her eyes met the camera lens in the corner.

“Oh! Right, we’re broadcasting right now……”

Hyde’s face went white as she remembered belatedly. She quickly brought her hands up to cover her face, then peeked through her fingers at the camera, and covered her face again.

“Oh no, how embarrassing.”

The parts of her face not covered by her hands, her neck, even the curves of her ears, were all red. The way she muttered ‘I didn’t do anything embarrassing, did I?’ was quite earnest.

Still embarrassed, Hyde kept her face covered as she went into the dressing room and rummaged through things. She narrowed it down and came trotting out to the living room holding two outfits on hangers.

Carbon had already finished getting ready and was sitting on the sofa drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Hyde drifted over to him.

“Mister, how do I look right now?”

Carbon looked up at Hyde. She shuffled closer and held the two outfits up alternately, asking again.

“Is this one better? Or this? Or should I wear something else?”

Carbon looked back and forth between Hyde and the two outfits for a moment, then answered.

“You look pretty as you are.”

“Oh, don’t just say that, look properly. Is this alright? Ahh, they say cameras make you look heavier than in real life, I shouldn’t have eaten that jam earlier……”

Hyde looked down at herself with a pained expression. Carbon set down the newspaper and pulled her over to him. He sat her on his thigh, took the hangers from her hands and tossed them aside, and rubbed her back as he spoke.

“You look perfectly slim to me, so stop worrying about things that don’t need worrying about.”

Carbon reached out and picked up a snack from the table and brought it to Hyde’s lips.

“The fact that you’re worrying about that tells me you need more sugar. You can eat more.”

“Mmm, I’ll get fat.”

Carbon watched Hyde whine but open her mouth and munch on the snack anyway, and wore the expression of someone thoroughly satisfied despite not having eaten a bite himself.

After finishing the snack, Hyde brushed her teeth again and came back out fully ready. On her finger was a ring that hadn’t been there before. The cameras’ focus snapped to the luminous, enormous diamond for a moment.

Hyde laughed and deliberately posed with the hand wearing the ring framing her face. It was obvious she was showing it off, as if to say ‘Everyone, come look at my ring!’ But it didn’t come across as annoying. To Carbon’s eyes she was more endearing than anyone, and viewer reactions weren’t bad either.

But for all the showing off, Hyde took the ring off before long. She looked like someone who had already achieved her goal and had no lingering attachment.

When she first received the ring she had thought she would wear it all day, every day, all year long, but the ring she had loved for being large enough to catch the eye from a distance came with significant limitations.

For instance, wearing it to sleep meant her rough tossing and turning could scratch Carbon, and wearing it to catch villains was essentially announcing ‘I’m right here!’ to everyone.

Above all, she didn’t want to lose or break the ring going out to do rough work, so she kept it carefully stored away during work hours.

She couldn’t wear it freely on days off either. Outside of occasionally putting it on alone for a mood boost and just looking at it, she could only wear it briefly when the situation allowed.

So the short window of being able to show off the ring in front of the broadcast cameras, even if it was at home, was more than enough to make her happy.

Hyde hummed a little tune, put the ring away again, and moved to head to work.

⏰ 9:00 A.M.

Having finished their noisy morning preparations, the two arrived at the building with the office in no time. Hyde, who had been pressed right against Carbon the whole way there, peeled away before they walked through the entrance and deliberately took a step or two back to put some distance between them.

“Everyone in the world already knows we’re dating.”

“Even so.”

Carbon said it while hiding his disgruntled expression, but Hyde didn’t catch it and smiled brightly.

“Knowing and seeing are different things!”

The two greeted the staff they ran into from the entrance onward. Hyde in particular received an enthusiastic welcome from the staff, which showed just how beloved she was at the office.

And before going into the office, they were caught by Bambino, who was noticeably more excited than usual because of the cameras.

“Goooood morning, Carbon, and Hydie~!”

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Bambino.”

Bambino hugged Hyde in greeting, then glanced at the cameras and said,

“Ooh, so this is what a broadcast camera looks like! Hey, am I coming out alright? I’m Bambino! I’m accepting applications for a partner, so reach out if you’re interested~.”

The lively exchange lasted only a moment. They each settled at their places and focused on work.

The broadcast compressed several hours of work into a few seconds. The footage of them working looked impressive, but it wasn’t the kind of thing to show for long. Desk work especially was the sort that would put viewers to sleep.

The fast-forwarding slowed back to normal speed when a red light came on in the office.

The moment they registered the alert, Carbon and Hyde were on their feet. Carbon came out having changed into his suit in no time, and Hyde, who had been on standby, reported on the issued alert.

“Armed robbers have entered C Bank, taken the people inside hostage, and are currently in negotiations. The villains occupying the building are identified as the Jackie Mask gang, who escaped from prison not long ago.”

“……It’s urgent, let’s move fast.”

Carbon frowned and held out a gloved hand, wrapping it around Hyde’s waist. He lifted her easily and went up to the roof, then leaped across rooftops toward C Bank as though flying. The speed was beyond anything an ordinary person could follow, and the shaking camera zoomed in desperately on Carbon and Hyde shrinking to a dot in the distance before cutting to a black screen.