“Shut up and walk.”

“Come on, you’re walking around with your t*ts practically falling out. Isn’t that what you’re after?”

He even mimed groping her chest with his fingers.

Rage surged all the way to the top of her head. Her fist itched, but Hyde held the anger in. There was a rule against using force on a villain who had already surrendered.

Unfortunately, this cheap villain had no concept of knowing when to stop while he was ahead.

“Didn’t think that uptight Carbon had a taste for this kind of thing. If I’d known, I’d have made friends with him. Could’ve invited him to our club.”

Hyde had been letting the filth about herself roll off her, but she stopped dead in her tracks.

She could not let anyone touch Carbon. He did not deserve to have garbage like that said about him. And she had worn these clothes entirely of her own free will. If anything, he…… he hadn’t paid her the slightest bit of attention.

Thinking about it only made her angrier. Hyde rolled up her sleeve. She cracked her neck, which had been stiff from the heat building in her, and raised her fist with a bright smile.

“Sure, let me make it really fun for you.”

“Oh? For real- ugh!”

Thwack! She clocked him in the back of the head and simultaneously swept his knees out from under him. She used her ability to bind the fallen villain tight in shadows, then started beating him with genuine enthusiasm.

She wasn’t a physical powerhouse of a hero, but Hyde had come out of the Hero Academy with a solid set of combat skills.

The beating ended when the villain was sobbing on the ground begging for his life and another hero nearby heard the commotion and came to intervene.

* * *

The report went up the chain, and before long Hyde was called to the Director’s office at Hero Bureau headquarters.

“Hero Hyde.”

“Yes.”

“I hear you used excessive force on a villain who had already surrendered.”

“……”

“You hit him pretty thoroughly, didn’t you. There wasn’t a spot on him that wasn’t bruised.”

Hyde lowered her head.

“Tsk. Still a rookie, I suppose? No sense of restraint, none at all. Beating someone’s eyes black and blue, is that your way of saying you don’t want to deal with the paperwork? Well?”

The Director tapped the desk. Tap, tap.

“This hero abused her authority and used excessive force. Receiving a disciplinary action is only natural.”

“Yes.”

“Haah.”

The Director pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Our bureau is already in an uproar over the Riela disappearance. And now you go and cause a scene on top of that. Isn’t it time you shed the rookie label and started working with a real sense of duty? Are you still stuck being the greenhorn fresh out of the academy? Well?”

“I’m sorry……”

Hyde apologized in a shrinking voice and bowed her head low. The Director clicked her tongue and looked at Hyde with clear displeasure.

Even without looking, Hyde could feel the sharp gaze burning into her, and her head dropped lower.

‘If the Director called me in personally to scold me, am I getting a serious punishment?’

Hyde knew she had done wrong. Even if the villain’s words had enraged her, the right move was not to take matters into her own hands but to report it up the chain and let the courts add to his charges.

But she had failed to hold back her feelings in the moment and caused a mess. Just as the Director said, she had acted like a greenhorn.

‘Still, I didn’t think it would blow up this big. If I’d known, I would have been more careful.’

What worried Hyde wasn’t the disciplinary action itself. It was whether Carbon might suffer any consequences because of her.

Carbon had spent years at the top without ever being caught up in anything unsavory. He felt the weight of responsibility as a top hero more than anyone, and he never did anything a hero shouldn’t do, no matter how small.

From the basics, not littering, not jaywalking, to refusing to even touch a cigarette because he said heroes had to be role models for children, drinking only enough to stay sober, being kind to everyone he crossed paths with, never forgetting to greet people, doing good deeds quietly without seeking recognition……

Some people called Carbon a hypocrite, but Hyde knew he approached everything with complete sincerity.

That was the kind of person Carbon was. Someone more fitting of the title hero than anyone, someone born to be one. Someone who had not coasted on natural talent but worked relentlessly to become a true hero.

The reputation he held now was a monument built from that accumulated effort. And she couldn’t let it be tarnished because of her, his mere sidekick……

Hyde’s face crumpled more and more. The Director watched her, swallowed a sigh, and waved a hand.

“Alright. You can go.”

“Pardon?”

Hyde’s head snapped up in surprise, and the Director spoke with a reluctant expression.

“There will be no disciplinary action.”

“Oh……”

She wanted to ask why, but wasn’t sure if she was allowed to, and hesitated. The Director read her and explained indirectly.

“You went straight from the academy to Carbon’s office, didn’t you.”

“Oh, yes!”

“Mm. Lucky placement, very. You won’t find another hero office anywhere that looks after its sidekick like that. Who else would pay the fine out of pocket and push to reduce the disciplinary action?”

“Ah……”

In other words, Carbon had smoothed over the mess she had made. Hyde deflated. The Director looked at her for a moment and said,

“Since you’re there to learn, you might as well learn from Carbon how to work someone over where it doesn’t show.”

“Pardon?”

Hyde only found out later what had actually happened. Carbon had gone to the hospital where the small-time villain was admitted and methodically worked him over, leaving the visible areas untouched but making the hidden damage so thorough that even the treatment process was agonizing.

But Hyde didn’t know any of that yet, and she stepped out of the Director’s office puzzled by the cryptic advice.

She turned the Director’s words over in her mind as she walked, so absorbed that she had no idea what was around her or who was approaching.

“Hyde.”

“Hup!”

A man stepped in front of her and called her name. Hyde startled and looked up, and a puzzled question came from above.

“What’s wrong?”

“……Mr. Carbon?”

Carbon raised an eyebrow. His expression said, why are you acting like I’m a stranger.

“Ah, I, you startled me. I thought you were someone else……”

Carbon was dressed differently than usual. A full suit, top and bottom, looked strange on him and yet undeniably good.

‘Like a film actor.’

Hyde stared at him blankly, and Carbon waved a hand in front of her face. She jolted, and Carbon tugged at his tie and asked,

“Did you finish your business here?”

“Yes.”

“Then we can head back.”

“Yes, they said there’s no disciplinary action.”

“That’s a relief.”

Carbon smiled faintly. But Hyde had already heard from the Director that it was thanks to Carbon’s intervention. The fact that he was here at the bureau in that stiff, uncomfortable suit right now was probably part of that effort.

‘I’ve caused him trouble.’

Deflated, Hyde spoke carefully.

“Um, Carbon. Thank you, and…… I’m sorry, I put you in a difficult position because of me.”

“No need to apologize.”

He didn’t scold her or blame her for what she had done, and he didn’t make a point of telling her what he had gone through on her behalf.

He simply reached out to pat her drooping shoulders, then quietly lowered his hand when he caught sight of the curves showing clearly through her thin clothing. It was a sudden reminder that she was no longer a small child he could touch so freely without a second thought.

“……You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

Carbon studied her with sharp eyes to make sure she wasn’t lying.

“Tell me if you are. You can go see the hero specialist.”

“Yes. But I’m fine. I really am not hurt anywhere.”

At most, her fist and foot were a little sore from hitting the villain. That didn’t count as an injury.

Hyde smiled sheepishly, and Carbon let it go without pressing further.

“Let’s go.”

Carbon walked her home. Hyde had expected to go back to the office and was caught off guard, and Carbon said…