At 5:40 p.m., Yukinoshita Haruno, exhausted from the weekend activities at university, returned to her single apartment.
As soon as she entered, she habitually went to the bedroom to turn on the computer before doing anything else.
A while later, dressed in her home attire, Haruno sat at the computer desk, holding a fruit salad in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
She casually placed the items on the desk, then grabbed the mouse and skillfully pulled up a monitoring program hidden deep within the computer.
Watching the surveillance footage of Yukino, Haruno's eyes curved into a smile.
Not bad. Hoshimi hadn't shown up at her sister's house today.
Not having to witness her sister and Hoshimi being affectionate was already good news for her.
But what was Yukino-chan eating? It looked kind of strange.
Curious, Haruno zoomed in on the surveillance footage, carefully observing Yukino, who was sitting on the living room sofa.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed that Yukino's actions were more like licking than eating.
In the footage, Yukino held a yellow, hollow, stick-like snack, licking it delicately.
The camera angle was from Yukino's side, so it captured the scene of her extending her delicate tongue, circling the snack.
What was this? A snack that needed to be licked? A new type of candy?
Haruno frowned, feeling puzzled.
To maintain her figure, she had always resisted the temptation of snacks, so she wasn't too familiar with the latest ones on the market.
But something felt off.
Why was Yukino blushing while eating a snack?
Seeing Yukino's flushed face in the footage, Haruno sensed that something was amiss.
She brought up today's surveillance files and fed them into a 'face search software,' quickly locating Yukino's activities in different areas of the apartment throughout the day.
Upon checking, she discovered that Yukino had gone out earlier.
Typically, Yukino stayed home on Saturdays unless there was something special, usually studying or watching cat videos.
Going out meant something unusual!
So Haruno focused on the periods before Yukino left and after she returned.
First, before leaving, the footage showed Yukino spending a long time in the study.
It appeared she was using her laptop to look something up.
Due to the camera angle, it was impossible to see the laptop screen and, thus, what she was doing on it.
However, judging by Yukino's upright posture and her grip on the mouse, Haruno could tell that she wasn't watching cat videos but was seriously studying.
Haruno was certain because she knew that when Yukino watched cat videos to relax, she always curled up in her chair with a relaxed posture, occasionally even resting her feet on the chair's edge—a cute sight that Haruno remembered well.
But this posture—sitting upright—was Yukino's studying mode.
Still...why was she blushing while studying?
In the footage, since Yukino opened her laptop to study, the blush on her face hadn't faded; instead, it became more pronounced over time...
Zooming in to the maximum, Haruno could see a thin layer of sweat on Yukino's forehead and temples.
What was she studying? Why was she blushing and even sweating?
A vague, ominous suspicion formed in Haruno's mind...
Her expression darkened as she continued reviewing the footage of Yukino's return home.
"Hm?"
Seeing Yukino carrying a bag back into the house, Haruno instinctively furrowed her brow.
Did Yukino-chan go shopping?
Something was off. There had to be a problem!
Haruno was already well aware of Yukino's weekly routine. Normally, Yukino went grocery shopping on Sunday mornings to restock supplies for the week.
Otherwise, Yukino rarely went out to shop, except when Hoshimi had been involved before…
So, was this also because of Hoshimi?
Haruno narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in their depths.
She dragged the surveillance video's progress bar, watching as Yukino entered the living room. She paused the footage, zooming in to see what Yukino had bought.
Earlier at the entrance, the dim lighting made it hard to identify the items.
Now, in the living room with the natural light from the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was much clearer.
"Is that taro? What is Yukino doing with such large taros?"
Using Yukino's hand as a reference, Haruno estimated that each taro was at least as long as Yukino's palm.
What could Yukino possibly be doing with such big taros? Eating them? Or something else?
Suppressing her confusion, Haruno continued identifying the items in the shopping bag.
"Strawberries... carrots... and milk? No... wait, it looks more like... condensed milk?" Haruno squinted as she identified most of the items in the bag.
Two other items were obscured and couldn't be seen or identified.
After roughly identifying what Yukino had brought home, Haruno fast-forwarded to see what happened next.
Soon, Yukino entered the kitchen with the shopping bag.
There was no surveillance in the kitchen, so it was impossible to know what Yukino was doing in there. Haruno skipped this part and fast-forwarded to when Yukino emerged from the kitchen.
In the footage, Yukino carried two plates to the coffee table in the living room.
One plate seemed to have ice pops on it.
Red and white ice pops—Haruno immediately recognized them as being made with condensed milk and strawberry flavor.
It was almost June, so making popsicles wasn't too unusual.
But why did the items on the other plate look so strange?
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