After they shook hands, Dick paused slightly, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, then asked,43Please respect copyright.PENANACDO8vDQ9yR
“So… do you have any plans on where to go?”
Claire nodded. “Let’s head to Queen Street. There’s a nice American-style diner there.”43Please respect copyright.PENANAe9VLccsvry
Her tone was natural, as if it had been planned all along. No hesitation, and no special emphasis on this being a date.43Please respect copyright.PENANA8X2MxXhcWj
Just dinner. Simply dinner.
As they chatted, they walked outside. Claire turned to lock the door.43Please respect copyright.PENANASDLkjMTmj2
While doing so, she couldn’t help but glance down at the bottom edge of the doorknob—43Please respect copyright.PENANAesnQE0Tj2A
a place where she had once scratched a tally with her nail to keep track of time.43Please respect copyright.PENANA798vM4zDWX
That mark was long gone, as if it had never existed at all.
Claire finished locking up and turned right.
Dick frowned slightly, watching her back as he said,43Please respect copyright.PENANAU2l9t4Msx0
“Isn’t Queen Street to the left?”
Claire nodded. “I know. But I want to take the long way.”
She said it so matter-of-factly, without any explanation.43Please respect copyright.PENANAcHbRBK6hq4
Her tone was as casual as saying, “I feel like drinking something hot today.”
Dick tried to make sense of it, to interpret the logic.43Please respect copyright.PENANAkbxgeViGKz
‘The long way’ = more time together?43Please respect copyright.PENANATArrCOIuLV
Was she trying to get to know him better?43Please respect copyright.PENANAjRvInuX4A2
But—there was absolutely no sign in her eyes that she had any particular thoughts about him.43Please respect copyright.PENANA7pHiNiMvfu
That clean, clear indifference felt oddly… intimidating.
What exactly is this girl’s goal?43Please respect copyright.PENANAbfQyvoH45J
Dick had to find out.
They walked together. The shopfronts along the street glowed softly, the sidewalks neither crowded nor deserted.43Please respect copyright.PENANA9VNHEOc3TG
Warm orange streetlights stretched their shadows out behind them.
Naturally, the conversation began.
Claire asked, “Is being a police officer really busy?”
Dick nodded and gave a textbook answer:43Please respect copyright.PENANAwpMmSHmq6W
“Workload’s heavy, pace is fast. But we work in shifts, so we get rest. Our precinct’s got decent security—less hectic than other districts.”
Claire didn’t call him out on the vague, PR-style response.43Please respect copyright.PENANAhgWF1ApIUS
She just nodded silently.
Dick countered, “Is running a café tiring?”
Claire thought for a second, her tone relaxing a bit.43Please respect copyright.PENANA9QDlf5efgj
“Not too bad, really. I have to prep ingredients early every morning.43Please respect copyright.PENANAAGfMZZJ0ns
Some customers are regulars, others just passing through.43Please respect copyright.PENANApPcH82vwze
Afternoons are quieter, so I bake more then.43Please respect copyright.PENANAlgsF8NFrvm
It’s tiring, sure, but you get used to it.”
Her voice was steady, but when she mentioned “regular customers,” the corner of her lips twitched slightly—like she’d remembered something funny.
“Your precinct chief drops by almost every day. He loves hazelnut lattes,43Please respect copyright.PENANAOLFvPmNvCM
but always claims he only drinks black coffee—too afraid his team will mock him for being soft.”
Dick blinked, then laughed.43Please respect copyright.PENANA3tGJWwWvKU
That was more real than anything they’d said so far—plus, some gossip he hadn’t heard.43Please respect copyright.PENANAq4VZ6Pne8L
The tension quietly melted under that small, mischievous joke.
They came to a corner.43Please respect copyright.PENANAJV2jNUgIGO
There stood an old motel with a flickering porch light and faded signage. Claire suddenly lifted her head and looked up at the upper floors.
Dick followed her gaze.43Please respect copyright.PENANA7DqyyVarTV
There was nothing. No lights, no movement, not even a stray cat.
Then Claire turned left toward Queen Street without a word, her pace steady, as if she had already seen whatever she needed to see.
Dick looked puzzled and caught up with her. “What were you looking at just now?”
Claire turned and looked at him, her expression calm, voice equally so:43Please respect copyright.PENANAsDZZV0fSpN
“You don’t mind if there’s one more person, right?”
Dick’s brain short-circuited for a second.
43Please respect copyright.PENANAlARKCsdmoX
…One more person?43Please respect copyright.PENANAtxY0z6MmHm
Now?43Please respect copyright.PENANAaNz7OAZHpn
At this time of night?43Please respect copyright.PENANAOAXaHrPPW1
What did she mean by “one more person”?
His mental alarms fired up—scanning the area for any tails, ambushes, anything off.43Please respect copyright.PENANADsJiHmY3sp
But everything looked normal.
Then it hit him—43Please respect copyright.PENANAA7af9wBMcb
she meant someone was joining them.
This woman had planned a three-person date.
Is this a trend now? Or have I officially lost track of how modern dating works?
Dick glanced at Claire, who kept walking like nothing was wrong, and he couldn’t tell anymore who was leading this whole situation.43Please respect copyright.PENANAiEs4geHlpm
Wasn’t she the one who issued the invite without his consent?43Please respect copyright.PENANAfjjNxB9wHo
Now she even arranged a third party?
He was starting to find her a little scary.43Please respect copyright.PENANAeBJAolphho
Not dangerous—but the kind of scary where you could never guess her next move.
Dick tried to keep his cool and picked up his pace to match hers.
He lowered his voice and tried to sound casual:43Please respect copyright.PENANAmEYO6ngBbG
“Can I ask… um… who’s joining us?”
Claire only tilted her head slightly, giving him a look that said,43Please respect copyright.PENANAmkUWPm85qs
Why are you asking so much?43Please respect copyright.PENANA6d5iiWHDUY
Then kept walking without breaking stride.
“A cute kid.”
Dick: “????????”
You couldn’t blame him for being confused.43Please respect copyright.PENANAue5MeLUOZF
She said it so naturally, but his brain was entering meltdown.
He quickly calculated her age, build, manner—she didn’t seem like someone who had a kid.
So… whose kid was it?43Please respect copyright.PENANA7kWp0l9IT3
Why would a child be joining them at night for dinner?43Please respect copyright.PENANATj7pnUHSEG
What kind of parent would be okay with that?43Please respect copyright.PENANARDAXqUEgKk
Or… maybe the kid wasn’t hers at all?
The whole thing was getting weirder by the second.
As they walked on, Dick started to seriously wonder if he’d accidentally stumbled into some underground recruitment process,43Please respect copyright.PENANAZBp1LNsIbI
or if this was all a carefully disguised evaluation.
This woman’s actions were completely outside the bounds of any logic he’d ever associated with “ordinary people.”
43Please respect copyright.PENANAlsA44ek1zr
Just as Dick felt he needed to ask more questions to make sense of all this,43Please respect copyright.PENANANB0up0bgL8
Claire suddenly began looking up at the sky.
She walked while glancing upward, her gaze gliding along the edges of rooftops,43Please respect copyright.PENANAy7XgSphzA0
sometimes pausing slightly, as if she were searching for something.
43Please respect copyright.PENANAvfRUOj6APu
Dick followed her lead and looked up too—though honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for.43Please respect copyright.PENANARZFCXFa6iV
His brows furrowed, and he couldn’t help but ask in a low voice,43Please respect copyright.PENANAewL1Q9AXVf
“Excuse me… what exactly are you looking for?43Please respect copyright.PENANATOCZAGHbi6
Didn’t you just say a cute kid was joining us?”
He tried to keep his tone steady, but his brain was already running at full speed.43Please respect copyright.PENANArl93n7SrFi
He was trying to form a logical picture,43Please respect copyright.PENANA0kjkx2xRGY
but every clue felt like a kite with a broken string—pulled once, then gone with the wind.
He began mentally evaluating her mental state.43Please respect copyright.PENANAXAVF9yEuc3
This woman—her actions made no sense. Her words offered no context.43Please respect copyright.PENANASua4rT0Ke4
Her plans always seemed half a step ahead,43Please respect copyright.PENANAHHP0Wq7fPB
but with zero warning.
Claire’s eyes continued sweeping across the sky as she replied, her tone calm and detached:43Please respect copyright.PENANAA9aho9Pdcd
“Robin. I’m looking for Robin.43Please respect copyright.PENANA97JHhzk6vk
He’s joining us for dinner.”
Dick felt like his brain exploded on the spot.
He jolted where he stood, stopping in his tracks almost instinctively.
Robin?43Please respect copyright.PENANAebg58HZClg
She said she was looking for Robin?43Please respect copyright.PENANAcGnbAdayTW
The Robin he was thinking of?
A barrage of question marks flooded his mind:
—How the hell would Robin be here?43Please respect copyright.PENANA0qfrsGeCfP
—Why is she looking for him in Blüdhaven of all places?43Please respect copyright.PENANAVHcu2uw5gg
—She invited Robin to dinner?43Please respect copyright.PENANAUNNPwegsFV
—Does Robin even know her?43Please respect copyright.PENANAUcsZcjM2B0
—Would Robin even show up so casually…?
Too many questions surged in all at once.43Please respect copyright.PENANAWQgLd12QnK
It was like a flood crashing into his thoughts.43Please respect copyright.PENANAttbUbdcDZ1
He forgot how to breathe.
Just as his mind was about to be overturned by confusion,43Please respect copyright.PENANAGUGC9hWtk5
Claire suddenly stopped walking.43Please respect copyright.PENANAEVJeP7SLEz
She didn’t say a word—just lifted her gaze toward a specific direction,43Please respect copyright.PENANAtFrOGcHOev
and her eyes lit up.
Dick followed her line of sight.
Up on the rooftop of a tall building at the corner, shrouded by the faint veil of night,43Please respect copyright.PENANA1gMZG0CeAX
a figure swung across the skyline.43Please respect copyright.PENANAYy7wY2owQC
The taut grappling line sliced through the darkness like a stroke of ink across paper.
Robin.
His cape billowed behind him.43Please respect copyright.PENANA2k9QNOGSvX
He hovered for a moment in mid-air,43Please respect copyright.PENANAYsqWpafq7R
his form sharp and fluid, like a perfectly trained hawk in flight.
Claire smiled,43Please respect copyright.PENANADFeg0SSoi7
a quiet smile filled with the satisfaction of keeping a promise.43Please respect copyright.PENANAPPHUufCFL8
She said simply:
“Found him.”43Please respect copyright.PENANA7S9AIHfuzw