After they shook hands, Dick paused slightly, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, then asked,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHxqZhM0Zb
“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.”241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh3bBVE5JW
Her tone was natural, as if it had been planned all along. No hesitation, and no special emphasis on this being a date.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7KMQwusmV
Just dinner. Simply dinner.
As they chatted, they walked outside. Claire turned to lock the door.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcoK8BNU1b
While doing so, she couldn’t help but glance down at the bottom edge of the doorknob—241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlnYTIr96B
a place where she had once scratched a tally with her nail to keep track of time.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFjuJx6JWl
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,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAeFTAKCht
“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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKfDWmTG76
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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RwlJ7rzx8
‘The long way’ = more time together?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdAQGHDKb0
Was she trying to get to know him better?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVGlTHlhVJ
But—there was absolutely no sign in her eyes that she had any particular thoughts about him.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsenKHkNqZ
That clean, clear indifference felt oddly… intimidating.
What exactly is this girl’s goal?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡda6WWVZaLd
Dick had to find out.
They walked together. The shopfronts along the street glowed softly, the sidewalks neither crowded nor deserted.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NsQa8GqRm
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:241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWZva3wkzz
“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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fdDaRM1A6
She just nodded silently.
Dick countered, “Is running a café tiring?”
Claire thought for a second, her tone relaxing a bit.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOccY6Dhppz
“Not too bad, really. I have to prep ingredients early every morning.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNOBHuF9IQ
Some customers are regulars, others just passing through.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9Tmq0lnjs
Afternoons are quieter, so I bake more then.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oyZh7J1Ob
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,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwWLQm6saO
but always claims he only drinks black coffee—too afraid his team will mock him for being soft.”
Dick blinked, then laughed.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGEp2GIuln
That was more real than anything they’d said so far—plus, some gossip he hadn’t heard.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivu8BoD9mr
The tension quietly melted under that small, mischievous joke.
They came to a corner.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvhkod4yTA
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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD2y9prUUy
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:241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLWWKah8vO
“You don’t mind if there’s one more person, right?”
Dick’s brain short-circuited for a second.
241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2cQ4ln9HY
…One more person?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aXlcjmNuy
Now?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5wVMOC2fi
At this time of night?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv94N4dMy5p
What did she mean by “one more person”?
His mental alarms fired up—scanning the area for any tails, ambushes, anything off.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaFbTkAp6J
But everything looked normal.
Then it hit him—241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZhpeFhDC0
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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFxmb44Olf
Wasn’t she the one who issued the invite without his consent?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIQodUz1Qz
Now she even arranged a third party?
He was starting to find her a little scary.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjczlrIokg
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:241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhF5qQdMH1t
“Can I ask… um… who’s joining us?”
Claire only tilted her head slightly, giving him a look that said,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjg33ztNxq
Why are you asking so much?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW36DT2UcP1
Then kept walking without breaking stride.
“A cute kid.”
Dick: “????????”
You couldn’t blame him for being confused.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAL0AQV7dq
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?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNEwov0V94
Why would a child be joining them at night for dinner?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUJQZE4JkG
What kind of parent would be okay with that?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzCIu2kPHc
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,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WgPfzukR6
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.”
241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTT0LE65mU3
Just as Dick felt he needed to ask more questions to make sense of all this,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvO3RT3b4s
Claire suddenly began looking up at the sky.
She walked while glancing upward, her gaze gliding along the edges of rooftops,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZBYgfIzSt
sometimes pausing slightly, as if she were searching for something.
241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyd1emNVZtM
Dick followed her lead and looked up too—though honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3P2DjARPy
His brows furrowed, and he couldn’t help but ask in a low voice,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eB6lzkgeI
“Excuse me… what exactly are you looking for?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbGnGpDCzI
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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37mzqcVsuv
He was trying to form a logical picture,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfgHe0EQBE
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.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQa8Pke7w1N
This woman—her actions made no sense. Her words offered no context.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyblFn5Vy8
Her plans always seemed half a step ahead,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVHrfhhK9T
but with zero warning.
Claire’s eyes continued sweeping across the sky as she replied, her tone calm and detached:241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw73p49xtO1
“Robin. I’m looking for Robin.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgygGVvCbT
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?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97DEdqXqcu
She said she was looking for Robin?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ35rsobtYK
The Robin he was thinking of?
A barrage of question marks flooded his mind:
—How the hell would Robin be here?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡic3p8mCmVs
—Why is she looking for him in Blüdhaven of all places?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRVYousNPK
—She invited Robin to dinner?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElyMxXLBsG
—Does Robin even know her?241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5roHK2Zp6o
—Would Robin even show up so casually…?
Too many questions surged in all at once.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVx215BKUTL
It was like a flood crashing into his thoughts.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDiFXZL5s6
He forgot how to breathe.
Just as his mind was about to be overturned by confusion,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswDuGSv0O6
Claire suddenly stopped walking.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhyQr5iGG6
She didn’t say a word—just lifted her gaze toward a specific direction,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXBN3oBeXI
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,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBIX5AcX3s
a figure swung across the skyline.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyML4tn0NE3
The taut grappling line sliced through the darkness like a stroke of ink across paper.
Robin.
His cape billowed behind him.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SCYus3x8Y
He hovered for a moment in mid-air,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH4FbFJL38
his form sharp and fluid, like a perfectly trained hawk in flight.
Claire smiled,241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpVuMN8pl3
a quiet smile filled with the satisfaction of keeping a promise.241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIdwfPV14t
She said simply:
“Found him.”241Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3ksTcd6NG
and then Add to home screen.