[MHCISQD] Chapter 332: Cat and Mouse

20 minutes later, the curtain of the partition was lifted, and Mikoto and Mikumo appeared at the door.

Seeing the table filled with delicious food, Mikoto pouted in dissatisfaction, "You two went out to eat in the middle of the night and didn't even invite us! And you ordered so much!"

Renault waved his hand, gesturing for them to sit down before explaining, "Originally, we didn't order this much. It's because you two decided to join us, so we added more dishes."

After settling down beside Renault, Mikoto leaned against his shoulder, yawning. "You dragged me out even though I was so sleepy."

Renault neatly folded the coat Mikoto had taken off and placed it beside her, then poured her a cup of hot tea.

"Having trouble sleeping, huh?"

Mikoto took a sip of the tea, glanced at the table full of food, and couldn't resist her cravings, diving into the feast.

Later that night, when she woke up, Mikoto suddenly noticed that Renault, who was originally beside her, was gone. Feeling the now-cold spot where he had been sleeping, she realized that he had been up for some time.

Initially, Mikoto didn't think Renault had left the room. Instead, she wondered if he had sneaked off to see Mikumo secretly. As a result, she went straight to Mikumo's room to check, but, of course, he wasn't there either.

Once Mikumo woke up and realized that both Renault and Yuriko were missing, they searched the house together and found no trace of them.

Recalling what happened in the afternoon, they were extremely worried that the siblings might be up to something again, so they immediately called them.

But who would have thought that they were just secretly eating outside?

Upon learning this, Mikoto and Mikumo decided to join them without hesitation.

Of course, sneaking out to eat was just an excuse for Renault and Yuriko, so as not to worry Mikoto and Mikumo.

"The food is delicious!"

Once they started eating, Mikoto also fell in love with the flavors and her appetite grew.

Having slept for a while and then traveled a long way, it was natural to feel hungry.

While eating, Mikoto scolded the siblings, "You guys are so cruel, going out to eat without telling us! If I hadn't woken up just in time, were you planning to keep it a secret?"

Renault remained silent, while Yuriko on the opposite side nodded nonchalantly, "Of course we wouldn't tell you. It's a rare occasion for us to eat out. Why should we invite you? Isn't it better for you to be a good girl and sleep at home?"

"You little!"

Holding a skewer of grilled meat, Mikoto clenched her teeth, "Watch me zap you!"

"You can't beat me, and your electricity won't work on me."

Yuriko's nonchalant response left Mikoto speechless.

Meanwhile, Renault and Mikumo laughed while enjoying their meal.

The hierarchy among the people in the house became quite clear in this situation.

Renault held the top position, but since he was often not at home, Yuriko didn't pay much attention to it, so generally, Mikoto had the final say in the household matters.

And then, if Mikoto and Yuriko have a disagreement, as long as it's not something Yuriko cares about, she can't be bothered to oppose it.

But for example, on a day like today, when Yuriko was in a good mood, Mikoto came and stirred things up, making Yuriko a little annoyed. From that point, she no longer cared about Mikoto's feelings and confronted her directly.

Thus, it can be proved that Yuriko's hidden status at home is on par with Mikoto's, and sometimes even surpasses Mikoto's.

There's no way around it, even though they have a sister-in-law and younger sister-in-law relationship, Yuriko is still the stronger one. When it comes to using strength to speak, Yuriko always has the advantage.

At times like this, Renault would always maintain a neutral attitude, just watching from the sidelines.

Just like now.

When Mikoto noticed Renault's gaze, she understood and huffed, then continued to eat her skewers, ignoring Yuriko.

After winning the little confrontation, Yuriko didn't miss the opportunity to turn to Mikumo and said, "Next time when Renault takes this girl out on a date, let's follow them and try being the third wheel. I've never tried that before."

"Suzushina Yuriko!!!"

Facing Mikoto's fury, Yuriko flashed a stunning smile, then calmly picked some food for Mikumo.

As the most innocent one, Mikumo looked at Yuriko, then at Mikoto, and finally at the food in her bowl. She could only wear a pained expression, saying nothing, and continued eating.

Seeing that things were settling down, Renault finally spoke up, "Alright, Mikoto, Yuriko was just joking. She won't really be a third wheel. Let's finish eating and head back. The snow hasn't melted yet, and it's still cold out."

With Renault speaking up, Yuriko naturally stopped her teasing, and Mikoto also let it go, obediently eating her food. However, she had made up her mind to train diligently and completely defeat Yuriko next time, to show her who's the boss!

But whether she could win... that remained uncertain.

The once peaceful late-night meal became livelier with the addition of Mikoto and Mikumo.

After eating and drinking, it was past 1 AM.

Although they didn't drink alcohol, the overindulgence made everyone a bit drowsy.

After leaving Izakaya Bar and being slightly sobered by the cold wind, Renault took out his phone to call a taxi, and the four quickly returned home.

Then, they washed up and went to sleep.

They slept until noon the next day.

Meanwhile, the new leader of the Hearts and Mind Party, who had been knocked out by Renault and Yuriko the previous night, immediately contacted his subordinates upon waking up. The first step was to check if anything was missing from the office, and the second step was to investigate the building's surveillance.

However, Renault was well-prepared and left no traces for them to find. Even the surveillance devices in the office were unnoticed by these non-professionals due to their clever positioning.

Unfortunately, when the person informed Re-Destro about the incident, Re-Destro promptly ordered the replacement of everything in the office, and that's when they discovered the surveillance equipment.

Thirty minutes after the devices were found, several micro-surveillance pieces were delivered to Re-Destro himself, right in front of his trusted subordinate, whose real name was Yotsubashi Rikiya.

Examining the devices, only the camera was destroyed, but the listening device was left untouched, its transmission simply disrupted.

Looking at it, Yotsubashi handed it to his subordinate beside him and said, "Can you find out where these were made?"

The person he called in was an electronics expert. After swiftly dismantling one of the micro-cameras, he shook his head. "The manufacturing process of all the components differs from anything we know on the market. We can trace the raw materials, but they are traded countless times every day, making it impossible to find the origin."

Yotsubashi nodded, understanding that guessing the origin wouldn't be easy.

Pointing to the listening device, Yotsubashi said, "Destroy the camera completely, restore the listening device to its original state, and let it continue functioning as usual. If they dare to investigate us, they should be prepared for retaliation. Do they really think they can be invisible rats in the dark without consequences?"

In Yotsubashi's mind, he had already devised a series of follow-up plans.