CHAPTER 474: GIVE ME YOUR SHIRT

Thankfully for Lane and Nyla, it didn’t seem so. Throughout the rest of the day, Miles acted as normal. As they finished catching the monsters, packed them up for transport, then drove through the city (multiple roads had to be closed for this purpose, and even then, many people, mainly civilians, tried approaching and following them, attracted by the monsters’ hypnosis. The Association’s team was busy stopping them from throwing themselves under the trucks), Miles was focused on the task. Or rather, on commanding other people to do their job. He didn’t approach Clara, not even once, nor did any other member of the Allen Guild try to do so. Only Nyla did so, checking up on Clara once she regained consciousness. As such, no one had an opportunity to retrieve the SD card.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily HAVE TO mean that Miles hadn’t noticed anything, but it put Lane more at ease. It would have made no sense for Miles to just let it be, without checking what was on the card. After all, Nyla could just come up with an excuse, and without any proof, how would they be able to tell for sure whether she was lying or not?

Overall, it just didn’t seem like Miles’ way of doing things. Unless he already knew what was on the SD card... Nothing pointed toward this, though, so at least for now, Lane was going to assume that everything was alright. He didn’t have any way to help Nyla out anyway, not immediately, not when he didn’t even know what the Allens had over her head.

The only thing he could do for now was to get his hands on that SD card, and check what it was all about.

And in order to do that... He needed Clara.

"Hey. It’s late, you must be hungry," he said with a smile, approaching her as soon as they got out of the minibuses after returning to the Headquarters, before she could leave the parking garages to go home. "How about you join me and Damien for dinner?"

"...What?" Clara froze in place, staring at Lane, completely dumbfounded. Even Damien, who was about to head to the office to return the keys, stopped in his steps and turned back, deciding that this was more important.

"Stop by our place, yeah?" Lane repeated, his smile widening.

Clara remained silent for a minute longer, before finally asking, "Did you lose your mind from trying to resist the hypnosis?"

Her reaction was understandable. On any normal day, Lane was more likely to throw her out of the door than actually invite her in. Although their relationship had gotten a bit better, as Clara was no longer openly speaking against Damien’s relationship with Lane, it was more like staying quiet for Damien’s sake than her actually growing to accept Lane. She still believed that Lane didn’t deserve her brother, and no one could convince her otherwise. Not so quickly, at the very least.

But Lane hadn’t been trying to earn her blessing either. Nor to better his relationship with her. Thus, this sudden invitation was extremely suspicious... Lane must have had ulterior motives!

And she was right. Lane was simply after... her uniform shirt. Or the contents of her chest pocket, to be precise. He couldn’t say it in public, though, in case there was another spy from the Allens on their team...

"You should come," Damien joined in. While he might not have understood Lane’s motives, he knew that his boyfriend must have suggested it for a reason. "I’ve cooked enough for three people."

"But..." Clara still was unconvinced. She wasn’t exactly hungry, since they had been treated to a solid lunch by the Allen Guild in the Eldenveil... However, since her brother said so, in the end, she agreed. "Alright."

And, after Damien quickly returned the keys, she followed them to the apartment...

Only to be met with, "Give me your shirt," right at the doorstep.

"...What?"

"Your shirt." Lane pointed at Clara’s uniforms. Then, seeing how she covered up her chest with her arms, and sucked a sharp breath, about to burst, he added, "Or the contents of your chest pocket. I don’t care about anything else."

He didn’t have time to waste on any stupid arguments caused by any ridiculous misunderstandings.

"What? I don’t have anything in my... Eh?" Clara blinked. Although she was denying it, she instinctively reached to touch her pocket... Only to find it wasn’t empty, after all!

"What’s this?" she asked, more to herself than to Lane, pulling out the black SD card.

"That’s mine." Lane reached out to snatch it, but Clara closed her hand, pressing it against her chest.

"What’s your SD card doing in my pocket?"

"Nyla put it there."

"Eh?" Clara paused, her cheeks flushing slightly at the mention of Nyla. She quickly recovered, though, and argued back, "Then how do you know it’s for you?"

"Oh, come on." Lane couldn’t help but roll his eyes ostentatiously. "For whom else could it be?"

"Well..." Clara wanted to say that for her... But even she knew that it didn’t make any sense. Why would Nyla secretly sneak an SD card into her pocket, without saying anything? They didn’t know each other all that well!

"There. If you don’t believe me, come and see." Lane grabbed Clara’s hand, pulled her fingers away, and snatched the card. Then, he went to the living room to grab his laptop, plugged the card in, and clicked to open it...

[Enter the password:]

"...See?" Lane glanced back at Clara. "You don’t know what it is, do you?"

"Do you?"

Lane smiled. If he were to guess randomly, he wouldn’t have known, but...

There was a hint written on top of the card with a white pen.

[Dessert.]

Just this. It wasn’t a big clue, but...

He quickly typed, [Strawberry Sundae], and pressed enter.

The password window instantly disappeared, replaced by the card’s contents. Lane quickly glanced over the files, his eyes scanning the titles... There were several folders, but the one that attracted his attention the most was...

"Summit’s Operation Plans?"

Hearing Clara’s voice, Lane instantly closed the laptop. It was not something for anyone else’s eyes.

Nyla had gotten him a copy of the Allen Guild’s plans for the summit.