Ro remembered the last thing Robert had said before they left headquarters. If they had not found the list by the fourth day, then there was no need to even reach the fifth day, because the mission would be considered a failure.

“Upsilon, have you thought of any good plan?”

At the question tossed at him, Upsilon glanced at Ro for a moment, then looked forward again. A plan. He did have one. Based on the orphanage, director, and staff files Robert had given them during the briefing yesterday, he had already come up with several plans. And unlike Ro, who was worrying that the five-day limit was too short, Upsilon thought even five days was plenty.

That said, if he remembered Ro’s mission style from seeing it over his shoulder, he did not think Ro would like his plan very much. No, more accurately, he thought Ro would hate it.

“Why aren’t you answering? Don’t tell me you came here with no plan. Agent Upsilon?”

“First, we need to check how people react to our cover identities. I’ll focus on the orphanage director, so you collect information from the children like you planned.”

Upsilon and Ro were posing as volunteers from a nonprofit that regularly visited the orphanage to provide talent-based community service. It was just before Thanksgiving, so the premise was that they had come to volunteer ahead of the holiday. In particular, since the school semester was nearing its end for middle and high school students, the main purpose was to provide concentrated mentoring over three to five days, such as career counseling and subject counseling.

In addition, Ro had supposedly prepared an event for preschoolers and younger elementary school kids, and the toys he had bought in bulk yesterday at the supermarket seemed intended for that event.

“That was all discussed with the boss beforehand. You must have your own Plan B too.”

“……”

“We’re partners for the first time, sure, but this is not your first partner mission, Upsilon. Don’t you know the most important thing in a partner mission? You have to communicate without hiding anything from each other.”

“I’m not hiding anything. It’s just that the plan has no meaning right now.”

Upsilon did not seem to be lying, but an unexplained fatigue was already creeping over Ro. He really wondered if it was right to keep doing the mission with Upsilon. He knew, from that surprise kiss last night and the way Upsilon had run away afterward, that the man had no intention of giving up on his feelings for him.

Even after having his five-year crush exposed, Upsilon had not shown anything this morning, and Ro had taken that to mean he intended to keep his work and private life separate. Aside from his personal feelings, Upsilon was clearly a capable agent Robert himself acknowledged, and if Ro had been Robert, there was no reason not to assign him to this mission.

“Could it be that you are avoiding telling me the plan because you think I’ll hate it?”

“…No.”

If it had not been for this problem. At Upsilon’s delayed answer, Ro swallowed the sigh trying to escape and closed his eyes. If it was really no, he should have answered immediately, idiot. That vague silence before answering was practically the same as saying yes.

At times like this, Ro almost wished he were the one who was slow on the uptake. Maybe it was an occupational disease from specializing in honey traps, but people’s emotions were just too visible to him. Small gestures, eye movements, tone of voice, even the way someone walked or dressed, all of it revealed their mental state. Even people who hid their emotions well were not easy for Ro to deceive.

Upsilon was no different. He would have liked to go on ignorant, but what could he do when it was so obvious? For now, he had no choice but to believe Upsilon’s claim that his feelings would not affect the mission. Ro closed his eyes and spoke again.

“Fine. You’ll handle it well enough on your own. I’m going to sleep, so wake me when we stop at a rest area to refuel.”

“Did you not sleep well yesterday?”

“Yep. I did not sleep at all. Someone kissed me and ran off, so I was thinking about it all night. I do not have much to say about the lover thing since I was the one who brought it up first.”

“…Sleep.”

Of course, that was a blatant lie. He had not slept especially well, but for once he had managed fairly well without sleeping pills. He was not the kind of sentimental adult who would lose sleep over one kiss with a coworker who had feelings for him, especially since it was not even his first kiss.

Honestly, from Ro’s point of view, what he had done with Upsilon yesterday was barely even a kiss, but Upsilon had no way of knowing that and silently kept his mouth shut, focusing on the drive. A pure, inconvenient romance if there ever was one.

Before long, Ro’s breathing deepened. For someone who supposedly suffered from chronic insomnia, he had fallen asleep quickly, which meant one of two things. Either he really was sleep deprived, or he was just pretending to sleep. Either way, Upsilon had no intention of waking him. In the quiet car, with conversation cut off, about an hour after Ro had closed his eyes, his voice came from the passenger seat.

“Kind of cold. Upsilon, turn the heater down a little.”

“Sure. Want me to turn on the seat warmer too?”

“No, just the heater.”

Apparently it really was cold, because Ro half opened his eyes and rubbed his arm, and Upsilon lowered the heater as requested. Once the warm air began filling the car, Ro closed his eyes again. It was not deep sleep, but he looked like he had actually drifted off. Upsilon glanced at him and reduced the car’s speed slightly.

As silence settled over the car again, Upsilon found himself lost in thought for the first time in a while. After realizing his feelings for Ro yesterday, he had thought things through from several angles. And he had reached one conclusion. Even if recognizing his feelings for Ro had been late, nothing changed.

Everything he had told Ro yesterday had been sincere.

That his feelings would not affect the mission. That nothing Ro worried about would happen. Realizing his own feelings would not make anything different, and it would not in the future either. He would simply remain in the same place as before.

“Ro, we’ll be stopping soon. You should probably get ready to refuel.”

After driving a long stretch of highway with only a few cars in sight, Upsilon woke Ro as he checked the navigation display showing a rest area within a mile and the dashboard. Ro had been sleeping lightly, eyes closed the whole time, waking and dozing off again, and he opened them at Upsilon’s voice.

“Let’s switch after we refuel. You can drive later.”

“I can keep going. If you’re tired, sleep more.”

“I can’t really sleep properly anyway. We should stop at the rest area, grab something to eat, and clear our heads.”

“…Was it really because of me that you couldn’t sleep?”

Upsilon asked with a surprisingly serious expression, still bothered by the joke Ro had made before sleeping. Even if Ro was not the target, he must have dealt with countless people until now, and yesterday’s incident was… of course, Upsilon himself had acted on impulse, but he had assumed Ro would not think much of it.

But if his behavior had affected Ro this much, then it was something worth reconsidering. Upsilon did not want to add more stress to someone already dealing with insomnia bad enough to require sleeping pills. Not with the mission ahead, either.

“I slept fine, don’t worry about it. If you’re really worried, then buy me something to eat when we get to the rest area.”

“Anything you want?”

“No, just something filling. Rest stop food is all basically the same.”

Still not fully awake, Ro yawned a little and looked at the navigation. As the distance to the rest area closed quickly, he turned to look out the window. In the distance, he could see signs for famous franchise brands like burgers, sandwiches, and doughnuts. Looking at them, Ro added one more thing.

“Oh, leave out the burgers.”

A few minutes later, the car reached the rest area. While Upsilon went to buy food, Ro stopped by the gas station beside the rest area and filled up the tank. Shortly after he parked nearby, Upsilon walked over with a paper bag in hand. Seeing the yellow and green brand logo printed on it, Ro guessed lunch was sandwiches today.

“Haven’t seen this sandwich place in a while. What did you get?”

As Upsilon approached, Ro took the paper bag from him and asked. The paper bag felt warm, as if the sandwich bread had been toasted.

“Just the recommendation set, two of them.”

“Solid enough.”

With the cool wind blowing through, Ro held the paper bag and opened the driver’s door. But before he could even sit down, Upsilon gently pushed him aside.

“Get in the passenger seat.”

“You’re still driving?”

“Yeah. This won’t wear me out.”

“Showing off your stamina? Think carefully. Once we leave, I am not switching driving with you until we reach the destination.”

“You don’t have to.”

Ro gave a little shrug and obediently sat in the passenger seat after seeing Upsilon insist on driving. In the warm car with the heater on, Ro took out his sandwich and a can of cola, then handed the rest to Upsilon. After peeling off the wrapping and taking a bite of the still-warm sandwich, Ro’s eating was confirmed, and only then did Upsilon take out his own sandwich.

“Upsilon. Don’t be too devoted to me.”

At Ro’s abrupt words, Upsilon’s hand, which had been expertly peeling the sandwich wrapper, froze. Ro kept looking forward as he continued.

“I know you can’t help how you feel, but I can’t return anything to you.”