It started with the candy wrapper.
Haruka held it up like it was a top-secret clue, squinting at it dramatically while Momo bounced in circles around her feet.
"You ready, detective?" she whispered, crouching beside her fluffy partner-in-crime.
Momo sneezed.
"I'll take that as a yes."
She slipped the wrapper into a ziplock bag—because every good detective needed evidence—then held it under Momo's nose.
"Smell it, boy. Find the Hoodie Guy. Track that sarcastic aura."
Momo stared at her.
She wiggled the bag.
"C'mon! Use your super sniffer! This is your anime protagonist moment!"
With the most serious look a Samoyed could possibly muster, Momo gave the wrapper a mighty sniff… then promptly flopped onto the ground, tail wagging like she'd just handed him a snack instead of a mission.
"Momo!" she gasped. "You're supposed to sniff out the hoodie guy, not the nearest park bench!"
Undeterred, Haruka pointed dramatically toward the horizon. "We go north!"
They went South.
They made it exactly three blocks before Momo led them straight into a convenience store, plopped down by the snack aisle, and refused to move until Haruka bought him a beef jerky stick.
"I've created a monster," she muttered, holding the leash as her self-proclaimed search dog munched away proudly.
Just then, a familiar voice chimed from behind her.
"You training him to hunt candy wrappers now?"
Haruka nearly jumped.
Kaito stood a few feet away, sunglasses perched on his head, reusable shopping bag in one hand. He looked effortlessly casual as always—like he just strolled out of a magazine ad about organic groceries and chilled lifestyles.
"Oh! Mister...um.." she blurted, face heating up.
He chuckled. "Kaito. Rough morning?"
She blinked. Then gasped. Then shoved the wrapper into her pocket like it was contraband.
"No! I mean, yes. Wait—I mean, not rough. Just… investigative."
He raised an eyebrow, amused.
"I'm on a mission," she said seriously, puffing her cheeks. "I'm looking for someone."
"Oh?"
"A shady guy."
"Shady?"
Haruka nodded. "Tall, dark hoodie, emotionally constipated aura. He dropped this!" She held up the wrapper again like a detective revealing her final card. "And my dog fell in love with him."
Kaito stared at her.
Then, very slowly, he nodded. "Naturally."
"I'm serious!" she insisted, cheeks puffing further. "He's weird and rude and grumpy and—he glared at me like I stole his charger or something!"
"And yet here you are, on a manhunt."
"It's not a manhunt! It's a… curiosity expedition." She crossed her arms. "It's for Momo."
Momo burped.
Kaito laughed softly. "So. You're using your dog like a K9 unit to find a random shady guy you ran into once?"
"Yes," she said proudly.
There was a pause.
"I'm in," Kaito said.
Haruka blinked. "You… what?"
"I'll help. Sounds fun."
"You don't even know who he is!"
"I don't need to. I'm more interested in seeing where your chaotic investigation leads." He smirked. "Also, I'm bored."
Haruka stared at him suspiciously, then narrowed her eyes. "Are you secretly Hoodie Guy in disguise?"
Kaito dramatically gasped. "You caught me. My villain arc begins now."
Momo barked happily.
"Okay," she said, deciding to trust him. "But if you betray me, I'll tell Momo to chew your shoelaces."
Kaito held up his hands. "Fair warning."
And so began Operation: Hoodie Recon.
Haruka led the way, marching through backstreets with Momo tugging along, sniffing random things that had absolutely nothing to do with the hoodie guy. Kaito walked beside her, casually pointing out the most ridiculous "clues" like gum on the sidewalk and a squirrel that may or may not have made eye contact with a hoodie once.
"Maybe he's actually a ghost," Kaito offered, sipping an iced drink he bought along the way. "That's why he's always vanishing."
"No," Haruka said seriously, "ghosts don't glare. They do the floaty thing. This guy? He judges. With his whole aura."
"And this is the guy your dog's obsessed with?"
Haruka groaned. "Don't remind me. Momo abandoned me emotionally the second he sniffed that hoodie. I'm living with a traitor."
Kaito chuckled again, but said nothing.
He was enjoying this far more than he probably should, watching her flail dramatically every time she thought she spotted the wrong hoodie, and taking quiet mental notes every time she compared Hoodie Guy to her beloved Ryotakkun—without realizing just how close the two were
After another failed round of "sniff-the-wrapper," Haruka finally sighed, sitting on a low brick wall while Momo rolled in some dirt like he had zero regrets in life.
"This was a failure," she mumbled. "We found no clues. No hoodies. No sparkle-eyed streamers. Nothing."
Kaito sat beside her. "I wouldn't say that."
"Really?"
"We found a squirrel. A magical one."
She gave him a look.
"And," he added with a smirk, "I got to witness you threaten a trash can because it 'looked at you weird.'"
She turned beet red. "That was the moment! The dramatic tension was high!"
"I'll take your word for it."
Haruka leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "Maybe I should just give up. Hoodie Guy's probably just a figment of my overworked imagination."
Kaito glanced down at Momo, now sleeping beside the candy wrapper like it was a plush toy.
He smiled to himself.
"Or," he said casually, "maybe you'll bump into him again when you least expect it."
Haruka hummed. "If I do, I'm gonna ask if his hoodie has ever been through a laundry cycle."
Kaito laughed.
She paused, shifting her grip on Momo's leash. "Thanks for helping me today."
Kaito tilted his head with an easy smile. "I didn't do much."
"You humored my nonsense. That counts," she said, glancing up at him with a sheepish grin.
He chuckled, then raised a brow. "You still gonna search for this mysterious Hoodie Guy?"
Haruka straightened dramatically, puffing out her cheeks like a detective on a mission. "Absolutely. This case will never be abandoned."
Kaito tapped his chin, pretending to consider something. "Then how about we meet again tomorrow?"
Haruka blinked. "Huh?"
"I might have an ace up my sleeve," he said, a teasing glint in his eyes.
She narrowed hers suspiciously. "Is it an actual clue or just another candy wrapper?"
He winked. "You'll have to find out tomorrow, Detective."
Haruka let out a laugh, the sound light and easy as Momo barked approvingly beside her. The sky was beginning to darken, casting soft golden hues on the sidewalk as she waved goodbye and headed home, her heart strangely lighter than when she left.