We are both rotten

Sumire took a deep breath before she opened the door. Sure enough, on the other side of the door was Sano. But there was something different about him.

Oh, this--? Her eyes widened when she saw his badly bruised face. No, the bruises went all the way down to his neck.

"Did you get hurt again?"

Sano cupped her cheeks. "You're okay?"

"Mmm, nobody has gone after me for a while-" She paused mid-sentence when she saw how bad his wounds were "They hurt you?"

"…"

Hino sighed deeply. "If you don't tell her, I will."

"…"

It took Sano a few minutes before he finally spoke. The words that left his lips were hard to believe.

"Eh? You mean--"

Hino nodded. "Lately, they drag Sano along with them to their jobs and make him do unreasonable things."

"Is that because they heard about me bringing him with me?"

"Well, you did create rather ambiguous rumors."