It was midnight.

Shido sat between Tohka and Yoshino in the sofa, watching some commercial ads. Tohka seemed excited for some reason, and Shido noticed this.

"Tohka, you seem excited. Is your favorite show..?"

"Yes!" Tohka exclaimed.

"She's making me watch something," Yoshinon replied, tugging on Shido's shoulder.

"What is it?" Shido asked.

Tohka shuffled through the cabinet below the TV, taking out a small DVD box and showing it to Shido.

The cover was a picture of a big eye, with scary red iris. The title read "The Grudge"

"Oh..." Shido quickly realized what Tohka was up to: She's trying to scare the hell out of Yoshino.

Well, it has to be. They wouldn't stay up this late if she's not gonna do-

A bell rang in the kitchen.

"Ah!" Tohka jumped. "The pup-corn!" she said before running to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Shido scooted next to Yoshino.

"You haven't watched a horror movie before?"

Yoshino's head tilted, along with Yoshinon's. "What's a horror movie?"

Shido could only narrow his gaze. It was almost a perfect prank to pull on the innocent Yoshino, making her watch it for the first time.

"Tohka, you clever-" Shido thought, but speaking of the devil, the violet-haired woman butted in with a big bowl of popcorn.

"Yosh!" she handed Shido the bowl before turning on the CD player and changing the TV mode to AV.

"Well," Shido said, turning to Yoshino. "The movie Tohka wants you to watch, it's a horror movie. It sort of scares people." he explained.

Before Shido could explain further, the menu was playing on the screen, and Tohka quickly played the movie. She hurried to the sofa and raised her fist.

"Alright! Here goes." she declared.

Shido facepalmed. He had only introduced her and taught her all about the TV and DVD and now she's like an expert using it. Not to mention she's been watching every single movie in store from both in Ratatoskr and in the Spirit daycare.

"And to think I showed you this a week ago..." he thought.

The two girls were oh-so-eager as the intro starts playing. Shido simply sat back and relaxed.

Several screams and tight holding hands later...

Yoshino was visibly shaken. "That was..."

All the while Tohka was smiling like nothing happened. Deep down, however, she was laughing at the poor bluenette. Tohka yawned and raised up her hands like it was nothing. Well, maybe it really was nothing; she has watched the movie for the third time today.

"Well, I guess that's it for our movie bonding," Tohka said. "I'm going to bed, Shido."

"Ah, yeah. Me too." Shido said. "Yoshino, you shou-… Yoshino?"

The little bluenette was still shaking and hasn't said a single word. Even Yoshinon, the white rabbit puppet, was scared to the bones.

"Yoshino-" he put a hand on her shoulder, but Yoshino got surprised.

"Waaah!" Yoshino threw up her hands and Yoshinon blasted off from her left hand.

"S-S-Sorry!" Shido said.

"..Well, I'm off!" Tohka said, successfully hiding her laughter as she kissed Shido on the cheek before heading to her bedroom.

Muffled laughter can be heard from the outside. Shido could only shake his head. "Tohka, you meanie…" he thought.

Shido comforted Yoshino as he escorted her back to her room before heading back to his own.

Shido was about to close his eyes when he heard a knock to his door. He rubbed his eyes as he took away his blanket and stood up. Before he could even touch the doorknob, Yoshino came rushing in and glomped Shido.

"Waah! Shido-san, Shido-san!" she said as she cried and dug her head deep in his stomach.

"Yoshino? Calm down!" Shido said.

It took almost half an hour before Yoshino calmed down. "You got scared by that white girl, haven't you."

Yoshino nodded, her cheeks puffing as she did so.

Shido sighed. Tohka might have overdid it…

"Shido-san, can I sleep with you?" This very question made Shido look down on the bluenette.

It was then he realized that Yoshinon wasn't in her hand.

"Umm…"

"Please!" Yoshino pleaded. "She might come back and, and, and-!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Shido replied, trying his best to hush Yoshino. "But only tonight, okay?"

Yoshino's face brightened.

Soon, they were both curled up in blanket. Shido managed to convince her to turn off the lights, much to his relief, although Yoshino was ever scared.

Shido was facing away from Yoshino, yet Yoshino was the one who was burying her head on his back.

He could still feel her shaking. Was the girl really that scared?

"Ne, Shido-kun," Yoshino started.

"Nani?"

"Remember when you first brought me to your house?"

Memories came rushing in his head. Her green bunny-like hoodie, fidgety personality, and the talks of Yoshinon the pupp- er, his friend rather. Oh, and not to mention the kiss that made Tohka throw a fit.

"Yeah." Shido replied.

"You said that, I wouldn't need Yoshinon because you'll be my hero…"

The way it sounded…

"If the girl shows up again…"

It's as if she was saying…

"…will you be my…"

Shido turned around and wrapped his arms around her. Yoshino gave out a slight gasp, before bucking her legs a bit as he snuggled up on Shido.

"I promised you, didn't I? I'll be your hero." Shido whispered to her.

"…No matter what happens."

Yoshino brightened, and tears started to fall from her eyes. Though Shido didn't see it, he nevertheless placed his head above hers, and gently tightened his hug.

Yoshino cherished the hug so much that she couldn't sleep. Shido, on the other hand, realized that her skin, or rather, her body, was soft, almost sponge-like. He smelled her long, blue hair, and it just made him fall for her more.

"Shidou-kun…" Yoshino whispered. "I…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"I love you."

It was the first time Shido had heard her say it. "I love you too," he replied naturally, but he really meant it.

To his surprise, Yoshino pushed herself up and planted her lips to him. "Can we sleep like this?" she whispered. "I just want us to be… this close."

Shido smiled. "Sure."

With that, Yoshino fell asleep. Shido couldn't help but stare at the bluenette until he got dizzy of cuteness and fell asleep.