You picture seeing her in your apartment again, so you wait.

The battle with the garbage creature had wound down. You had spent that whole time watching Froppy as a dot in the distance, buzzing around on rescue detail while the more combat-oriented heroes focused on the fight. She'd occasionally disappear from sight, but her leaping trajectory made it very easy to pick her up whenever she reappeared. Soon, you'd realized you were the only one still watching: the monster was long since frozen by one hero and shattered to pieces by another, but there was apparently still plenty for the rescue heroes to take care of.

... It's almost sunset, now. You could use the remaining time to meet your neighbors, but none of them seem to have much interest in you, anyway. There'll be plenty of time for that some other day, anyway.

You still have no idea if your control is working on your target, but on the off-chance it is, your apartment's the only place she'll be able to find you. You still have unpacking you need to be doing, anyway, so you spend an hour taking care of that. It's only now occurring to that your apartment was basically bare when Tsu first saw it, with only your furniture set up and everything else still in boxes. If you hadn't had to fix dinner the night before, you probably would have had to go looking for the paper towels to even bandage her.

Anyway, after spending an hour, you've basically unpacked everything. Your apartment looks like someone actually lives here, now... There's just two things still missing: your guest, and...

Food! You'd planned to pick up dinner when you were out and you completely forgot! But what if you step out now, then Tsuyu shows up and you aren't here? So, for an hour, you distractedly sit on the couch, watching TV... Soon, your growling stomach is too hard to ignore. It's the middle of the night, and you might be passing up a date with destiny, but you'll starve if you don't go find some food! In a rush, you head for the convenience store.

...

As you walk, you find yourself locked in a mortal struggle between fear of dying of starvation and fear of missing out. You're still getting the lay of the land around your new apartment, which is why you don't want to travel too far from it at night. The convenience store is almost right next to it. You follow the streetlamps on the sidewalk, go in, and grab some cup noodles, vowing that you'll make an actual grocery visit in the future (which would be more convincing if you weren't checking out a week's worth of cup noodles and a couple of 2-liter sodas). You barely register the face behind the counter as you hand over payment and walk out with two bags in your hands. If you hurry, you might have a better chance of catching Tsu if she stops by.

Get real. Stops by? This late at night? You almost feel silly for thinking it. You keep on the same way you came, past the gas pumps, down the sidewalk, past the streetlamps with the upside down woman hanging from one...?!

You jump back in shock as you double take at what you just passed.

Tsu's upside down eyes are staring at yours, as she regards you with one hand on her lower lip. Her feet are pressed against the underside of the street lamp, and her incredibly long hair is dangling all the way to the street below her. "Ren. I stopped by your apartment to drop this off, ribbit. When I saw you weren't there, I took a guess you were out shopping."

How did she guess that?

The frog girl neatly dismounts from the light where she'd been hanging, lands on her hands, then swings the rest of her body down to crouch in her usual position. You notice she has a new bandage on her head, in the right place this time, but you don't point it out. She rises to standing with her strange, wide-eyed stare comparably motionless. "Don't take this the wrong way, ribbit... I could tell from your apartment that you aren't proactive. If you weren't there, the convenience store was the next easy place to imagine, ribbit." She's staring at the bags in your hand, and it's hard not to feel judged. "Is that dinner, ribbit?"

Yeah... Nevermind that. You tell her that's a weird looking fruit basket she's brought.

"Mm. Mama thought a newly-moved-in student would appreciate this more, ribbit. She was super grateful to you when I told her what happened, you know. They're pork cutlets, ribbit. Do you know how to fry them?"

You did... but... You told her you didn't.

"Mhm. Don't take this the wrong way, ribbit... I had a feeling from your dinner choice you couldn't."

You keep it to yourself, but you want to say that there are only so many times you can not take these things the wrong way! You hold her tongue and let her continue

"Well, the cutlets are from Mama, but I haven't properly thanked you myself. Want me to teach you how to do it, ribbit?"

You try to keep your face even. With your own eyes wide open, it's almost like you're mimicking her expression. You tell her you'd appreciate it...

The rest of the walk to your apartment is almost a blur. Tsu is making small talk, and you're giving her vague nods and shakes of the head in response. You can't stop sneaking glances at her every chance you get... This is really a case where the outfit makes the woman. For some, seeing a hero in their hero gear might inspire emotions like awe, appreciation, respect... For you, it's inspiring a part of you you're working hard to keep soft, trying to think of anything else. And, her gear aside, there's that long, dark green hair... And, when you look at that, it's only natural for your eyes to travel to the top of her head...

What you've planted in her with Dominant Will so far is essentially this: she should be thankful to you, she should feel good when you touch her head, and (maybe) she should try to make that a part of her regular schedule. It doesn't add up...

Tsu seems to realize your head isn't all together there and tilts her head again, her usual curious tic. "Ren, do you know anyone around here yet, ribbit? Have you met your neighbors?"

You tell her you mostly intend to keep to yourself. You're pretty sure all of your neighbors are assholes, anyway.

The heroine's eyes stay rooted on you, and she tilts her head even further to indicate that only made her more curious. "What makes you think that, ribbit?"

Well... Aren't most people jerks? You give a cynical laugh to hide the fact that it's not dry humor, but really what you believe.

Tsu doesn't seem to be buying it as a joke, and she shakes her head, answering it with her usual unreadable seriousness. "I don't think so, ribbit. Make sure you try to meet them, okay? You'll have a hard time if you stay alone, ribbit."

That confirms it for you. What Tsu's doing now might have very little to do with Dominant Will. She must really be looking out for your best interest... And she really might have a fair point. You definitely don't intend to be alone any more...

Heroes. Heroes like Tsu are the ones who've ever done anything decent for you, and if you can get a hero like her to stick around, who needs anybody else? It only reaffirms that, before she's out of your apartment tonight, you're going to seal the deal.

You tell Tsu that you're sure there's someone you can rely on, after all.

"That's right, ribbit."

You unlock the door for her and invite her into your apartment.

"Sorry about the shoes, ribbit. They don't really come off the outfit. Is that fine?"

You tell her that's no trouble at all.

"You've got a skillet, ribbit?"

You tell her you've got a skibbit... Tch, skillet!

Tsu makes a tiny croak, and you wonder if it was a stifled laugh. When you show her where everything is, she quickly gets to work. Sure, you know how to fry a pork cutlet, but it's clear she's putting in seasonings and the whole shebang from what her mother packed. It starts to smell so good, you almost forget your plan and start taking notes so you can do it yourself next time... But you don't, not quite.

Before Tsu can stop you, you reach out your hand and put it on top of that bandage.

"Ribbit?" She doesn't stop you, but a bit of red sneaks onto her usual unchanging face. "It's a little embarrassing if you do it out of nowhere. I'm cooking, ribbit..."

That's the end of her protests. You think it really must feel good, for her to endure that awkward position.

"Ren... Ribbit. Is it weird that I want to keep meeting up with you for that Helping Hand? Maybe just after missions, ribbit? I couldn't believe how much better I was feeling after it earlier today, ribbit..."

It's an important question, and it's a great sign that she's asking it, but your mind is hardly on it. With your hand on Tsu's head, as she stands in the tiny kitchen of your apartment showing you how to cook the pork cutlets she brought you, a single thought dominates your attention...

This is probably a pivotal moment for you and Dominant Will, just as pivotal as anything you recapped from earlier today. A struggle between what you should do, and what you want to do.

So far, you haven't really done anything nefarious. Well, technically, you might have endangered Tsu by sending her back into battle after a sloppy recovery... and endangered the people she was supposed to protect, by doing that... and, of course, you've taken up a bit of her time and her mother's money. But this is still relatively healthy, compared to what it could be. If you agree to what Tsu is proposing and put Dominant Mind on the shelf, what if... What if you could enjoy a friendship with a woman your own age, a pro hero at that? What if it eventually, you two became more than that? What if, one day, instead of cooking pork cutlets for you as a new acquaintance, she was cooking for you as a girlfriend?

...

But what if she doesn't even like you? What if you're getting ahead of yourself? Isn't it way more likely that, after this one strange event and act of kindness on her part, she'll realize how weird this whole thing is... what a creep you are... and try to keep her interactions with you strictly limited to what she needs in order to get "Helping Hand?" Even if she doesn't, and you want to look at it optimistically, she's a busy pro hero. Who knows how much time she will or won't have available to spend getting to know you if she isn't **** to?

You have the power to skip all of that uncertainty right now. If you want, you can skip right past "girlfriend" in terms of things you can make her do for you, can't you?

What did Tsu say before... ? "You'll have a hard time if you're alone." You don't want to let go of the one chance you have to keep yourself from being alone... But which choice is "being alone?"

You've got to decide fast if you want to make it smooth. Tsu's giving you that "finger on the lip" look again, the one that tells you she can tell you're thinking hard about something, although she probably thinks it was the question she just asked.