This is True.

It might be tempting to write this off as him putting on a facade yet again in front of everyone at the party, as would be expected from Twilight. But the SSS officer's comment that there's "not a single hint of deception in his eyes" is the clincher. I can say with 99% certainty that Endo wants us to believe that this guy is a seasoned officer who can tell when someone's lying or not, and if he's telling us that Twilight is being truthful here, we're supposed to believe him. From a narrative perspective, there would be no other reason to emphasize the scene like this.

For those of us who pay attention to Twilight's expressions throughout the series, we know that he has his "Twilight eyes," which are when his eyes narrow and his face darkens (this is different from his default Twilight expression he has when he's doing his usual spy work without emotion). He has this particular expression typically when he's trying to suppress his emotions he doesn't want to show, and so ends up overcompensating with a very serious face. Example below:

Then there's his "Loid Forger" face, which is when he's being ingenuine behind a facade, which is signaled by him having a phony and exaggeratedly cheerful expression. Example below:

There's also been some "in between" moments where he's trying to keep the Loid Forger mask, but his true feelings slip out. This usually happens when he's interacting with Yor or Anya in some emotional situation. Example below:

But his expression in this chapter is one we don't see often, if at all - an expression that's definitely not "Twilight," but it's not phony like "Loid Forger" either, nor is it "restricted" in any way like the aforementioned "in between" moments. I believe this expression is, plain and simply, [redacted]...his true self, with no filters at all.

For those curious, his dialogue in the Japanese version is the same. He doesn't use the word for "love" that Fiona uses, "suki" (好き) but uses "aisthiteru" (愛してる) instead, which is for romantic love specifically. This is the word that the officer used when he asked the question though, so makes sense he would use the same word.

Another reason I think he's being totally genuine here is because of what happened a couple chapters ago where he was forced to confront his feelings about why he almost sacrificed himself for Yor. Instead of doubling down on pushing those feelings aside and making his usual "for the mission" excuses, he is, for once in who knows how long, being totally honest with himself (it just happens to benefit his mission at this moment too, lol). There's also a noticeable lack of background in this panel, which Endo loves to use when he wants to show a character being true and genuine.

We learn Twilight's age in the chapter as well, but I'd take it with a grain of salt since he could very well be lying about it. It could just be an age he established as part of his whole "Loid Forger" persona and not his true age (though probably close).

But besides some big character development from Twilight, another major event in this chapter was the name reveal of Yuri's boss in the SSS, the previously unnamed officer with the scar who we now know is Captain Curtis (no last name for Chloe though, sorry girl 😅)

There's been a long-standing theory that this guy was Twilight's father. I don't know if the theory was taken all that seriously, and I never believed it myself, but I think this chapter pretty much snuffs it out.

It was a little disappointing to see Yuri go back to rejecting Loid right after everything that happened. So Loid has him beat in the character development department in this arc, at least for now 😅

"Do you want romance?Let me grab my pen"

2pm: "where's the dog he can't possibly have jumped over the fence"

3pm: "hi i live in [another village]! I got your dog here, if you can come fetch him?"

AAughjhhdjjdbdjsk I am unwell!! Yor’s first time saying she loves Loid being so open and honest and soft and with Anya so we know she’s not lying vs. Twilight’s first time being a “lie” wrapped in a truth that he won’t even admit to himself and told to an SSS officer during an interrogation

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