Any trade be it straight Short or NSS would appear as "Short Interest". In the case of BKEN the MMs reconciled all previously trades reported to SHO Short (or Short exempt) as covered. The result: 0 shares of "Short Interest" on 30-Sep. Courtesy of FINRA Rule 4560.
No, there's no way to hide the trade by not submitting it to SHO. A trade is not a trade, until it's reported to SHO. And non-existent Short trades are not required to cover because ... they don't exist!