(Heartfelt thanks to Yunqi Qinggu for the reward!)
Time quietly slipped by amid the relative silence...
Whether it was Wu Yan, Kurumi, Tohka, or Yoshino, all of them watched Kotori, waiting for her decision. Yet even as time continued to pass and Shiori's humming drifted continuously from the kitchen, Kotori still had not made a decision...
That was only natural. Just as Kotori had said, no matter what, Kurumi was an evil Spirit who had once killed over ten thousand humans. In the eyes of those who knew the truth, she was a dangerous existence!
Now that Kurumi's Spirit power had been sealed and she was being monitored right under Ratatoskr's nose, if they truly allowed Kurumi, who had regained her Spirit powers, to leave, Ratatoskr's handling of her might change because of it!
When that time came, even Kotori would be helpless...
After all, Ratatoskr had not been founded by Kotori, nor was she its absolute leader. If those above decided to judge Kurumi for her crimes, what could Kotori do?...
Either stand by and watch coldly, or intervene!
One thing was certain: if Kurumi's fate was imprisonment, Wu Yan would never stand idly by!
Kotori did not want to see Wu Yan clash with the people behind Ratatoskr...
Wu Yan was the most important person to her, while the true people in charge behind Ratatoskr were also people Kotori absolutely could not betray, in a certain sense!
If they truly clashed, Kotori did not even dare imagine what the outcome would be...
Therefore, the best decision was to keep Kurumi here and maintain the current situation!
However, looking at Kurumi's smiling face and the intense gleam flashing in her eyes, how could Kotori not know that if she stopped her, Kurumi would definitely run away on her own?...