Luo Shu fell silent. He gave Utaha Kasumigaoka a long look, then said:
"Even if I'm only a half-baked god right now, I still won't demand something like your first time as an offering."
Utaha Kasumigaoka's cheek twitched at his words, and she sighed helplessly:
"Then should I thank you, my lord god?"
"No need for thanks. Give me a reason to stay." As he spoke, Luo Shu sat back down on the sofa, making his feelings perfectly clear through his actions.
Seriously, a beautiful girl who was exactly his type had invited him to spend the night at her place. If Luo Shu turned her down, he would definitely have to visit a hospital the next day to check whether everything downstairs was functioning properly.
Although Utaha Kasumigaoka felt that she shouldn't let Luo Shu stay, her current anxiety overwhelmed that thought:
"You just said you wanted to investigate the kind of monster that chased us, right?"
"Does that mean a monster like that isn't some rare, isolated case?"
When Utaha Kasumigaoka brought up the giant rat-like monster, Luo Shu gave her a knowing look, then explained:
"Weren't you the one who reminded me of that?"
"I reminded you?" Utaha Kasumigaoka froze, then frowned as she tried hard to recall her conversations with Luo Shu.
At that moment, Luo Shu, sitting opposite her, offered a blunt reminder:
"When we were cornered in the alley, you said that monster was a 'radiation-mutated animal mentioned on a TV program.' You remember that, right?"
"Oh, the eight o'clock Asahi Shimbun news this morning..."
Utaha Kasumigaoka suddenly remembered something and took out her phone to search the news. She soon found the morning news released by TV Asahi, opened it, and placed her phone on the low table between them.
On the phone's small screen, they read the news report titled "Police Have Captured All Radiation-Mutated Animals from an Island Region That Entered Tokyo."
Luo Shu raised his head and exchanged a look with Utaha Kasumigaoka.
Then, with a decidedly strained expression, Utaha Kasumigaoka said:
"So there are actually a lot of those monsters, and they haven't all been caught?"
"Isn't that obvious?" As though it were only natural, Luo Shu explained to Utaha Kasumigaoka, "The first law of politics: when officials rush to deny something, look at it from the exact opposite perspective."
"So what that sentence really means is, 'The radiation-mutated animals haven't all been captured, but we want the public to believe they have.'" After saying that, Utaha Kasumigaoka grabbed Luo Shu's hand.
Luo Shu lowered his head and glanced at his captured hand. He tried to pull it free, though he didn't use much force.
Unsurprisingly, Luo Shu failed to free his hand. He sighed and looked up at Utaha Kasumigaoka's tense face:
"I'm not sleeping on the sofa."
"My place has two bedrooms... no, that won't work. If I run into one of those monsters, I'm worried you won't get there in time even from the next room."
After being chased through several streets by a giant rat that night, Utaha Kasumigaoka truly didn't want to encounter another monster like it. She gritted her teeth and said:
"You take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
"Deal."
Luo Shu patted Utaha Kasumigaoka's hand, then pulled his own free and said:
"Incidentally, I'm a little picky about where I stay. Things like late-night snacks, bathing facilities, toiletries, breakfast, and a packed lunch for tomorrow..."
Hearing his demands, Utaha Kasumigaoka felt as though she had invited someone she would have to wait on hand and foot. No, with his status, that was exactly what she had done:
"I understand. I'll provide all of that."
"Good, then." With an expression that said he hadn't forced her into anything, Luo Shu smiled happily.
He turned to glance at the wall clock, which already showed ten, then looked back and said:
"Judging by the time, you should start getting your bedding ready."
"Really?" Utaha Kasumigaoka turned toward the wall, then said in surprise, "It's only ten, isn't it?"
Hearing that, Luo Shu immediately recognized Utaha Kasumigaoka for the night owl she was and solemnly warned her:
"Going to bed around ten is part of a healthy routine."
"...Fine, I understand." Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed and stood up. As she walked toward the wardrobe to take out the bedding, she asked curiously, "By the way, what exactly is the energy your divine servant mentioned used for?"
I haven't used it myself. How would I know? Luo Shu grumbled inwardly, then said in a serious tone:
"I don't want to explain this a second time to someone else tomorrow, so we'll discuss it then."
"Stingy." Utaha Kasumigaoka pursed her lips, shot Luo Shu a glance, then turned and walked into the bedroom.
Watching her prepare the bedding from a distance, Luo Shu stared for a while before turning toward the night sky outside the window:
"I can't shake the feeling that a storm is coming."
In Nerima Ward, in an alley near a police station.
Uniformed police officers were setting up a cordon nearby, carefully searching for all kinds of traces on the ground.
Just then, a woman in a purple pantsuit, her blonde hair pinned up, slowly entered the scene in high heels.
At her arrival, the officers hurriedly bowed:
"Director Tachibana."
"Chief."
"Thank you for your hard work
."
Tachibana Kirika nodded in acknowledgment, her expression stern. Then she walked to the center of the alley, studied the blood splattered on either side, and frowned at a staff member whose computer rested on a makeshift box:
"Have you found out who was here at the time?"
"I'm very sorry, but no one matching that description has appeared in the surveillance footage. We haven't even found any trace of the monster mentioned in the earlier witness statements. It's almost as though..."
"As though what?" Tachibana Kirika pressed with a frown.
The officer hesitated, then forced himself to answer:
"As though neither the monster nor the people it was chasing existed."
"I see..."
Understanding dawned on Tachibana Kirika. She took a pack of women's cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket, shook out a cigarette, caught it between her red lips, and lit it:
"Looks like the Abyss is getting restless again..."
After that reflective remark, Tachibana Kirika calmly ordered:
"Seal the records and send them to the Special Records Office to be entered into the Class B Files."
"Yes, Chief!" The officer hurriedly saluted, then resumed working at his computer.
Meanwhile, Tachibana Kirika frowned at the monster's blood, which had splattered to either side, and tried to imagine what sort of power could have inflicted such an injury.
After thinking for a moment, Tachibana Kirika murmured to herself:
"Was it a mage who controls the wind element?"
No one present could answer.
Before you continue