Chapter Summaries

Chisato Nishikigi told Luo Shu that she and the café’s staff had come from the Abyss, where ordinary animals became monsters after crossing into this world. She took him to the armory, gave him a pistol, and invited him to try it at the shooting range.

• Chisato Nishikigi explained that the café staff had arrived from another world and that the Metropolitan Police Department had nearly killed them before Tachibana Kirika vouched for them.
• Chisato Nishikigi said animals from their world had turned into monsters after crossing through an Abyss manifestation, though she knew little about the Abyss itself.
• Chisato Nishikigi told Luo Shu that Tachibana Kirika’s wallet was a special Abyss item called the Lucky Wallet, which brought good fortune when recovered.
• Chisato Nishikigi led Luo Shu to the armory and recommended that he carry a pistol because he was a beginner and a wind sorcerer.
• Chisato Nishikigi handed Luo Shu a SIG P226, and Luo Shu agreed to try it at the shooting range.

Luo Shu impressed Chisato Nishikigi and Mika with his exceptional shooting, then received a communications phone and instructions for joining Café LycoReco. Mika arranged for him and Chisato to attend Toyogasaki, leaving Chisato protesting while Luo Shu headed out late for work.

• Chisato Nishikigi taught Luo Shu to shoot, and he hit targets accurately from one to fifty meters.
• Chisato Nishikigi gave Luo a holster and ammunition before returning with him to Café LycoReco.
• Mika praised Luo's talent, gave him a modified communications phone, and explained his job, pay, and upcoming training.
• Mika learned Luo attended Toyogasaki and announced that Chisato and Takina would go to school with him, prompting Chisato to protest.
• Luo agreed to look after Chisato and left the café, realizing he would be late for work.

Eriri tested her newfound physical abilities and Transformation, then accidentally let Sayuri see her disguised as her mother. Utaha reflected on Luo Shu’s plans before falling asleep, leaving her wondering whether the club’s Safe House could be connected to her apartment.

• Eriri discovered that her eyesight had returned and that cycling at high speed barely tired her.
• Eriri transformed into Sayuri using her Transformation ability and complained about her mother’s height and figure.
• Sayuri entered Eriri’s room, mistook her transformed daughter for a costume, and teased her about the upcoming parent-teacher meeting.
• Eriri pushed Sayuri out and decided to practice her ability only in the Astronomy Club’s secure space.
• Utaha reread her LINE chat with Luo Shu, considered asking him to connect the Safe House to her apartment, and fell asleep on the sofa.

After quitting his bookstore job, Luo Shu considered his new SDS position, finances, and the risks of his schoolmates’ ties to the organization. He returned to his apartment building, where his neighbor Mira Tsubakihara suddenly linked arms with him and asked him not to push her away.

• Luo Shu quit his bookstore job and entered his usual ramen shop to eat and think.
• He decided to keep renting his apartment because it held memories of his late parents, and considered saving up to buy it.
• Luo Shu checked the system and learned that joining SDS had raised his fixed monthly point income to 1,000 points.
• He worried that Chisato Nishikigi’s enrollment at Toyogasaki could expose his school to an SDS investigation.
• Luo Shu returned to his apartment building, where Mira Tsubakihara linked arms with him and asked him not to push her away.

Luo Shu helped his neighbor Mira Tsubakihara evade a man who had been stalking her and discovered that she was a heroine. The chapter ended with Luo Shu spotting the stalker inside their apartment building.

• Mira Tsubakihara linked arms with Luo Shu and quietly asked him for help because someone was following her.
• Luo Shu pretended to be her boyfriend and led her into the lobby, where Mira identified a masked man in a black suit as her stalker.
• Luo Shu warned Mira that the man might not stop following her just because he saw them together.
• Luo Shu took Mira to the fourth floor and checked the stairwell, where he spotted the stalker's black-suited shoulder inside the building.

Luo Shu hid Mira Tsubakihara from a masked stalker, then confronted him on the fourth floor and shot him after the man revealed a monstrous claw. The stalker fell to the ground as witnesses and a patrol officer noticed the shooting, and Luo Shu called Mika.

• Luo Shu carried Mira Tsubakihara to vacant apartment 503 and locked them inside while the stalker searched the fourth floor.
• Luo Shu descended through the balconies to his own apartment, changed into a protective suit, and linked his room to the Astronomy Club's space as an escape route.
• Luo Shu returned to the fourth floor, confronted the masked man with his gun, and shot him in the foot when he tried to flee.
• The masked man leapt over the railing and reached up with a claw to attack Luo Shu, who dodged and shot him several times in the chest.
• Luo Shu saw the man lying in a pool of blood as pedestrians screamed and a patrol officer stared up at him, then called Mika.

Luo Shu was released from police custody after Tachibana Kirika revealed he worked for a secret Metropolitan Police Department unit and had killed a terrorist. Kirika then explained that the dead man had been searching for a ruby ring called the Demon Heart, an Abyssal Artifact capable of hypnotizing women who saw it.

• Miwako Sato interrogated Luo Shu about shooting a man, and Luo Shu identified Tachibana Kirika and the Special Records Office as his superior and workplace.
• Juzo Megure stopped the interrogation and ordered Luo Shu released after confirming the dead man was a terrorist and Luo Shu belonged to a special department.
• Tachibana Kirika arrived, had Luo Shu uncuffed, and gave him his work credentials as Inspector Luo.
• Luo Shu left the station with Kirika, who identified the dead man as Nakamura Yuuichi, a Hound of the Demon Hunters, and said he had been searching for an item.
• Kirika told Luo Shu the sought item was a ruby-set ring called the Demon Heart, an Abyssal Artifact that could hypnotize women who saw its ruby.

Tachibana Kirika explained how the Demon Heart reached Tsubakihara Mira and assigned Luo Shu to find it while the authorities pursued the Seven-Star Demon Hunter. As Luo Shu arrived home, he found Tachibana Kirika’s dark red Lucky Wallet on the ground.

• Tachibana Kirika told Luo Shu that a dying Demon Warlock had hypnotized a woman and sent the Demon Heart away, eventually passing it through Tsubakihara Mira’s jewelry store.
• Tachibana Kirika explained that Nakamura Yuuichi had been sent to retrieve the Demon Heart and that its side effect made women who obtained it forget it existed unless hypnotized.
• Tachibana Kirika assigned Luo Shu to find the Demon Heart, which Tsubakihara Mira had forgotten, and warned him about the dangers of Abyssal Artifacts.
• Tachibana Kirika said the Onmyoryo had been mobilized against the Seven-Star Demon Hunter and that she had withheld the Demon Heart’s existence from outside authorities.
• Tachibana Kirika dropped Luo Shu off and told him to find the Demon Heart before his Lycoris report, and Luo Shu found her dark red wallet after her car drove away.

Tachibana Kirika and Takina Inoue watched Luo Shu from a hotel across from his apartment, but Luo Shu revealed he knew about the covert surveillance and returned Kirika’s runaway Lucky Wallet. After entering Mira Tsubakihara’s apartment, he unknowingly remained under close protection from Thor Security Group.

• Tachibana Kirika told Takina Inoue to keep watching Luo Shu until he received the Demon-Type Abyss Item, and Takina reported that he was waiting outside his building.
• Luo Shu called Tachibana Kirika, revealed he knew about her surveillance, and showed that he had recovered her Lucky Wallet.
• Tachibana Kirika let Luo Shu keep the wallet and told him to focus on Mira Tsubakihara.
• Luo Shu went to Room 302, where Mira Tsubakihara welcomed him and signaled Thor Security Group that she was safe.
• Takina Inoue alerted Tachibana Kirika that Mira had noticed them, while a Thor Security Group commander ordered most of his team to withdraw and left a protection detail near Luo Shu.

Mira Tsubakihara explained that her grandfather had arranged security next door after the attack, then admitted she had investigated Luo Shu through her family. When Luo Shu asked why the Hounds had followed her, Mira showed him a ring bearing the Demon Heart’s eye, whose stare left him frozen.

• Mira Tsubakihara told Luo Shu that her grandfather had sent American Thor Security Group personnel to guard her next door.
• Mira served Luo Shu black tea and explained that she had read his Metropolitan Police Department file after asking her family to investigate him.
• Mira told Luo Shu she had been relieved to learn they would meet again, leaving him flustered.
• Luo Shu asked Mira why the Hounds had followed her, and she revealed a ruby-set ring with the Demon Heart’s eye.
• The eye on the ring stared at Luo Shu, and his expression began to freeze.

Luo Shu learned that the Demon Heart had made Mira Tsubakihara forget and then remember it, and that it had pushed her to seek his help while the Hound pursued her. Mira offered the sentient Abyssal Artifact to Luo Shu, but when she asked about its ability to hypnotize women, he realized he could not safely answer.

• Mira Tsubakihara told Luo Shu that the Demon Heart had been in her pocket and had caused her to forget about it before making her remember it.
• Mira explained that government-trained bodyguards had been protecting her, but the Demon Heart had influenced her to ask Luo Shu for help as the Hound pursued them.
• Luo Shu acknowledged that he had saved Mira by shooting the Hound, while Mira insisted he was her lifesaver.
• Luo Shu's system confirmed that sentient Abyssal Artifacts could approach him to seek further evolution.
• Mira offered Luo Shu the Demon Heart and asked him to explain its ability, leaving him unable to reveal that it hypnotized women.

Luo Shu told Mira Tsubakihara that the Demon Heart could hypnotize women, and she warned him not to give it to Tachibana Kirika, Zeus Industries, or her family. He promised to keep it from them, exchanged LINE contacts with Mira, and returned to his apartment to investigate the Abyssal Artifacts.

• Luo Shu explained that the Demon Heart belonged to Astronomy of Truth and could mentally control women, and Mira Tsubakihara asked him to keep it sealed.
• Mira warned Luo Shu that Tachibana Kirika and a Zeus Industries executive had founded SDS to collect Abyssal Artifacts for military research, and urged him not to hand over the ring.
• Mira told Luo Shu that her family and the Six Major Arms Groups in the Americas also wanted the artifacts, and he promised to keep the Demon Heart from them all.
• Luo Shu checked the time, packed away the Demon Heart, and exchanged LINE contact details with Mira before leaving for his apartment next door.
• After Luo Shu left, Mira leaned against her door and remarked that he was eight years younger than her.

Luo Shu examined the Demon Heart and Lucky Wallet, learned their abilities and conditions, and accepted them as his artifacts. After activating both, he learned the system would shield him from their side effects and asked for his earned points.

• Luo Shu asked the system whether the living artifacts could communicate, and it explained that they had only limited instinct, not intelligence.
• Luo Shu received appraisals revealing the Demon Heart’s hypnosis and succubus-blood abilities and the Lucky Wallet’s fortune blessings and conditions.
• Luo Shu asked whether the system could recycle the artifacts, but it said it could not and explained how to establish ownership of each.
• The Demon Heart produced two drops of succubus blood, while the Lucky Wallet returned Tachibana Kirika’s driver’s license and produced thirty ten-thousand-yen bills.
• Luo Shu wore the Demon Heart and placed his student ID and a hundred-yen coin in the Lucky Wallet, activating both artifacts.
• The system assured Luo Shu that the artifacts’ side effects could not affect him, and he asked it to list his earned points.

Luo Shu spent points to advance Intuition and Combat Potential, awakening Super Intuition and Subconscious Control. After the upgrades raised his rank assessment to excellent, he sensed Mira Tsubakihara outside his door and greeted her.

• Luo Shu checked his new points and considered recruiting Mira Tsubakihara into his Familia, but Eriri and Utaha Kasumigaoka were offline.
• Luo Shu asked the system for the requirements to advance Intuition and Combat Potential, then redeemed the Spiritual Squid brain and Mind Dragon spinal cord.
• Luo Shu consumed both materials and experienced a strange vision and physical changes before falling asleep until morning.
• The system confirmed Luo Shu had gained Super Intuition and Subconscious Control, and his rank assessment had risen to excellent.
• Luo Shu sensed Mira Tsubakihara waiting outside his door and opened it to greet her.

Mira Tsubakihara visited Luo Shu early in the morning and brought him a property ownership transfer agreement. Meanwhile, Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue continued keeping watch on Luo Shu's apartment and discussed the mission.

• Luo Shu welcomed Mira Tsubakihara into his apartment and noticed he could sense her emotions.
• Chisato Nishikigi spotted Luo Shu and Mira entering his apartment, while Takina Inoue confirmed that no enemies had appeared overnight.
• Luo Shu tidied his apartment and spoke with Mira Tsubakihara about his bachelor habits and his reluctance to take responsibility for someone else.
• Mira Tsubakihara handed Luo Shu a property ownership transfer agreement that her lawyer had prepared.

Mira Tsubakihara offered Luo Shu a house to persuade him to keep living nearby and protecting her, and he accepted the agreement. He then revealed the Astronomy Club and invited her to join, leaving them bound as accomplices after she signed its Contract.

• Mira Tsubakihara offered Luo Shu a house in exchange for staying nearby, and he accepted after she reduced the arrangement to a shorter term.
• Luo Shu revealed the Astronomy Club and its Contract, explaining that signing would awaken Mira Tsubakihara’s superpower and bind her to the organization.
• Luo Shu warned Mira Tsubakihara that he would use the Demon Heart to make her forget if she refused to keep the organization secret.
• Mira Tsubakihara signed the Contract and told Luo Shu that they were accomplices now.

Luo Shu brought Mira Tsubakihara into the organization’s headquarters and awakened her abilities, discovering her potential for Alchemy. He invested points in observer dust to give her the Analysis talent her future skills required.

• Luo Shu led Mira Tsubakihara through his study’s hidden entrance into the organization’s alternate-space headquarters.
• Luo Shu approved Mira Tsubakihara’s contract, and she awakened Enhanced Comprehension and Deft Hands.
• The system revealed that Mira Tsubakihara had potential for the Elite-rank Alchemy skill but lacked talent in Analysis.
• Luo Shu spent 1,000 points on observer dust to grant Mira Tsubakihara the Observation ability, which she accepted as his investment.

Luo Shu gave Mira Tsubakihara observer dust, awakening her ability to analyze and create items. After she examined his counterfeit Demon Heart, Mira reassured him it should fool Zeus Industries’ experts, leaving Luo Shu confident he could use it safely.

• Mira Tsubakihara drank observer dust and, after examining Luo Shu’s counterfeit Demon Heart, realized she could identify its materials and quantities and potentially create one herself.
• Mira worried her family would exploit her new ability, but Luo Shu explained the ring was a severely weakened counterfeit, and she confirmed its limited effects.
• Luo Shu saw system notifications that Mira had gained Observation, Enhanced Comprehension, Deft Hands, and the excellent skill Item Creation.
• Mira asked whether Luo Shu planned to hand the counterfeit over to SDS, and he said Chief Tachibana had told him to keep and use it.
• Mira explained that Zeus Industries’ experts likely could not fully analyze an Abyssal Artifact and would probably accept the counterfeit’s properties as genuine, so Luo Shu concluded it was safe to use.

Luo Shu left Mira Tsubakihara at his apartment and met with Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue, who believed his mission to retrieve the Demon Heart had failed. He revealed that he had found the target: a ruby ring.

• Luo Shu left for school after warning Mira Tsubakihara not to get carried away with her new ability.
• Takina Inoue and Chisato Nishikigi watched Luo Shu leave and discussed their concerns about sending a rookie on the dangerous mission.
• Chisato Nishikigi waved to Luo Shu, then teased Takina Inoue about Mira Tsubakihara watching him from the apartment corridor.
• Luo Shu arrived at the hotel room and found Takina Inoue cleaning ketchup off her skirt after a scuffle with Chisato Nishikigi.
• Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue comforted Luo Shu, assuming he had failed to find the Abyssal Artifact.
• Luo Shu took a ruby ring from his pocket and told Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue that he had found the target.

Luo Shu showed Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue the recovered Demon Heart, and they prepared to leave after the mission. Chisato told him an Abyssal Artifact expert would approach him at Toyogasaki Academy, leaving Luo Shu to head to school with the ring and a stack of restraints.

• Takina Inoue recognized the Demon Heart and looked away, while Chisato Nishikigi celebrated Luo Shu’s success in obtaining both the artifact and Mira Tsubakihara’s cooperation.
• Chisato introduced Takina to Luo Shu, then the two women bantered before packing their equipment and ending their surveillance of Mira Tsubakihara’s apartment.
• Luo Shu asked whether the Demon Heart needed testing, and Chisato told him to visit Lycoris after school and warned him not to use the artifact at school.
• Chisato explained that an Abyssal Artifact expert would transfer to Toyogasaki Academy and gave Luo Shu talismans to restrain the Demon Heart.
• After Chisato and Takina left, Luo Shu picked up the counterfeit ring and resigned himself to attending school.