In the early hours of the morning, at a high-end apartment near Ikebukuro in Eastern Tokyo, Luo Shu pressed his index finger to the fingerprint scanner of room 303. At the same time, he glanced back at Kisara, who wore a curious expression. "What is it?" he asked.
Hearing his voice, Kisara turned back with a smile and said, "Is this going to be our home from now on?"
"Our home…" Luo Shu looked at her with a meaningful glance. "You could think of it that way."
He couldn't tell if this was the effect of some kind of hypnosis or just her own thoughts, he mused to himself.
"By the way," Kisara said, tilting her head with her hands behind her back, "the memories you gave me only include knowledge about Chinese cuisine." She looked at Luo Shu with curiosity. "Were you hoping I'd cook for you?"
"No, that's not it…" Luo Shu pushed the door open, his tone becoming hesitant. To be honest, he really wasn't used to Japanese cuisine. It was either unbearably bland or something heavily soaked in oil and salt like pork cutlets or ramen. Even convenience store bentos were nowhere near as refined as the Japanese food shown online. The online Japanese cuisine, even inside Japan, was high-end fare; ordinary people didn't eat those regularly. If there was someone who knew his taste well to cook for him every day, then…
In that instant, Luo Shu shamefully compromised: "Personally, I wouldn't mind—but do you think you and I will get along well enough for that?"
"We have to try, don't we?" Kisara stuck out her tongue and smiled mischievously.
Luo Shu muttered to himself: as expected of a demon, she really knows how to tempt people's hearts. Now he was genuinely curious—how was such an obedient and sensible demon lady sealed away? If it were him, he guessed he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it.
"Anyway, let's go inside first." Just as Luo Shu spoke, he was about to push the door fully open when it suddenly swung open by itself. Sensing this, Luo Shu immediately withdrew his hand—and then caught sight of a flash of brilliant orange hair dancing before his eyes.
"Welcome back."
Dressed in a somewhat transparent white silk nightgown and with orange hair loose around her shoulders, Mira Tsubakihara rubbed her eyes, then clasped her hands together and apologized to Luo Shu. "Sorry, I fell asleep in the study after working too long on the alchemy bench. I hope I'm not bothering you?"
"You're not bothering me," Luo Shu said, though slightly turning his head he caught Kisara staring at Mira with a blank expression, eyeing her figure from head to toe. When her gaze swept over Mira's chest and hips, she clicked her tongue.
"Who's this?"
Of course, Mira noticed Kisara as well. Seeing Luo Shu bringing a high school girl home late at night gave her a jolt in her heart. Just as Luo Shu was about to answer, Kisara cut in and moved ahead of him, smiling, "I'm Kisara. You must be Luo Shu's sister, right?"
"No, I'm not."
Mira answered right away but then picked up a sour tone—so quickly corrected herself: "Ah, not a biological sister." Instantly, Mira accepted the role of honorary sister, then smiled at Kisara and asked, "Kisara-san, are you Luo Shu-kun's girlfriend?"
Upon hearing that, Kisara smiled brightly, "We have an agreement about our future relationship." "An agreement about the future, huh…" Mira was a bit hesitant. Based on earlier intelligence she'd arranged, the threatening girl was supposed to be the black-haired JK (high school girl) called Utaha Kasumigaoka. So who was this pink-haired girl who suddenly appeared?
"Yes, an agreement about the future," Kisara emphasized again, her tone full of implications. Then her head got bonked by Luo Shu.
"Ow!"
Seeing Kisara crouch down holding her head while tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, Luo Shu sighed helplessly. "You're getting all worked up about something you don't even understand. What the heck are you doing?"
"But…" Kisara crouched there, covering her head, looking pitiful as she pointed at Mira, finally stopping at her nearly transparent outfit. "Look at the clothes she's wearing."
Luo Shu turned his gaze and unabashedly appraised Mira's nightgown, and shamefully found himself reacting inappropriately. Just then Kisara jumped up and reached out to cover Luo Shu's eyes, saying, "My common sense tells me any girl who wears an outfit like that and sleeps over at a guy's house definitely has bad intentions."
True enough, Mira's nightgown was hard to overlook. Mira smiled sweetly at Kisara but inwardly put a big cross on her; who knew where this food-stealing cat had come from? Meanwhile, Luo Shu pried Kisara's hands away from his eyes, then turned to Mira and said, "It's probably a bit late to mention this, but she's the target of Ishaha."
"Huh?" Mira's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Kisara. "She? A demon?!!"
"Yes." Kisara puffed out her chest and spoke aggressively, "If you don't want to be eaten by me, you'd better leave right now." "Eaten?"
Mira immediately saw through Kisara's bluff and couldn't help but laugh. "I thought someone like that monster would be after some kind of dangerous person, but turns out it's such a cute little kid."
Hearing Mira's tone automatically elevate herself to the role of senior, Kisara's expression instantly became very uncomfortable. "Even cute kids bite," she said, but Mira just smiled and didn't take the bait.
If she worried about human girls, what chance did a demon have? Ha! No matter how much a demon looks like a human, can you have children? Even if you can, would the children be discriminated against for having half-demon blood? Would half-breeds be targeted? Unless those issues are solved, what right does a demon have to try to rise up?
"Go back to Hell."
With her momentum increasing, Mira smiled warmly and said to Luo Shu, "Do you want me to prepare a room for this child? There's one right next door."
"No, I'll stay here," Kisara said.
Before Luo Shu could answer, Kisara tried to slip past them to enter the apartment. But as she reached the entryway, Mira casually said, "That's fine, but it'll have to be with Luo Shu's approval, right?"
Hearing this, Kisara turned her head and looked imploringly at Luo Shu.
Sighing, Luo Shu turned to Mira. "It's a bit complicated, but in short, I'm the future guardian of this child, so it's necessary for her to live in this apartment."
Wait, why am I explaining this to you? Luo Shu's expression suddenly grew strange.
Kisara heard this and turned her head proudly, puffing out her chest. See? She has to live here!
Mira just smiled brightly and said, "So the second bedroom will be for Kisara then? In that case, I'll borrow the study, okay?"
"The study? Wait, that means you're living here too…?"
Before Luo Shu could finish, a finger was pressed lightly against his lips, stopping him from saying more. Mira smiled and said, "Some things, when they can't be spoken out loud, absolutely must not be said."
Living together from now on? Luo Shu seemed to read Mira's meaning clearly in her eyes.
Suddenly, Luo Shu felt there were both pros and cons to letting Kisara move in. The good part was that he finally understood Mira's intentions; plainly put, without the stimulation from Kisara, Mira wouldn't behave like this at all. But the downside was that with Kisara around, it might be inconvenient for him to do certain things. So why not… all together?
A bold idea gradually formed in Luo Shu's mind. But it still depended on the circumstances—whether the conditions would allow it. After all, a man always has his thoughts when there's an opportunity.
Just as Luo Shu's thoughts began to drift off, Mira and Kisara walked into the living room together.
"Do you need help with the bedding?"
"No, I know where the blankets are in Luo Shu's place."
"Oh? Kisara, you have a great memory."
"That's not about memory!!"
Looking at their two figures: similar heights, yet one still innocent while the other more mature, Luo Shu took a deep breath, scratched his head, and said, "Let's take a cold shower and then go to sleep." Greedy men always have to exercise patience.
One day soon, he would definitely have to deal with both of these… but Luo Shu didn't dare think more about it, or else tonight really would be hard to sleep.