Nearly 11 pm at night, in an upscale apartment not far from Sobu High School in Chiba City.
The black Hummer slowly pulled over by the roadside, and soon after, Yukino Yukinoshita stepped out of the vehicle.
"Thank you for your hard work, Senior."
As Yukinoshita bid farewell, Luo Shu rolled down the car window.
"Earlier, with Chisato and the others around, there were some things I couldn't say. But here should be fine."
Yukinoshita didn't question why he hadn't spoken during the drive. Having witnessed Luo Shu being plied with alcohol by Mizuki Nakahara to the point where Kisara had to take over driving, she completely understood his behaviour.
Leaning slightly out of the rear window, Luo Shu looked at Yukinoshita and said:
"You've now met most of Café LycoReco's key members during this gathering. I won't elaborate further - you'll learn the details later. I'll just brief you on your immediate tasks."
"The time is two days from now, 4 pm on Monday, 21st March. The location is Café LycoReco in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo - that's your assembly point."
"This means you've only got two days to settle all your affairs in Chiba City."
"After these two days, starting from 21st March when you officially join, you'll become a member of the Hidden Management Department and undergo three months of training."
"I hope I won't be hearing any reports about you failing the training."
Though Luo Shu knew failure was unlikely, having seen Yukino's confidence, he understood this girl wasn't the type who responded well to praise.
Some tough love was occasionally necessary.
"I'll do my best." Yukinoshita pressed her lips together and bowed to Luo Shu. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior."
"Guidance isn't necessary. Just focus on staying alive."
Luo Shu's words carried psychological undertones, but he stopped short of elaboration:
"As you're still new, confidentiality protocols don't fully apply yet. If you need to communicate with family, go ahead."
With that, Luo Shu rolled up the window as the car slowly drove away from the apartment.
Yukinoshita remained bowed until Luo Shu had left entirely, then straightened up to gaze at the empty road, murmuring:
"Stay alive... is it?"
A shadow of unease settled over Yukinoshita's heart.
...
Once Yukinoshita had departed, Luo Shu - who had appeared slightly flushed and tipsy moments earlier - suddenly became completely alert.
"Ah~" Luo Shu stretched with a yawn, then rolled his shoulders. "That Mizuki really went for it with the drinks. If I hadn't pretended to be drunk, she probably would've run up a tab over 100,000 yen."
"Honestly, is this how reckless people get with expense accounts?"
Seeing Luo Shu's sudden recovery, Kisara, who was gripping the steering wheel, looked utterly bewildered:
"Luo Shu... you weren't actually drunk?"
"Rubbish!" Luo Shu flashed a wide grin at this moment. "I was just pretending to be a lightweight to mislead them."
Although he was colleagues with Mizuki Nakahara and the others, Luo Shu had played a little trick by deliberately creating the image of having poor alcohol tolerance.
This way, when he needed an excuse for getting drunk and 'accidentally' doing something with Takina or Chisato in the future... cough cough.
Luo Shu suddenly cleared his throat loudly, cutting off his own bold thoughts.
"Here!" Seeing this, Kisara quickly retrieved a bottle of water from the car's centre console and handed it to Luo Shu before turning back to focus on driving.
Luo Shu took the water, unscrewed the cap and gulped down several mouthfuls, then raised an eyebrow at Kisara:
"Are you sure you can drive all the way to Tokyo like this?"
"I think so..." Kisara tilted her head slightly, sounding uncertain. "In my common sense, there's the driving knowledge and traffic rules you gave me..."
"Let me take over then. Pull over."
Hearing this, Luo Shu immediately abandoned the idea of letting Kisara drive. The 'common sense' in his memory was based on Chinese society, not Japan's.
As the car stopped by the roadside, Luo Shu got out and moved to the driver's seat while Kisara shifted to the passenger side.
After fastening his seatbelt, Luo Shu glanced at Kisara:
"So, how did you find today's gathering?"
"...It was alright." Kisara's tone was somewhat evasive.
"Miss Takina seemed very wary of me, as did Miss Mizuki - she never turned her back to me. Mr Mika was much better; though guarded at first, he relaxed later. As for Miss Chisato... she... was a bit too enthusiastic."
Recalling Chisato Nishikigi's lightning-fast movements and her constantly refilling her rice bowl, Kisara's expression showed slight embarrassment.
She could understand Takina Inoue and Mizuki Nakahara's wariness, but Chisato Nishikigi's enthusiasm felt like the complete opposite extreme.
Hearing this, Luo Shu couldn't help but chuckle as he started the car:
"That's just how Chisato is - always so lively and energetic."
"By the way, you haven't mentioned Yukino yet. What did you think of her?"
At this, Kisara recalled Yukino Yukinoshita's behaviour:
"...Hmm? Very narcissistic? No, perhaps confident is the better word... Though she didn't seem talkative, she was surprisingly easy to get along with."
"Easy to get along with? That's a relief then."
A faint smile appeared on Luo Shu's face as he drove:
"After all, in the coming days, she'll probably be the one looking after your daily needs and your study partner. Though you might have more than one such partner."
"Eh?" Kisara sounded startled by this revelation.
Luo Shu laughed:
"Isn't this obvious? I can't very well teach you about girls' common knowledge - things like menstrual cycles that a guy wouldn't understand."
"...Is that so?" Kisara seemed enlightened, then asked curiously: "Do demons even have menstrual cycles?"
"They probably do..." Luo Shu's tone was uncertain.
After all, demons' physiology surely differed from humans - they might not have them at all.
"Then, Luo Shu, could you check whether my body has that function?"
Kisara placed her hand on her skirt, gripping the hem as if about to lift it.
Luo Shu's foot on the accelerator trembled slightly as he desperately forced his gaze away from Kisara's hand.
If he didn't look away now, they might actually crash.
"Let's... talk about that sort of thing later."
"Is that so? Very well then." Kisara turned her head back to face forward, watching the passing road as the corners of her lips curled up subtly.
'This girl... are we sure she's only been awake for half a day?' Luo Shu couldn't help but grumble internally upon noticing this.
Then, he pressed down on the accelerator, merging onto the highway back to Tokyo.