Standing at the doorway, Luo Shu glanced at the three women seated on the U-shaped sofa in the centre of the room and raised an eyebrow:
"At a time like this, should I say I've arrived just in time?"
"Um... pardon the intrusion..." Kisara peeked timidly from behind the door before slipping inside and quietly closing it behind her.
"You are...?" Shirayuki Hotogi instinctively moved her hand to her waist, but before she could say more, Luo Shu produced an official ID.
Seeing this, Shirayuki Hotogi fell silent for a moment, then retrieved an identical document from somewhere.
"Oh? Looks like we're on the same side!"
Luo Shu chuckled at this, then led Kisara to the empty sofa and took a seat before asking:
"Mind if I join the conversation?"
Haruno Yukinoshita didn't respond; instead, she turned her gaze to Shirayuki Hotogi.
"...Not at all."
After a brief pause, Shirayuki Hotogi replied, then pressed further:
"SDS department?"
"Luo Shu, Hidden Management Department." Luo Shu smiled, citing the newly confirmed department name.
Shirayuki Hotogi frowned at this:
"I've never heard of the SDS having a Hidden Management Department before."
"Then you've heard it now." After saying this, Luo Shu smiled and asked, "By the way, you're Shirayuki Hotogi, correct?"
"...That's me." Shirayuki Hotogi's expression was slightly unnatural. She couldn't shake the feeling that Luo Shu, opposite her, seemed very familiar with her, yet she had no recollection of him.
"Special Onmyō Master of the Onmyou Agency, Divine General Suzaku, candidate for National-Level Sorcerer."
"Specialises in Flame Arts techniques, excels in divination, practises the Hotogi Heavenly Arts, birth name Himiko, descendant of the ancient Japanese Queen Himiko of Yamatai."
"Never thought I'd meet the real person today..."
Shirayuki Hotogi felt her hair stand on end as she heard these words. Suppressing the urge to draw her blade with difficulty, she said:
"...Your intelligence-gathering abilities are commendable."
That the Hoshiga Shrine were descended from Himiko, and that she had inherited the name Himiko, even her parents were the only ones who knew this. How did SDS personnel come by such knowledge?
Luo Shu crossed his legs and said with a smile:
"Being one of the Twelve Divine Generals and a candidate for National-Level Sorcerer, it's only natural to gather ample intelligence."
"By the way, you're also Natsuki-chan's disciple, aren't you?"
"Eh... Natsuki-sensei? No, I'm just a student in her technique classes..."
Shirayuki Hotogi responded instinctively, then suddenly realised something, giving Luo Shu a peculiar look:
"Natsuki-chan? You're also a disciple?"
"I'm currently her student." Luo Shu took this opportunity to establish their connection.
Hearing this, Shirayuki Hotogi's expression cleared with understanding, her wariness noticeably easing:
"I don't think I've seen you before. Are you one of Natsuki-sensei's students at SDS?"
"Correct." Luo Shu nodded in confirmation, then continued, "Though it may be presumptuous, I overheard your conversation earlier."
"But I clearly set up a soundproofing barrier secretly... Alright, I understand."
After saying this, Shirayuki Hotogi couldn't help but cover her face:
"Natsuki-sensei's first lesson was technique dismantling and analysis... I'm sorry, I'm such a failure as a disciple."
'Wait, wasn't the first lesson supposed to be general knowledge?' Luo Shu stared dumbfounded at the tearful Shirayuki Hotogi, then realised it was precisely because their foundations were so poor that they'd been given basic knowledge lessons instead.
'This... is rather awkward.'
Luo Shu's face twitched several times before he spoke:
"If I'm not mistaken, Hotogi-senpai intends to have the Yukinoshita family send personnel to join Hoshiga Shrine, thereby bypassing the Onmyou Agency's Secrecy Rules and avoiding memory erasure for the Yukinoshita family members?"
Luo Shu casually addressed Shirayuki Hotogi as 'senpai' to foster familiarity while steering the conversation towards its core.
"Yes. Memory sealing ultimately affects the brain. Part of the reason Mother sent me to handle the aftermath was that Yukinoshita-san got dragged into the incident. She didn't trust others to deal with this matter properly..."
Shirayuki Hotogi's explanation made Yukino Yukinoshita's expression darken beside them.
She didn't know Shirayuki Hotogi, nor the Hotogi matriarch who'd sent her daughter to help because of her mother's predicament.
Though she'd long anticipated being the family's discarded child, this time Yukino understood with painful clarity what abandonment truly meant.
Listening to this, Luo Shu grew curious: "Is your mother insistent on memory sealing then?"
"Yes." Shirayuki Hotogi replied, glancing at Haruno Yukinoshita: "Since the Yukinoshita family has chosen the political path, involvement with the supernatural is strictly forbidden."
"Political families aren't permitted to produce supernatural professionals. This rule was established during the Showa era."
Hearing this, Luo Shu remained perfectly composed. After all, if those with power also gained supernatural abilities, who would truly hold sway in this American-controlled, zaibatsu-assisted island nation called Japan?
He'd heard from Kirika Tachibana about how prefectural and municipal assembly members remained ignorant of supernatural affairs. Beyond specific, specialised Metropolitan Police Department units and a few signatories to confidential agreements, these so-called elected officials—even cabinet members—were systematically excluded from the circle.
The reason was simple.
Becoming a sorcerer required assistance from hereditary-class Abyss Artefacts, of which there were vanishingly few. With over 600 Diet members across both houses, plus ten times that number in prefectural and municipal assemblies - nearly ten thousand families in total - how could Japan possibly supply each with a supernatural practitioner?
The nation would be drained dry.
Moreover, these politicians were elected, with partial turnover every few years, and generally lacked competence (and often intelligence), given Japan's hereditary electoral system. Even the government knew better than to empower such individuals.
Japan's actual decision-makers - the career bureaucrats - had suffered enough from these fools. Granting them supernatural abilities would be apocalyptic.
Thus, officialdom strove to contain supernatural knowledge. Every sorcerer in the Onmyou Agency, the Metropolitan Police, or the SDS had to be registered with the authorities.
With demand far outstripping supply, those in the know naturally minimised information leaks.
Based on Luo Shu's speculation, the Abyss Artefact used by Shirayuki Hotogi's family to continue their sorcerer lineage should be the so-called 'coloured gold'.
"So, does Miss Hotogi intend to persuade the Yukinoshita family to have someone come into contact with Hoshiga Shrine's inheritance, thereby bypassing the Secrecy Rules scrutiny?"
Upon hearing Luo Shu's words, Shirayuki Hotogi fell silent for a moment before replying:
"One hundred million US dollars. Mother said if the Yukinoshita family is willing to pay one hundred million dollars to have one child adopted into the Hotogi family, she would permit access to the inheritance. She would also block any objections from the Onmyou Agency and the Diet."
This price left not just Yukino but even Haruno momentarily stunned.
Although the Yukinoshita family could afford one hundred million dollars, it would require liquidating most of their real estate assets. At such a price, how was this any different from an outright refusal?
And adopting out a child? Meaning becoming the Hotogi family's foster daughter? This...
'Since when was Aunt Hotogi so ruthless? Wait... no... this was... this was forcing Mother to back down...' Haruno Yukinoshita quickly pieced it together.
The Hotogi and Yukinoshita families were closely connected—one being a prominent local shrine family, the other with generations of prefectural assembly members. Their mothers were childhood friends to some extent.
But precisely because they were childhood friends, there naturally had to be some hierarchy between them.
As middle-aged women, their points of comparison inevitably revolved around husbands and children.
Currently, Mrs. Yukinoshita was far ahead in 'husband-training' skills and had one more child, which left Mrs. Hotogi deeply dissatisfied. It was only natural that she would create some difficulties for her 'dear friend'.
Haruno Yukinoshita understood this perfectly.
The only ones who didn't were Luo Shu and Yukino Yukinoshita.
What was this? Fleecing a 'dear friend'? And if someone was adopted, would they have to be called 'Hotogi Yukino' or 'Hotogi Haruno'?
Luo Shu muttered to himself, observing the varied expressions around him before lightly tapping the table:
"While I'm unclear about Mrs. Hotogi's reasons for making this demand, I have an alternative proposal."
Without beating around the bush, he continued:
"I have an SDS recruitment slot available."