Outside Room 303, Sakura Apartments.
"Thank you so much for having us. If possible, I'd like to treat everyone next time?" Miku Izayoi smiled at Kisara by the doorway.
"No, we should be thanking you for gracing our humble meal with your presence." Kisara bowed nervously in response.
Watching the exchange of pleasantries, Nia Honjo leaned against the doorframe with a toothpick in her mouth:
"Shame we had hotpot this time. If it were Chinese cuisine, we could've properly tasted Kisara's skills."
"I was really looking forward to Chinese food... I wanted egg fried rice and Typhoon Shelter crab!"
Hearing this, Miku gave Nia a somewhat exasperated look.
How can someone mooching a meal be so shameless?
With an apologetic smile at Kisara, Miku turned to Nia:
"Nia, shouldn't you be preparing your new place? At this hour, if you don't start cleaning soon, you won't finish before bedtime."
It was already 7:30 pm after the hotpot dinner. Any later and decorating the new home would indeed cut into sleep time.
Not that this concerned Miku - after all, she wasn't the one without a place to sleep. She just wanted to hurry Nia along.
If this idiot stayed any longer, she worried Kisara might actually throw the woman out.
"I'm waiting for little Kisara to help me!" Nia declared without shame.
"..."
Miku was rendered speechless. The sheer audacity of that statement left her stunned.
Beside them, Kisara's mouth twitched slightly as she maintained an awkward yet polite expression:
"Um, Miss Honjo, I still need to clean the house tonight, so I might not have time to help..."
Luo Shu's clothes haven't even been washed yet. How could Kisara possibly have time to help Nia Honjo?
Hearing this, Nia Honjo stretched lazily and said with a slouched expression:
"In that case, I'll just have to share Luo Shu's bed tonight~ No helping it, since I can't sleep on the sofa~"
"But if I work quickly, I suppose I can spare some time..." Kisara's expression was extremely unnatural as she forced out these words through gritted teeth.
Compared to letting Nia Honjo squeeze into Luo Shu's bed, she'd rather exhaust herself helping tidy up Nia's accommodation.
To this, Nia Honjo simply giggled:
"Then I'll leave it to you, Kisara~"
'Someone like you deserves to get beaten up, absolutely...'
Miku Izayoi stared speechlessly at Nia Honjo, convinced her friend would inevitably get thrashed someday.
'No wonder demons are after you. You totally deserve it.'
Just as Miku was thinking this, a voice came from the living room:
"Clean your own room. What, do you expect me to do it for you?"
Hearing this, the group turned to see Luo Shu entering the entryway holding a bag of kitchen waste, glaring at Nia Honjo as he added:
"Unless you're suffering from period cramps, kidney stones, or got struck by lightning and burned to the point of immobility, then maybe I'll consider helping."
Nia's eye twitched at his words. 'Are you implying that if I admit to having these problems, you'll use your abilities to make them real?'
'So what, can you manipulate calamities? Oh wait, you actually can...'
"Fine, I'll clean properly. Where are the spatial rings storing my furniture?" Nia hung her head limply, resembling those zombies from movies.
"On the study desk. Go get them yourself."
As he spoke, Luo Shu removed his slippers and put on outdoor trainers. Holding the trash bag, he glanced at Miku Izayoi:
"Is Izayoi heading back already?"
"Ah, yes." Miku, who'd been silently mouthing 'serves you right' at Nia, immediately switched to her idol's professional smile.
"I'll walk you downstairs."
Carrying the trash bag, Luo Shu didn't give Miku a chance to refuse as he strode out the door.
"O-okay." Miku hesitated, having intended to decline the courtesy, but ultimately nodded.
At that moment, Luo Shu reminded Kisara: "Kisara, could you carry Mukuro from the sofa to her room? She fell asleep right after eating—probably still adjusting her body clock."
"I'll be back after taking out the trash."
"Right, got it." Kisara acknowledged the instruction and turned towards the room.
"Well then... bye-bye~" Miku waved at Kisara and Nia before watching Luo Shu close the door. After a brief pause, she followed him towards the elevator.
Once inside the elevator, Luo Shu released the door-open button and pressed the one for the first floor. He then glanced at Miku Izayoi standing beside him and got straight to the point:
"How much do you know about Nia's abilities?"
"Huh?"
Miku Izayoi was taken aback for a moment before realising Luo Shu was asking about Nia Honjo's abilities.
Since she didn't have Nia Honjo's permission and found Luo Shu's question rather odd, Miku hesitated before explaining:
"I'm not entirely sure myself, but according to Nia, her ability seems to be related to information retrieval. She can easily obtain lots of intel. That's all I know - the specifics aren't clear to me."
In truth, she knew a bit more. At the very least, Nia Honjo had explained that her Angel Raziel was part of Almighty God's omniscience, capable of extracting desired information from the spirits of nature or the collective subconscious of lifeforms, though with certain limitations when sharing that knowledge with others.
When Nia Honjo had first found Miku Izayoi, she'd demonstrated quite a bit of Raziel's capabilities to gain her trust.
But naturally, Miku wouldn't casually reveal her friend's ability secrets to Luo Shu.
Her little deception, however, was instantly seen through by Luo Shu.
After all, the girl's averted gaze and unnatural expression when lying were painfully obvious.
'Completely like an inexperienced high school girl...' Luo Shu mused internally before saying:
"Since you know a bit, this makes things easier."
"Well, Nia secretly mentioned to me that she obtained information about you facing harassment from a TV producer in the entertainment industry soon, and hoped I'd help resolve it."
"Eh?" Miku Izayoi blinked in surprise.
Luo Shu then added: "And to use this opportunity to gain your favour, win you over, and recruit you into my department."
"To put it simply, Nia's providing me with intel support for a heroic rescue scenario. Any thoughts?"
Miku Izayoi blinked owlishly before dumbfoundedly replying:
"This kind of thing... needs thoughts expressed about it...?"