In Beika Town.
At the rented villa where Yoshimura resided.
Not long after Luo Shu finished his call with the Police Superintendent...
"Caw! Caw!"
A crow flapped its wings, flying through the glass doors that connected the living room to the garden, before landing on the low table that bore cake and coffee.
Seeing this, Kei Shirogane was about to ask something when Luo Shu raised a finger to his lips. Noticing this, she immediately fell silent.
At that moment, a deep, magnetic male voice emerged from the crow's beak:
"You must be Director Luo Shu of the Hidden Management Department, I presume?"
"Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Rihan Nura."
Hearing this, Luo Shu narrowed his eyes slightly before smiling:
"Mr. Rihan Nura, the master of yokai in Japan? This is truly an honour."
Master of yokai? x3
Upon hearing this title, Daichi Fujiwara, Chika Fujiwara, and Kei Shirogane all turned curious gazes towards the crow on the table. After all, this was the living master of yokai—someone who must surely be on par with Japan's three Great Yokai: Shuten-dōji, the Great Tengu, and Tamamo-no-Mae.
But... was Japan's yokai master really just a crow?
"That's merely an exaggerated title bestowed upon me by the Hyakki Yagyō."
Rihan's tone was modest, as though he felt unworthy of such an epithet.
"My apologies for speaking to you through the servant of a Karasu Tengu like this."
Understanding dawned on Luo Shu, who then smiled:
"So it seems Mr. Rihan has already begun executing the plan?"
"Indeed."
The crow's face twisted into a mischievous grin, as if mimicking Rihan's current expression:
"The Foreign Minister's daughter and the eldest daughter of the Financial Services Agency's director are currently under my control. Additionally, my servants are surveilling the Prime Minister's eldest daughter and the heiress of the Suzuki conglomerate. Their security details should be noticing the anomalies by now."
Hearing this, Kei couldn't help but gasp before hurriedly covering her mouth.
Unlike Kei, the previously unaware Chika maintained her cheerful smile while her eyes darted about curiously. The informed Daichi, however, remained silent, watching the crow on the table with profound interest. In a sense, Daichi, Luo Shu, and Rihan Nura were now accomplices.
Luo Shu, meanwhile, seemed genuinely surprised by Rihan's efficiency:
"That was remarkably fast."
"...It did prove easier than I anticipated."
Nura Rihan was somewhat surprised at this point. After all, capturing these noblewomen had been far too easy. He even suspected that any moderately competent yokai could effortlessly pull off such an abduction.
Had these people grown too complacent?
"Frankly speaking, if Hagoromo Gitsune were to launch her plan now and attack these noblewomen, she could probably gather enough fresh livers in under an hour."
Luo Shu smiled faintly at these words:
"But now, she won't get the chance."
"Haha, quite right." Nura Rihan laughed heartily, nodding in agreement.
After several kidnapping attempts orchestrated by him and Luo Shu, Japan's upper-class bureaucrats and major capitalists would undoubtedly ramp up security for themselves and their families several notches.
Future abductions certainly wouldn't be this straightforward.
At this moment, a teasing expression crossed Luo Shu's face:
"By the way, Mr Rihan, I presume you've left sufficient clues at the scene?"
"Naturally."
The crow yokai grinned slyly as he spoke to Luo Shu:
"The noblewomen I've abducted are currently in a warehouse in Adachi Ward. Director Luo might find the location... familiar."
Luo Shu immediately understood the implication: "The warehouse from the Ghoul extermination operation?"
"Precisely." Nura Rihan said cheerfully, "Would Director Luo care to put on a performance?"
The yokai blinked mischievously: "A proper heroic rescue would be most entertaining."
Hearing this, Luo Shu discreetly used the Mysticism Encyclopaedia to divine the status of the kidnapped noblewomen. As he did, his mind recalled the profiles of high-ranking officials' families he'd reviewed in SDS files before the operation.
After a brief pause, Luo Shu replied calmly: "Excessive involvement would only invite unnecessary complications, don't you agree, Mr Rihan?"
'The foreign minister's daughter is 33, plain-looking, unmarried but cohabiting with her boyfriend. The Financial Services Agency director's daughter is 24 but keeps several male escorts. Most importantly, neither are Familia recognised by the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System. And you call this a heroic rescue? Where's the "beauty" in this scenario?'
Luo Shu mentally criticised Nura Rihan, strongly suspecting the yokai might share Cao Cao's notorious preferences.
Among Nura Rihan's surveillance targets, only the eldest daughter of the Suzuki conglomerate was 'clean' - and she hadn't even been abducted, merely placed under observation!
"Excessive involvement, you say?"
Nura Rihan considered this and could understand Luo Shu's perspective. Since the SDS had essentially masterminded the kidnappings, participating in the rescues might reveal their scheme.
"Then which faction does Mr Luo suggest should rescue these noblewomen?"
Nura Rihan's phrasing implied the outcome was predetermined.
Given Nura Rihan's capabilities, few entities in Japan could forcibly rescue anyone from him, each being a pillar of major organisations. Such rescue missions wouldn't immediately deploy such heavyweight figures anyway; after all, these were merely ministers' daughters, not worthy of that level of response.
After brief consideration, Luo Shu proposed:
"What about the Ministry of Environment Countermeasures Office?"
"A cabinet-controlled organisation backed only by the Jinguji family and a few minor lineages. As a newly established body, they could use the publicity."
"Rescuing the minister's daughter from Kyoto's Hagoromo Group would be an excellent choice."
After speaking, Luo Shu silently added in his mind: 'Most crucially, Kuesu Jingūji has unclear ties with the SDS, and Yomi Isayama and Noriyuki Izuna from the Countermeasures Office's frontline team are both under my control.'
The more merits Yomi Isayama gained, the more it would benefit Luo Shu's remote control over this new department.
"The Countermeasures Office under the Ministry of Environment?"
Nura Rihan understood that while Luo Shu might have planted some moles in this department, such a situation wasn't detrimental to the Nura Clan—it might even be advantageous. Thus, he said:
"Then I'll trouble Director Luo to make the arrangements."
Hearing this, Luo Shu smiled and raised his coffee cup in a toast towards the crow before him:
"To a pleasant cooperation!"
Seeing this, the crow's face imitated Nura Rihan's smile as it replied:
"To a pleasant cooperation!"