"I wish I were."
Tomoki Asuka resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he tossed his cigarette to the ground and crushed it underfoot:
"But that's exactly what happened. And the funniest part? The demon died too."
With that, Tomoki Asuka beckoned Luo Shu and led him to a private room in the maid café.
Inside, a Lost Demon—with the lower body of a spider and the naked upper torso of a woman—lay slumped on the floor, head and arms hanging limply. Around it, four personnel in full hazmat suits were conducting examinations.
"The demon's dead too."
Seeing it in person, Luo Shu immediately recognised it as the Lost Demon from his divination. His expression grew complicated:
"Silencing a witness?"
"Can't rule that out."
Tomoki Asuka pulled out another cigarette, biting down on it:
"Otherwise, I can't think of any reason someone would orchestrate an incident like this in Akihabara Town."
"Unless the mastermind just wanted to kill a bunch of normal customers here for fun?"
"According to the barrier centre's report, the perpetrator activated some technique outside the barrier, breached it in an instant, and remotely siphoned away the souls of everyone present—including the demon's."
"Going through all that trouble, risking exposure of such methods, just to take a few normal people's souls? Who'd believe that?"
"Unless they were hiding something so critical that they had no choice but to act this way."
Luo Shu frowned, somewhat convinced by Tomoki Asuka's reasoning yet sensing something off.
'If secrecy was the goal, why not just eliminate the demon and the ringleader? Why drag a dozen unrelated normal people into it?'
Unless... those normal people were somehow involved. But how?
His eyes flickered with thought before he turned to Tomoki Asuka:
"Take me to see the customers' remains."
Tomoki Asuka gave him a surprised look but didn't refuse outright.
After this incident, the two were somewhat in the same boat now.
As long as Luo Shu wanted to protect the two girls who'd reported the crime, he couldn't wash his hands of this.
And if Luo Shu actually uncovered something major, given his personality, he'd undoubtedly share the credit.
This was a beneficial arrangement, and Tomoki Asuka wasn't foolish enough to refuse.
Before long, Tomoki Asuka led Luo Shu downstairs and straight to a nearby parking lot.
Inside a black van in the parking lot, Luo Shu saw three corpses covered with white sheets.
"These are the bodies of three customers from the scene. The forensics team has already examined them, and all the data has been recorded. As long as you don't damage them too much, there shouldn't be any issues."
Tomoki Asuka pointed at the corpses, then glanced at Luo Shu:
"Should I step away?"
He was concerned that Luo Shu might use some classified method from the SDS, hence the question.
"No need. I'm just performing a divination."
'Divination?'
Tomoki Asuka was momentarily stunned before recalling a report from the Metropolitan Police Department mentioning Luo Shu's expertise in divination, which had apparently been submitted by a high-ranking Director.
'Skilled in such methods?' Tomoki Asuka studied Luo Shu thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, Luo Shu had already lifted the white sheet to examine the corpse.
The body belonged to a young man with dyed blond hair and ear piercings, his face deathly pale and his limbs stiff.
Luo Shu first lifted the eyelids to inspect the eyes, then plucked a strand of hair with its follicle attached, using it as a medium to mentally connect with the Mysticism Encyclopaedia.
The relationship between the hair's owner and the demon!
After silently repeating this three times, a white rhombus-shaped crystal flickered uncertainly in Luo Shu's mind.
In an instant, he slipped into a semi-conscious state, observing a series of images from a detached perspective.
Among these images...
One scene took place in a KTV room.
The blond-haired young man was entangled with a heavily made-up woman with slightly yellowish skin on a sofa, their movements blurred.
Faintly, Luo Shu could see several other men and women engaged in similar activities nearby.
At the centre of the glass table in the room, surrounded by fruits and snacks, stood a grey statue—human from the waist up, spider from the waist down—placed silently in the middle.
The scene lingered for a few seconds before dissolving.
The next image showed the blond-haired youth in a dimly lit church, kneeling before a deity statue alongside a group of men and women.
The statue was unmistakably the same grey figure—half-human, half-spider.
Then, a third scene emerged: a coffee shop Luo Shu vaguely recognised, where couples clung to each other at their tables, their movements wanton yet their expressions oddly devout, as if in prayer.
This time, however, the familiar statue was absent. Instead, the patterns on seven cakes arranged on the tables emitted a blood-red glow.
When the images dissolved again, Luo Shu actively opened his eyes, murmuring in realisation:
"So that's how it is."
With that, he turned and stepped out of the van. Noticing his exit, Tomoki Asuka—who had been leaning against a police car smoking a dozen metres away—approached:
"Find anything?"
Seeing no reason to conceal the truth, Luo Shu replied directly:
"All the deceased from the coffee shop were demon worshippers. They were collectively praying to a certain demon inside the establishment."
"The act of prayer seems to have triggered the extraction of their souls. The demon they invoked took their souls—including that Lost Demon—away with it."
"By the way, the prayer technique was drawn on the cakes. Did you deal with those?"
Hearing this, Tomoki Asuka's expression changed. He hastily pulled out his phone to make a call, urgently inquiring about the cakes' whereabouts. Only after hearing the reply did he relax and say:
"The cakes are all preserved. I had them gathered for inspection."
After a pause, he added:
"All the dead were demon believers? Including those two foreigners?"
"...Including." Luo Shu fell silent for a moment before sighing.
"Seems it was an international cult gathering after all." Tomoki Asuka murmured to himself before continuing: "I'll have people investigate their family backgrounds, see what turns up."
At this thought, Asuka said with clear irritation:
"But using prayers and such to activate techniques inside the barrier, bypassing its suppression... These demon brats have come up with a new trick!"
"More than that, I'm curious about their motive."
Luo Shu narrowed his eyes, his tone distant:
"Risking exposure, using such methods to take both believers and demon souls away together."
"What exactly are they trying to hide?"
Tomoki Asuka thought for a moment, holding his cigarette between fingers as he blew a smoke ring:
"Nothing good, that's for certain."
Luo Shu nodded, clearly agreeing with Asuka's assessment:
"Let's start by investigating their backgrounds. Since they're all demon believers, we'll begin with their social circles."
Here, Luo Shu curled his lips in a mocking smile:
"After all, rats from the sewards always travel in packs."