"Ahhh~ off work at last~~ finally done with overtime~~"
Chisato Nishikigi, carrying a plastic bag, skipped cheerfully into the reception room with bird-like steps. She giggled as she approached Luo Shu, shaking the bag in her hand:
"I bought sushi from the 24-hour supermarket. Want to share?"
"Sure." Luo Shu agreed without hesitation, taking the bag from Chisato and unpacking the individually wrapped sushi portions.
Meanwhile, Chisato turned to Takina Inoue, who had just entered, asking with a smile:
"Takina, oolong tea or green tea? Wait, for evening, maybe beer would be better?"
"Either is fine."
Takina responded casually, glancing at Miko Yotsuya and Kotori Itsuka, who were sitting on the sofa opposite Luo Shu.
The girl frowned slightly at the faint sparks around Kotori, surprised:
"This child is..."
Nia immediately leaned over, grinning as she placed her hands on Takina's shoulders:
"The target of this operation - Kotori Itsuka-chan, who even made a demon Viscount submit to her~"
"What do you think? Super cute, right?"
"She is indeed very cute..."
Takina observed Kotori, who was clutching Miko's hand with a tearful expression, then tilted her head:
"But... do we have anyone at the garrison who's good at looking after children?"
"Uh..."
Nia fell silent at this.
Even Luo Shu paused in unwrapping the sushi.
As the person closest to Kotori, Miko looked utterly miserable as she said:
"No way, am I supposed to take care of a child? I can barely take care of myself..."
"If it's a child, just leave it to me."
With soft words, Lacus gently floated into the reception room.
Luo Shu was startled by the girl's entrance:
"What's going on? Why are you floating like Mukuro now?"
"Ah, this?"
Lacus lightly tapped the air, drifting towards Luo Shu as she explained:
"Since I've been shuttling between space and the ground lately, I was worried about my body getting unaccustomed, so I had Mukuro seal gravity's effects on me."
"But honestly, floating around like this on the ground is really fun~"
"..."
Luo Shu looked at the pink-haired girl who seemed to have found a new toy, hesitating before finally sighing:
"Fine, as long as you're happy."
"By the way, want some sushi? Chisato bought it."
"Sure."
Lacus floated towards Luo Shu, slowly descending before smiling at Miko Yotsuya across from her:
"You're Miko, right?"
"Thanks to your help in this operation, we managed to bring this child back from the Abyss successfully."
"N-no, I didn't really do anything... I just held their hand..."
Miko Yotsuya quickly waved her hands in denial while gazing curiously at Lacus, even missing her subsequent thanks.
'She's so beautiful...'
Miko couldn't help but look at Lacus with envy.
'Her face, figure, skin... everything is flawless...'
Miko watched as Luo Shu unwrapped disposable chopsticks and fed Lacus a piece of sushi.
Seeing this, Miko suddenly snapped to attention, staring wide-eyed at Luo Shu and Lacus.
Wait, this kind of interaction?
Could these two be... lovers?
Just as Miko was reeling from shock, Luo Shu opened his mouth to eat the salmon sushi Lacus offered him, then turned to Takina Inoue sitting on the single sofa:
"How's the situation with Kotoko Iwanaga?"
"Director Tachibana has submitted the fabricated corpse."
Takina Inoue explained while accepting the ice-cold beer Chisato Nishikigi handed her:
"But afterwards, we might need you, Director, to retrieve the corpse under the pretext of an experiment."
"After all, Miss Kotoko Iwanaga said that as long as the corpse exists, her presence in reality remains vague, preventing her from appearing. So she asked us to retrieve it quickly so she could learn the technique and avoid getting lost in the hidden world."
"I see."
Luo Shu nodded, then looked to Lacus on his right:
"I'll probably need you to handle this."
"Understood. I'll retrieve the corpse as soon as possible."
Lacus nodded, then glanced at Kotori Itsuka, who was staring at her curiously, before smiling and extending her hand. With a twist of her wrist, a candy appeared in her palm:
"Want some candy~ It's very sweet~"
Kotori hesitated, eyeing the candy longingly before turning to give Miko a pitiful look.
Instantly, Miko suffered a critical hit to her heart: "Why are you looking at me? I'm really not your mum...and didn't you just call me sister earlier..."
Amidst her barely audible muttering, Miko Yotsuya spoke helplessly to Kotori Itsuka:
"Go ahead and eat it. Anything this sister gives you is safe to eat."
Hearing this, Kotori Itsuka's eyes lit up. She immediately reached out to take the sweet, said a childish "thank you" in a sweet voice, unwrapped it and popped the candy into her mouth, squinting with delight at the sweetness.
Seeing this, Luo Shu couldn't help but comment:
"She's completely reverted to being a child..."
Lacus smiled gently at his words: "Children tend to forget their fears and troubles very quickly."
Luo Shu fell silent for a moment, reflecting on how long Kotori might have been trapped in the Abyss passageway, feeling somewhat moved.
Finally, he sighed and asked:
"How's Kirika doing over there?"
"Earlier underground, I sensed her Spiritual Power clashing with Hao Asakura's. Is she alright?"
Lacus gently placed her hand on Luo Shu's and said softly:
"Don't worry, Hao Asakura won't make a move against her."
"After all, rashly attacking Kirika would only provoke our hostility."
"For someone like him, that would be an unnecessary conflict."
"An unnecessary conflict?" Luo Shu seemed slightly surprised by this remark.
Their relationship with Hao Asakura from the SDS probably isn't very good, right?
At that moment, Lacus let out a soft sigh before speaking:
"My current mother has the Asakura Family bloodline, being a branch of the family in America. To be specific, she's a descendant left behind by Hao Asakura during his reincarnation five hundred years ago in America."
Hearing this, Luo Shu's expression turned rather peculiar.
If he remembered correctly, Lacus's father Siegel had married into an American arms conglomerate as the son-in-law of their young mistress.
Didn't that mean that the young mistress was Hao Asakura's direct descendant?
At this thought, Luo Shu's expression grew even stranger.
So after all this, they were actually on the same side?