By the time everything settled down, it was already 9 p.m.
The dinner he had originally planned to enjoy had now turned into a late-night bento, but Luo Shu didn't feel particularly regretful.
He picked up the supper Kisara had prepared, using his lonely left hand to unwrap and arrange it, then turned to look at Eriri, who was gnawing fiercely on his right arm:
"You've been biting me for ages. Don't you want to eat something to fill your stomach?"
"I'm not hungry!" Eriri squeezed out these words through gritted teeth as she bit down on Luo Shu's upper arm.
Judging by the girl's rather unflattering grimace, she was biting him with considerable force this time.
Faced with this, Luo Shu could only attempt to placate her:
"I already told you what happened earlier was a force majeure."
"I didn't know you'd be sleeping here today, nor did I expect Enigma would drag me into playing these sorts of games."
"I'm just a normal person - isn't it normal to succumb to temptation?"
Hearing Luo Shu's excuses, Eriri released her bite, turned her head and spat before declaring contemptuously:
"What nonsense, washing your hands of all responsibility."
"Do you have any idea who made me sleep here in the first place?!"
Luo Shu looked surprised: "What? Are you saying it's my fault?"
"But I never stopped you from going home, did I? I don't recall Sayuri ever kicking you out either?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Eriri fixed Luo Shu with an intense stare, her expression fierce - at least she believed it looked properly intimidating:
"Do you really think I can face my mother looking like this now?"
"Ah." Luo Shu suddenly understood exactly what Eriri was worried about.
So after getting involved with him, she didn't dare face Sayuri Sawamura anymore?
This was difficult for Luo Shu to answer, since he had indeed taken advantage of the situation to do certain unspeakable things to Eriri. Thus, he could only change the subject:
"So that's why you came to see Enigma?"
The moment Luo Shu mentioned Enigma, Eriri's temper flared up again:
"Don't talk to me about that vile woman! She actually had the nerve to say she wanted to apologise for what happened before!"
"The worst part is I actually forgave her!!"
Remembering how Enigma had pinned her down earlier, Eriri nearly exploded with rage:
"Damn it!! If I'd known this was her idea of an apology, I'd never have forgiven her!!"
Just as Eriri was hopping mad, a languid female voice chimed in.
"Ara ara~"
Enigma, now dressed in a beige nightgown and drying her freshly washed hair with a towel, looked at Eriri with feigned puzzlement:
"How strange~ I thought you'd enjoy this kind of playstyle as Sayuri does?"
"Could I have misjudged you?"
"Who the hell would enjoy that sort of thing?!" Eriri immediately snapped back without thinking.
Enigma sighed regretfully:
"You don't like it? That's rather troublesome. Come to think of it, you've always been a bit odd, haven't you?"
"Neither scheming like me nor acting like Sayuri... I suppose there must have been some flaws in your upbringing?"
This remark truly infuriated Eriri, especially the implication that she resembled neither Sayuri nor Enigma, which completely shattered her defences:
"Don't pull this parental attitude now, you damn demon!!"
Yet Enigma simply responded with a pleased smile:
"I'm so happy to see you so full of energy, Eriri."
Eriri immediately fell silent at this. She lowered her head, leaning it against Luo Shu's shoulder as she lamented miserably:
"It's over... I'm completely done for."
"I thought he was the most normal one in the family, but after becoming her, she turned out to be the craziest."
"I always thought Mum was eccentric enough, but she's actually worse than Mum. I've had enough—why did I end up with parents like this?!"
Luo Shu glanced at Eriri, opened the food container, and eyed the braised pork rice, lion's-head meatballs, stir-fried shrimp with cabbage, and radish pork-rib soup inside. He promptly picked up a meatball with his chopsticks and held it out to Eriri, saying:
"Want a bite?"
Eriri lifted her gaze slightly to look at the meatball, took a small nibble, then mumbled:
"So delicious."
"Has Kisara's cooking improved again?"
"Must be nice... demons don't have parents, right?"
"You'd get beaten if you said that in front of Kisara, you know?"
Luo Shu quipped, then looked up at Enigma, who had taken a seat on the single sofa beside them, and asked:
"Isn't bullying Eriri like this a bit much?"
Enigma arched a brow and flashed Luo Shu a bewitching smile:
"So you're saying you dislike my parenting style?"
Seeing Enigma's seductive demeanour, Luo Shu was instantly reminded of recent events—and by extension, Eriri.
One was alluring, the other pure. Add in Sayuri Sawamura's purity without allure...
Well, it was admittedly a parenting style hard to refuse.
Luo Shu fell silent for a moment before saying with slight exasperation:
"I have a feeling the day Sayuri comes at me with a knife isn't far off."
Hearing this, Enigma replied with utter calm: "No need to worry. Eriri will cover for you, won't you, Eriri?"
"Why should I cover for you? I'm the victim here!"
Eriri, who had been staring at the food container, abruptly glared at both of them. After being assaulted by Luo Shu twice in three days, she was brimming with resentment—why should she hide anything from Sayuri Sawamura?
But Enigma sank her with just one line.
"But you wouldn't want it known that you dragged me and Luo Shu into... You get it, right?"
"Me dragging you? You were the one who forced— Wait... you wouldn't...?"
Faced with this venomous woman shifting blame, Eriri was utterly dumbfounded.
She was going to pin everything on the victim?!
Though Eriri was certain Sayuri Sawamura would see through the false accusation, the mere thought of such a scene playing out before her made Eriri feel socially dead.
How could such a shameless, vile woman exist in this world?
In that instant, Eriri truly grasped the ugliness of humanity.