"Is that not acceptable?"
Sayuri tilted her head, gazing at Luo Shu with the innocent look of a pure maiden:
"Emma isn't actually that bad, is she?"
As she spoke, Sayuri picked up her phone, opened the photo album, and displayed Emma's picture.
Unlike the bewitching image of Enigma in the files Luo Shu provided, Emma Campbell—the English noble girl persona Enigma adopted—had waist-length black hair and violet eyes. Though the facial features of both identities were strikingly similar, Emma appeared far more innocent due to differences in makeup, resembling an inexperienced aristocratic young lady.
"Come to think of it, I've known Emma for nearly twenty years and never saw her age. Upon reflection, that itself was a major oversight..."
Hearing Sayuri say this, Luo Shu responded somewhat speechlessly:
"Perhaps you should consider yourself before saying that?"
'You're someone who hasn't aged a day either.'
"Oh dear, what a way to compliment someone." Sayuri waved her hand, feigning bashfulness.
'I wasn't entirely complimenting you...' Luo Shu's cheek twitched slightly, but he didn't call out Sayuri's act, instead explaining casually:
"She won't come. Even if she does, it won't be her true self."
"My report should have made this clear—Enigma possesses a cloning-type ability to steal others' appearances and disguise herself."
"Given that she concealed this from you for nearly 20 years while raising Eriri... The likelihood of her abandoning Eriri is low, but I doubt she'd be foolish enough to approach the Sawamura family in person during this period..."
"What does that have to do with me?"
Sayuri tilted her head, looking at Luo Shu in confusion.
This response made Luo Shu pause momentarily.
"Aren't you trying to deal with her?" Luo Shu asked curiously. "If her real body doesn't come, what's the point of all this?"
"There is a point." Sayuri nodded earnestly. "Even if it's a clone, being mistreated by you would still affect her, wouldn't it?"
"Failing that, I could invite Emma over and let her watch us being affectionate. Though by then, we might have to get Eriri to call you Daddy... Oh, that might actually work. I just wonder if that child could bring herself to say it."
"..."
Luo Shu looked speechlessly at Sayuri Sawamura, who was touching her cheek while pondering the feasibility.
'So you just want to use me to spite Enigma?'
At this thought, Luo Shu chuckled and said, "Do you really think I'd cooperate with you?"
"I know you might not be willing, but if I voluntarily sign this, could Luo Shu-kun try to cooperate just once?"
Sayuri picked up the contract Luo Shu had pushed towards her:
"This thing must be quite crucial to you, right?"
"Hmm, this might require my participation, but thinking carefully, it's probably a method to bind you and me together, isn't it?"
"Did Eriri become inevitably entangled with you because she signed this?"
Seeing Sayuri's curious expression, Luo Shu fell silent for a moment before sighing and shaking his head slightly:
"If you keep talking, I'll start suspecting whether Utaha told you something."
Luo Shu shook his head again and said to the smiling Sayuri before him:
"So, Sayuri, you still want to use yourself as a bargaining chip?"
"Just cooperate with me in acting out a scene... no, if it's you, Luo Shu, fake feelings turning real wouldn't be bad either... After all, having been deceived for so many years, an affair would only be natural, right?"
Sayuri smiled as she put down the contract without signing it. Instead, she tidied her hair before looking at Luo Shu:
"Actually, in my opinion, the best revenge would be finding what Emma was hiding in Eriri and snatching away that thing she's coveted for years right in front of her. That would be most amusing."
"Unfortunately, I'm worried this might hurt Eriri; otherwise, I wouldn't have simply asked you to tease her once."
'You call cuckolding someone a simple tease?' Luo Shu looked at Sayuri with a rather peculiar expression.
Now he truly understood how vicious a woman could be when scorned.
Wasn't this killing both body and soul?
"The effect might not be ideal," Luo Shu reminded Sayuri.
At this point, Luo Shu actually considered indulging Sayuri's whim once.
He could take advantage while gaining a Familia for free. Just acting in a play with high rewards and low costs was worth trying.
"The orange may be sour, but it quenches thirst~"
Sayuri smiled like a little fox:
"At my age, seeking physical revenge would probably take until Eriri's children grow up, don't you think?"
"So why not inflict maximum damage with all my might?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu paused but didn't refute. After all, this was the normal reaction.
He sighed slightly before smiling:
"Then I'll accompany you in this farce."
Hearing this, Sayuri's smile brightened considerably.
"Since Luo Shu-kun has agreed, could you wait quietly aside for now?"
As she spoke, Sayuri made a shushing gesture:
"I need to have a good chat with my cruel darling first."
Luo Shu looked at Sayuri with a strange expression.
Just then, Sayuri took out her phone and dialled Emma's number.
...
Sawamura residence, Eriri's room.
"What did you say?"
Eriri raised her voice, her already large eyes widening even further in disbelief as she exclaimed:
"My dad isn't actually dead... and he turned into a woman?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka, who had anticipated this reaction, covered her ears while sitting at the computer desk. She crossed her legs, the tip of her black-stockinged foot hooking a slipper that swayed gently.
Only after Eriri finished shouting did she lower her hand and calmly state:
"Don't shout so loudly, Sawamura."
"And to correct you - it's not that your father turned into a woman, but that your father was always a woman."
Eriri stared blankly at Utaha Kasumigaoka for a long moment before finally responding:
"Hey, gloomy girl, you're not joking with me, are you?"
"What do you think?" Utaha retorted, giving her a sidelong glance.
"But..."
Eriri opened and closed her mouth several times before managing:
"If my dad's a girl, and my mum's a girl, then where did I come from? Was I found by the river? Or did I spring from a bamboo stalk?"
"You're Eriri Spencer Sawamura, not Momotaro Sawamura or Kaguya-hime Sawamura," Utaha said matter-of-factly, then paused to consider:
"Though now that I think about it, your birth must have had an origin point. Considering you're an existence born from the influence of a blood-type Abyss Artefact, tracing back your lineage would mean you must have at least one more father or mother."
"Eh?"
"By that calculation, Sawamura, you actually have three mothers... or two mothers and one father..."
"Suddenly, you seem incredibly impressive!!"
Eriri was utterly dumbfounded by these words—genuinely dumbfounded.
'Three mothers? Or two mothers and one father?'
'Does that make me some kind of yokai?!'
At this thought, Eriri felt her mind go completely numb...
"How can something so absurd even exist...?"