"Whose side are you even on?! And I told you to stop Mind Reading me!!"
Eriri's golden ponytail whipped through the air like a weapon, striking Utaha Kasumigaoka's body repeatedly.
Yet in the face of this feeble assault, Utaha merely raised a hand to block with perfect composure, casually explaining:
"It's quite obvious, isn't it? I'm on Luo Shu's side, so isn't this perfectly normal?"
Eriri stomped her foot in anger upon hearing this:
"Normal my foot! You shameless woman who abandons friends for a man!"
Utaha Kasumigaoka feigned surprise: "Since you already knew I'd do this, why blame me for stabbing you in the back?"
As their bickering continued, Sayuri Sawamura had already reached out to take the documents from Luo Shu's hands. She quickly flipped through them, selecting the pages unsuitable for Eriri's eyes before looking up to meet Luo Shu's gaze.
"Is this really alright?" Luo Shu asked Sayuri softly.
Admittedly, Luo Shu also believed the more Eriri knew, the greater the hurt would be. Yet given Eriri's earlier insistence on full disclosure, he personally felt it better not to interfere.
After all, Eriri had already made her choice.
Seeing Luo Shu's stance, hesitation flickered across Sayuri's face. After two or three seconds, she sighed and handed the documents back.
Taking them, Luo Shu reorganised the papers before waving them at Eriri:
"Weren't you going to read these? How did you end up quarrelling with Utaha again?"
"Quarrelling with her? She's the one who—"
Eriri's complaint trailed off mid-sentence as her eyes locked onto the documents in Luo Shu's hands. Suspicion coloured her voice:
"You weren't just now secretly swapping things out in collusion, were you?"
Luo Shu nodded frankly: "Indeed. I swapped in your manga drawings."
"So, still want to read them?"
Eriri's face flushed crimson. Glaring furiously at Luo Shu, she bared her fangs as if wanting to bite him:
"Shut up! I'll read them myself."
Snatching the documents, she began flipping through them in a huff.
Watching this, Luo Shu calmly crossed his legs and leaned back on the sofa with a smile:
"Having made your choice, don't go crying about it later."
"Who'd cry over this..."
Eriri muttered while scanning the documents with growing distress.
After some time, her eyes began reddening.
Nearby, Sayuri sighed, looking at Eriri with helpless pity:
"I told you not to cry."
"I'm not crying! Just got dust in my eyes."
Utaha observed this quietly before sighing: "Seems it's the worst possible outcome."
Even without Mind Reading, Eriri's reaction told her everything.
Clearly, Enigma's intentions towards Eriri had been malicious from the start.
To have someone regarded as a father figure use you as a stepping stone... Utaha couldn't fathom Eriri's emotions, being merely an observer.
Upon finishing the documents, Eriri sniffled audibly, her voice cracking.
After a deep breath, she turned to Luo Shu hesitantly:
"So... my father—no, Aunt Emma—actually wanted the power of that... Abyss Artefact inside me?"
"The current intelligence is as follows." Luo Shu replied calmly, then turned to Eriri: "The informant didn't provide more detailed reasons."
Eriri pondered for a moment before saying, "Feels like I've got sand in my eyes."
She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, then looked up at Luo Shu with reddened eyes:
"Could it be some ritual requirement? Like a Demigod Ascension Ritual?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu gave Eriri a surprised look, seemingly taken aback by her suggestion.
Noticing Luo Shu's expression that seemed to treat her like an idiot, Eriri immediately bared her fangs and snapped:
"What's with that look? Just tell me if it's possible or not!"
"There is some possibility," Luo Shu admitted frankly, explaining: "After all, Demigod rituals come in all bizarre forms, so we can't rule out this possibility."
Killing one's closest kin—no, rather, seizing their power—if that were a ritual requirement, it was indeed plausible.
At the very least, Luo Shu couldn't dismiss the possibility.
Hearing this, Eriri fell silent for a moment before stubbornly asking:
"So... do you need my help?"
"If her goal really is the ritual, then as the target, I must be essential, right?"
"Eriri..." Sayuri Sawamura looked at her daughter with concern...
This was precisely why she hadn't wanted Eriri to know—having already lost her husband, she couldn't bear the thought of her daughter facing danger too.
Faced with Eriri's determination, Luo Shu smiled:
"If you get involved, your comfortable daily life will be gone for good."
"Are you really... sure about this decision?"
Luo Shu probed Eriri's thoughts with his question.
"It's not like I can avoid it anyway, can I?" Eriri said somewhat irritably—not at anyone else, but at her past lazy self.
If only she had studied mystic side knowledge earlier and more seriously, could she have detected, or even stopped Enigma beforehand?
Even if Eriri lacked the strength to stop her directly, calling for backup wasn't beyond her capabilities.
"Sawamura..." Utaha Kasumigaoka sighed beside them upon seeing Eriri in this state.
No need to guess—this idiot was probably regretting not working harder to grow stronger and prevent Enigma's fake death escape.
Though this fool didn't seem to realise that with her half-hearted attitude, encountering an old hand from the mystic side would likely result in instant defeat.
Enigma might be weak compared to cheaters like Luo Shu or Kurumi Tokisaki, but not against a rookie like you.
Though these thoughts crossed her mind, Utaha made no move to voice them.
After all, in her view, having motivation to grow stronger might actually be good for Eriri.
"Alright, since you insist so strongly, we'll include you. But before that..."
Luo Shu spoke with an amused expression, eyeing the tense Eriri:
"We'll need to ensure you have at least some self-defence capabilities first."
Hearing this, Eriri suddenly shuddered as if sensing profound malice:
"Wait, what do you mean by 'self-defence capabilities'?"
"Hmm, perhaps a training crash course?"
Luo Shu tilted his head slightly in thought, then flashed Eriri a smile brimming with mischief – the grin of a demon:
"Prepare yourself!"
The resolute expression on Eriri's face instantly froze.