Itogami Island - the birthplace of Natsuki Minamiya.
And the prison barrier—a secret intimately tied to Natsuki herself.
Thus, when Luo Shu mentioned both simultaneously, Natsuki's pupils involuntarily contracted slightly, her lips parting in surprise.
After a moment, Natsuki regained control of her expression, frowning as she regarded Luo Shu with hesitation:
"You're also a visitor from the Abyss?"
'And from the same world as me?'
Natsuki Minamiya didn't voice the latter half of her thought. In fact, she somewhat regretted even speaking the first part.
Because once these words were spoken, the initiative would no longer be in her hands, but in Luo Shu's.
"I'm afraid I don't come from the same world as you, Natsuki."
Luo Shu shook his head, denying Natsuki Minamiya's assumption.
"Then how did you know?"
Realising she'd already misspoken, Natsuki Minamiya threw caution to the wind and demanded directly:
"Don't tell me it's divination. I've never heard of divination revealing otherworldly information."
"Of course not divination, but the specific reason... I'm afraid I'm unable to disclose that. After all, I'm just a normal person who happens to know a little too much."
Luo Shu raised his right hand, pinching his thumb and forefinger together to illustrate just how 'little' that was.
Seeing Luo Shu's evasive response, Natsuki clicked her tongue in annoyance, snapping open her folding fan to fan herself vigorously, as if trying to blow away her irritation:
"You're really quite infuriating, you know that?"
Since Luo Shu refused to explain, there wasn't much Natsuki could do to force him. Being cornered like this by someone younger - and her student at that - left her distinctly displeased:
"So then, are you planning to use your knowledge about the prison barrier to force me to join you?"
"No, I wouldn't call it forcing. More like... an exchange of benefits."
Luo Shu shook his head, rejecting the notion of coercion. He had no desire to be labelled as someone who bullied women.
"Exchange of benefits?"
Natsuki almost laughed at this:
"If you consider spying on a woman's private affairs and using them as leverage an 'exchange of benefits', then yes, I suppose it is."
"In that case, I'm part of the coercion, too, aren't I? After all, Luo Shu only did this because of my earlier instructions."
Lacus smiled as she claimed responsibility, prompting Natsuki to roll her eyes:
"Keep spoiling him like this, why don't you!"
Natsuki clicked her tongue again, clearly unhappy with Lacus taking the blame. While she could use certain feminine advantages to regain conversational control with Luo Shu, such tactics were useless against Lacus - if anything, they'd backfire into reverse emotional blackmail.
After all, the woman before her was the founder of the SDS, who lived by the principle of protecting humanity's continuation.
Hearing this, Luo Shu couldn't help glancing at Lacus, who was taking the heat for him, then turned back to Natsuki:
"It seems Natsuki-chan has quite a few misunderstandings about me."
Natsuki looked between Luo Shu and Lacus before sighing:
"Fine, I can't win against you two."
Shaking her head, she asked Luo Shu:
"How much do you actually know about the prison barrier?"
After some thought, Luo Shu explained:
"If you're referring to an artificial otherworldly prison barrier created by forming a contract with a demon - at the cost of having one's age frozen and being eternally confined within the barrier to imprison criminals - then yes, I suppose I know a thing or two."
"Although I don't quite understand how your wish to create a utopia where humans and supernatural races coexist ended up becoming a prison-like parallel world that imprisons all supernatural beings."
"But considering it a demon responsible for granting the wish, I can somewhat understand now."
Hearing Luo Shu finish his explanation, Natsuki Minamiya's face immediately twisted in bitterness:
"You knew all of this?!"
Natsuki Minamiya had originally thought that Luo Shu had learned about her from people who had crossed over from her world to this world. She never expected Luo Shu would even know about her dream of a utopia with racial harmony.
This was something only Natsuki Minamiya herself knew - not even her former best friend, who became her enemy, was aware of it. How did Luo Shu find out?
At this thought, Natsuki's face twitched slightly as she looked at Luo Shu with great discomfort, particularly staring at his hand.
If she wasn't mistaken, there should be an Abyss Artefact called Demon Heart on it - one specifically designed to hypnotise women.
"You couldn't possibly have..."
"Couldn't have what?"
Luo Shu smiled and countered, even raising his hand deliberately to show the Demon Heart ring on his finger:
"Could it be that Natsuki-chan thought I'd hypnotised you before? To extract all your secrets?"
Natsuki Minamiya immediately shut her mouth. Though she didn't say it, her unnatural expression made it clear that was exactly what she'd suspected.
Luo Shu looked at her with a strange expression:
"Natsuki-chan, do you have some misunderstanding about your own charm?"
"Huh?"
Before Natsuki could react, Luo Shu teased:
"If I'd successfully hypnotised you, Natsuki, do you think your stomach would still be this flat?"
Lacus couldn't keep a straight face upon hearing this.
Natsuki Minamiya spat out a curse, her face red as she glared at Luo Shu:
"Pervert!"
As she spoke, she subconsciously touched her stomach, as if she already carried Luo Shu's child inside.
After hurriedly confirming she was still untouched, Natsuki sighed in relief and rolled her eyes at Luo Shu.
Damn it, had she been too lenient with this guy, letting him provoke her like this?
Facing Natsuki's accusation, Luo Shu merely quipped:
"I didn't say anything - those were all your own wild thoughts."
Natsuki was speechless.
But she had to admit one thing - if Luo Shu had hypnotised her, given his personality, he absolutely would have done such things.
No, this guy might as well have said outright that if he'd successfully hypnotised her, he'd have made her a mother.
"Fine, let's temporarily set aside your inexplicable sources of information."
Natsuki took a deep breath before asking Luo Shu seriously:
"So, your bargaining chip to recruit me is helping me break free from the prison barrier's restraints?"
"No, merely breaking free wouldn't be worth all this effort from me."
"Then what are you...?" Natsuki looked puzzled.
At this, Luo Shu curled his lips into a smile:
"Let's scam the demon!"