— — — — — —
Blocked at the doorway, Ryo looked at Shiroyasha's dark expression and immediately protested.
"Hold on, I haven't even stepped inside yet. You haven't even offered me tea, and you're already asking where Algol is? And... You're asking me? ME? How would I know? I'm not some walking intelligence network."
That only made Shiroyasha's face darken further.
She instinctively raised her fan, clearly wanting to smack him over the head, but after considering that Ryo's skull was probably harder than her fan, she decided against it for the fan's sake.
"Quit playing dumb," she snapped. "If Algol's latest advancement had nothing to do with you, I'll quit being a pervert."
Ryo nodded thoughtfully, then blinked, "...Right. Good for you, I guess. Anyway, what do you mean by Algol advancing?"
"Did Algol reach two digits?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "That doesn't make sense. Little Garden hasn't changed at all."
Whenever a new two-digit existence appeared in Little Garden, it triggered a chain reaction through history itself.
The effects were massive. Every living thing in the Little Garden would feel it.
That was why Ryo immediately used the lack of change as proof against Shiroyasha's claim.
But instead of arguing back, Shiroyasha narrowed her eyes and unfolded her fan, "So you do know something."
Ryo's mouth twitched.
Was she fishing?
At that moment, Shiroyasha stepped aside and returned to the tea table.
Only then did Ryo notice that two cups of tea had already been prepared.
"Sit." She gestured to the seat opposite her, lifted her own cup, and took a slow sip before smiling. "Relax. I'm not going to eat you."
Ryo still couldn't figure out what game she was playing, but he kept his face calm, sat down, and took a sip of tea himself.
Then Shiroyasha smiled again. "If you don't want to talk, I understand. This whole thing is troublesome. If word gets out, it won't be good for anyone."
"Wait, hold it." Ryo immediately cut her off. "When did I say I didn't want to talk? Don't act like I've already confessed everything. I haven't said anything."
"Oh?" Shiroyasha widened her watery eyes, blinking at him.
Her pupils sparkled as though tiny stars had been crammed into them.
"Stop putting suns in your eyes," Ryo complained. "It's blinding."
He took another sip of tea, "I just got back to Little Garden. How would I know what happened?"
"So you did do something outside!" Shiroyasha slammed her fan onto the table and pointed at him dramatically, she'd just declared 'the truth has been revealed.'
Ryo stared at her performance, black lines practically hanging over his head. "I meant the Mars battlefield. Where did you think I was talking about?"
At that, Shiroyasha sat back down, unfolding her fan to cover the lower half of her face, leaving only her crescent-shaped eyes visible. "Cut the act. You think Algol told me nothing? You think Thousand Eyes' intelligence network found nothing?"
That made Ryo's heart skip.
He still couldn't tell how much she actually knew.
Then Shiroyasha casually said, "High School DxD. That's what that world's called, right?"
Ryo's expression changed instantly.
That name was one he had coined.
If she knew that, then she definitely knew something.
He let out a long sigh, "Damn. Thousand Eyes' intel network really is terrifying."
And then Shiroyasha sighed dramatically. "So it really was you."
Ryo froze.
His face stiffened as he stared at her. "Wait. You knew the name High School DxD and you were still guessing whether it was me?"
Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. "Of course. I'm terrible at divination, but Boss isn't. They told me that if you refused to cooperate, I should use that name to lure you in."
"The Twin Goddesses..." Ryo ground his teeth.
Out of everything he'd accounted for, he'd never expected those two to deliberately divine information just to trick him.
But now it made sense.
Back in the DxD world, he'd casually mentioned the words High School DxD plenty of times.
Several upper-ranking demons had heard it. Algol had too.
If the Twin Goddesses focused their divination on Algol's important information, getting that clue wasn't difficult.
It was basically just pulling data from the historical record.
Of course, they probably hadn't found much beyond that. But they'd definitely suspected Ryo first and investigated immediately.
That was why they found it so fast.
"Damn it." Ryo cursed under his breath. "What did I do to deserve being their first suspect?"
"Funny enough," Shiroyasha said with a grin, sliding him a note, "Boss knew you'd say that."
Ryo picked it up and looked.
There was only one line: {If human history changes, catch Ryo Yagami first. Can't go wrong.}
Ryo barked out a laugh.
What was this? Did they think he was some habitual criminal?
He cursed internally, but he didn't dare curse Omega or Alpha out loud.
No chance. In Little Garden, saying their name like that would get you noticed instantly.
And Ryo was not suicidal.
Shiroyasha spread her fan and looked at him with mild reproach. "We go way back, don't we? Are you really that worried we'd leak your secrets?"
"It's not that I'm worried," Ryo said flatly. "It's that you absolutely would leak them."
He knew exactly what Thousand Eyes built their reputation on.
Information dealing. The biggest information brokers in all of Little Garden.
If he trusted their ethics, that would make him the idiot.
Honestly, he was pretty sure some of his basic intel was already being sold at absurd prices. Guaranteed.
"What's with that look?" Shiroyasha rolled her eyes. "Your important information is restricted to me and Boss only, alright?"
"So there are records." Ryo's eyes sharpened dangerously.
Important information? Which meant less important information was still being sold.
To be fair, he didn't blame Shiroyasha for gathering intel. Even if Thousand Eyes didn't do it, someone else would, and then they'd sell it to Thousand Eyes for a profit.
There were too many information merchants in Little Garden. Impossible to stop them all.
The only thing Ryo worried about was a leak from inside Thousand Eyes.
But from the sound of it, only Shiroyasha and the Twin Goddesses knew his truly sensitive data. That was better than he'd expected.
"Fine, I'll delete it." Shiroyasha shrugged helplessly.
She understood how touchy Ryo was about this, so cooperating was easy. Besides, her two bosses had never planned to sell Thousand Eyes' real intel anyway.
If they sold anything, it'd be fake.
And if someone figured out it was fake? Who cared?
As long as Ryo played along and made it look real, that was enough.
Did anyone seriously think Thousand Eyes got rich through honest business?
...
With the intelligence issue settled, Ryo stopped trying to hide things. After a moment of silence, he finally asked, "So what exactly happened in Little Garden? What did Algol do? Did something happen to Olympus?"
At that, Shiroyasha's expression turned strange.
She stared at him for a long moment, making sure he was genuinely asking.
Only then did she answer, her tone oddly complicated, "…For a while, you probably won't be seeing Mount Olympus anymore."
.
.
.