For another two hours, Riveria kept trying things out and no matter how enjoyable things were, it'd eventually tire someone out if done repeatedly in quick succession. After sweeping almost a quarter of their inventory and some other things, Kisuke paid for all of it and asked for it to be delivered to a Belial-owned building.
Riveria changed back to the first outfit she'd tried on and exited the store feeling refreshed, albeit, a bit hungry.
Kisuke took her to a family restaurant and let her choose whatever she wanted. Of course, Riveria only has the slightest idea of what's on the menu and carefully pointed out a few things. While she did enjoy most of it, there are a few misses for her.
Riveria originally planned to hear out what Kisuke had to say, but she had already momentarily forgotten about that as new and intriguing things kept appearing in her sights. The ever-dignified Vice-Captain of the Loki Familia had already disappeared and was seemingly replaced by a child who was curious about everything.
Kisuke, on the other hand, guided her through the whole commercial district and patiently answered each and every single one of her inquiries... While secretly recording all of her interesting interactions and reactions to the modern age, 'I'll apologize to her later, but I'm definitely selling this to Loki.'
A little later, Kisuke and Riveria reached the park, with the latter carrying various snacks waiting to be sampled. They found a free table and Riveria started lining up the snacks and carefully evaluating each and every one of them. Compared to Orario, the number of different snacks offered by just walking a hundred meters on the streets was already several times greater. Since Kisuke was paying, Riveria was doing her best to get back at him for all the suffering he'd caused her.
It'd only be later that Riveria would find out that Kisuke had gotten something far more valuable than money.
But five minutes into taste testing, Riveria finally couldn't hold back anymore and said, "...Say."
"Hmmm?" Kisuke absentmindedly replied while picking some food for himself.
"...That's Aika, isn't it?" Riveria glanced in a certain direction and found Aika pacing around more than a hundred meters away from them, "She has been following us since earlier, so why isn't she approaching us? Is she misunderstanding something? I can't even call out to her since she's so far."
"You could ignore her for now. We're technically strangers since I've erased her memories about us."
"You what!? Wait... You can do that?"
"Of course. Freya-sama could do it with ease too."
Riveria's face became blank as she munched on a mochi, "Right... I almost forgot about that. But in my defense, you showed us something much more ridiculous that when I thought back to the instance of us losing our memories, it looked like it's a fleeting dream... To think such Magic like memory erasure exists... I couldn't have imagined it back then."
"It's actually easier than it looks. If it's erasing memories, that is indeed hard, but making your target forget their own memories instead is a lot easier and safer."
"Even if you explain it to me like that, I won't be able to understand it. I'll save it for when I actually start learning Magic."
"My~ You make it sound like you don't know how to use Magic at all."
"Compared to you lot? Of course I don't. But that's a whole lot better than thinking that I can." Riveria sighed at her own inadequacy, but Kisuke could also feel her excitement toward the new horizon, "Enough about me. What happened between you and Aika for her to end up like that? If it's something sensitive, then forget it. I'm just making small talk."
"...You've probably already noticed it, but Magic doesn't 'exist' here."
Riveria stayed quiet. She was also very surprised that a world that uses amazing technology doesn't have any traces of Magic Power, no matter how much she examined them like an idiot.
"Unlike your world, this world is mostly peaceful with no monsters threatening anyone's livelihood. Most people could live their entire lives oblivious to violence or not even have any life-threatening situations. The same people think that Magic only exists in their fantasies and Aika was a part of them until she got dragged into the world of mystery because of my own curiosity.
"You have not seen it yet, but this part of the world is very dangerous, even compared with your own world."
"How dangerous?" Riveria curiously asked.
"Gods of this world aren't weaker than your Gods, but in contrast, our Gods are capable of wielding their strength anywhere without any limitations. Just a few of them can destroy this world with ease if no one fights against them."
Riveria stopped chewing as cold sweat covered her back, "...That's really dangerous."
"Of course. And I just opened the door to that kind of danger for a normal citizen like Aika. Although she has what it takes to survive in this kind of world, it's still my responsibility that she's there in the first place."
"If I'm understanding it correctly, you 'kicked her out' of this world?"
"Well, something like that."
Riveria grabbed the milk tea and took a sip from it before saying, "It's not really my place to say anything since I don't know any of her or your struggles, but may I say something?"
"Please go ahead."
"You're scum."
"I know."
"...I never imagined that you'd deny it, but I also never thought that you'd readily admit to it."
"It's a truth that I'm aware of so there's no point in denying it."
Riveria became quiet once again and looked down at her drink. The cold and refreshing wind blew, but Aika's glances at them never let up.
"You're scum."
"Hey hey. Even though I admit it, there's no need to emphasize it further. You're hurting my feelings here."
But Riveria just snorted at him, "As if something like that could hurt you." Riveria then intentionally met Aika's eyes with her own and the latter immediately avoided it, "However, it's undoubtedly also the result of your kindness. You wouldn't have done this if you don't care about her at all."
"Hmm? What's this? Comforting me now?"
"It's because I think you don't receive enough of it. Just be grateful for the charity I'm giving to you."
"My~ my~. As expected of the Loki Familia's 'Mama'."
Kisuke had to heal Riveria's toes because her kick to his shin ended up backfiring magnificently.