Tokyo Detective Chronicles

In the spacious Japanese-style dining room, only two sets of tableware were set on the long table.

Kanata Morikawa sat in the main seat, Aoi Morikawa sat to his right, while Yui stood a little distance behind Kanata, ready to serve him at any time.

As a professional maid, Yui stood upright with her hands folded in front of her, her eyelids slightly lowered, and her breathing soft and gentle, almost blending into the environment of the room.

If you don't look for her intentionally, it's easy to overlook her existence.

Dinner was quite lavish, with each dish carefully arranged in ceramic ware.

However, Morikawa Kanata only took a few symbolic bites of each dish. His sense of taste had deteriorated so much that most of the food tasted like chewing wax.

But in front of Aoi Morikawa, she will try her best to appear normal and healthy, eating slowly and deliberately, occasionally commenting on the dishes, and talking about lighthearted topics.

But the girl was clearly distracted.

She always held the teddy bear that Fushimi had given her, and even placed it on the seat next to her while eating.

She has clearly transformed from a middle school student into an elementary school girl.

If the girls at school who fawn over Morikawa Aoi all day long, seeing her as an unattainable beauty and an ice princess, saw this, they would probably be shocked.

Morikawa Kanata found her sister's expression somewhat amusing.

He rested his chin on the back of his hands, his pinkish-white eyes filled with laughter: "Xiao Kui."

"Um?"

Aoi Morikawa looked up, having just taken a bite of half a piece of grilled salmon.

What is your opinion of Fushimi Iori?

"puff--!"

Aoi Morikawa almost spat out the fish.

She quickly covered her mouth, swallowed with difficulty, and then her entire face turned red at a visible speed.

"Brother, why are you suddenly asking this?"

"It means exactly what it says."

With a smile, she said, "Didn't Iori come to see you today? She even brought a gift. How did your chat go?"

"It was just a normal chat."

Morikawa Aoi lowered her face and continued eating her dinner, her voice muffled: "Brother Iori asked me for help with something, and I agreed... That's all."

"Oh..." Kagashira drawled, "Did he see you in the room?"

silence.

A silence that lasted ten seconds.

Aoi Morikawa's eyes suddenly turned resentful: "Brother...did you already know?"

"What do you know?" the other party feigned ignorance.

"Knowing that Iori-nii was coming, he deliberately made me embarrass myself in front of him!"

"Oops, we've been found out."

She smiled without a trace of guilt: "But I heard from Yui that you two seem to be getting along quite well?"

Aoi Morikawa fell silent.

She grabbed the teddy bear and buried her face in it, leaving only her bright red ears showing.

Yui stood quietly to the side, a slight smile playing on her lips.

After a long while, Morikawa Aoi said in an almost inaudible voice, "...Iori-nii said that you look cuter like this today."

"puff."

He laughed out loud: "I didn't expect him to speak human language occasionally."

He paused, then softened his tone: "Xiao Kui, have you been avoiding him for the past six months?"

Aoi Morikawa's body stiffened for a moment.

"……Um."

Why?

Aoi Morikawa fell silent.

Her fingers gripped the teddy bear's fur tightly, her knuckles turning white.

My memory goes back to six months ago.

That day, she went to her brother to discuss the school's cultural festival, needing the family's help to order a batch of decorative flowers at cost price.

Since the other party wasn't in the study, she went in to wait for him herself.

While waiting, she inadvertently noticed that the desk drawer was not fully closed, revealing a corner of yellowed paper.

Out of curiosity, she took it out and glanced at it.

That was a marriage contract.

The paper was old and yellowed, clearly quite old, but the writing on it was still clear.

The top part reads "Marriage Agreement between the Morikawa and Fushimi Families," and below are some clauses, roughly stating that the eldest daughter of the Morikawa family and the eldest son of the Fushimi family will marry upon reaching adulthood, and so on.

The date on the document was over twenty years ago, clearly set by the siblings' father.

Her first reaction was confusion.

The eldest daughter of the Morikawa family clearly refers to herself.

As for Fushimi?

Who is that?

The surname sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it.

Immediately afterward, Aoi Morikawa's face darkened, and she subconsciously planned to tear up and burn the marriage contract; she didn't want to marry a stranger.

But the more she thought about the marriage contract, the more uneasy she felt, and she saw that a small tear had already been made in it.

Where exactly did I hear this surname before...?

Then it suddenly dawned on me...

Yui addresses Iori's older brother as... Lord Fushimi!

Because Morikawa Kanata always called Fushimi Iori, Morikawa Aoi naturally followed suit and started calling him Iori-nii (older brother), completely unaware of his surname.

In that instant, shame, panic, and helplessness overwhelmed her.

He hurriedly smoothed out the slightly creased paper she had crumpled, then stuffed the marriage contract back into the drawer like a thief, before fleeing the study.

From then on, every time she saw Fushimi, she would think of that marriage contract.

So Morikawa Aoi started avoiding Fushimi.

She dared not look him in the eye, dared not call him Iori-nii-nii-san as naturally as before, and dared not even be alone with him.

Until today, he exposed my truest self.

"I'm stuffed!"

The more Morikawa Aoi recalled the memory, the more embarrassed she became. She quickly got up and fled the restaurant, hugging her teddy bear and running back to her room.

Looking at her like this, Morikawa Kanata's pink and white eyes were full of tenderness, and then a little tired.

He felt he should really force Fushimi to stay for dinner today.

but……

Maybe next time.

There will always be an opportunity.

……

PM: 5:00

The time of descent into demonhood.

In the small courtyard of the Fushimi family, Karin, unusually, put away her playful and carefree demeanor. Although her expression was obscured by bandages, her tone was unusually serious.

She explained in detail to the monsters what needed to be investigated.

"Did you understand?" Huali tilted her head.

The monsters looked at each other, then nodded. If Lord Fushimi considered something serious, it must be something extremely important!

"Go."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figures in the courtyard disappeared like the receding tide.

Those weak yokai, earthbound spirits, and tsukumogami who had received favors or discipline from Fushimi Iori, or who wanted to curry favor with him, all sprang into action and spread the story by word of mouth.

Thus, a highly efficient intelligence network centered on Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo and radiating to the surrounding areas was activated...

……

Late at night, in a general hospital's staff rest room.

The relationship between the young resident physician Matsumoto and nurse Misaki is no secret in the hospital.

The atmosphere in the cramped lounge was heating up.

White coats lay scattered to the side, and Misaki was left only in a bra. She bit her lip and reached behind her back. Dr. Matsumoto, breathing heavily and murmuring sweet nothings, rushed forward to help her undress.

"Hmph, you bad guy."

"Misaki, I..."

Just as the two began to whisper sweet nothings to each other, a strange gust of wind blew open the locked window.

The next moment, Misaki suddenly froze, her eyes instantly losing focus. When she came to her senses again, her eyes had changed.

She felt the strange sensation beneath her and clicked her tongue in disgust.

Then he suddenly shoved Matsumoto off him with astonishing force.

"?"

Dr. Matsumoto was caught off guard and almost fell, his face still showing signs of confusion and infatuation.

Misaki quickly got up, completely ignoring Matsumoto's naked body and her own half-naked state, and walked straight out the door.

"Mi-Misaki? Where are you going?"

Matsumoto panicked, hurriedly put on his white coat, grabbed her clothes, and chased after her.

In the corridor, patients and the few nurses on the night shift saw Nurse Misaki, disheveled and with a blank stare, walking quickly toward the archives, followed by Dr. Matsumoto, whose face was flushed and who was trying to wrap her in his coat.

"Misaki, calm down! Put your clothes on quickly!"

But what awaited him was Misaki's lightning-fast elbow strike, which slammed violently into Matsumoto's abdomen.

He painfully knelt on the ground, openly exposing his bare lower body to the patients and nurses who had gathered behind him, causing screams to erupt.

Misaki seized the opportunity to grab the key card and swipe it to open the door to the archives...

The next day, the two were severely criticized in a public notice, and amidst the strange looks from their colleagues and patients, they both resigned shortly afterward.

……

In a 24-hour pharmacy, a clerk was absentmindedly flipping through the recent ledgers. No matter what a customer wanted to buy, he would toss them a box of condoms...

Late at night at the funeral home, an elderly administrator who had worked there his entire life and was nearing retirement was patrolling as usual when he noticed the light in the archives room was still on. He went inside, puzzled.

The computer is automatically checking recent death certificates...

They were so frightened that they accelerated their retirement.

Such incidents occurred quietly in various inconspicuous corners of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward over the next 24 hours.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Paranormal Forum, which had been quiet for many years, experienced an unusual surge in traffic, with a large number of posts suddenly appearing, as if many new ghost stories had been born overnight.