Tokyo Detective Chronicles

The campfire crackled softly, sparks flew, tracing tiny arcs in the darkness before going out.

Fushimi stood in front of the filing cabinet for a long time without moving; the cassette recorder had stopped turning.

He realized that what he was hearing might be the story of a cult's decades-long sacrifices... from the dying old people and death row inmates to unborn fetuses, and finally... to living children.

From Isaac in the Bible to Iphigenia in Greek mythology, and from folklore around the world, children are symbols of innocence, the future, and untaintedness in almost every culture.

The souls of the elderly and death row inmates are too impure; using them too much would pollute the ritual.

An unborn fetus does not possess a complete soul, therefore no matter how pure and clean it may be, it cannot serve as a complete substitute...

He then played several more tapes with earlier numbers.

The sound is noisy, the tapes are old, and the content is even more fragmented, but it is still possible to vaguely discern that at least two male and one female voices appeared in these tapes as recorders or reporters.

Through the fragmented and incomplete information, Fushimi learned that these three people had all been owners of this office and also administrators of this outer area of ​​the Tokoyomi...

This greatly surprised Fushimi; even the outer perimeter administrators of Tokoyo were actually human.

This completely violated the common rules he knew.

Generally speaking, even if the Lord of the Eternal World chooses a target as his agent in the Eternal World...

Those are usually powerful spirits, monsters, or beings twisted by obsession.

How can humans, especially living humans, exist and maintain a certain order in such a place for a long time?

Until he picked up the tape numbered "018".

"...The orphanage has been taken care of. All thirty-seven children are qualified. The transportation channels have also been established, and they will be transported in in three batches without attracting attention."

Another voice asked, "Will any of these children be to the Lord's satisfaction?"

"..."

"I have no idea……"

It was a woman's voice, very young, but her tone was numb and calm.

Fushimi frowned.

This voice... sounds familiar.

He listened to it again.

Then a third time.

Finally, he remembered... it was Dr. Hoshino's voice.

He was at least ten years younger than when he saw him in the hospital, and his tone was calmer, lacking that neurotic sharpness.

And just as Dr. Hoshino's voice came from the tape recorder...

"Hmm!"

The little girl who had been dozing off by the campfire suddenly stood up.

Her eyes widened, and she looked sharply toward the door... as if she thought the sound was coming from there.

Upon realizing it wasn't true, she turned her head in confusion, her gaze falling on the tape recorder in Fushimi's hand.

The girl, whose language skills were originally so poor that they were practically nonexistent, opened her mouth, uttering indistinct syllables. After several attempts, she finally managed to squeeze out a single word:

"Mother."

Her voice was very soft, as if it were restricted to producing only single syllables...

Fushimi was stunned.

He looked down at the cassette tape in his hand, then looked up at the little girl, and his eyes gradually widened.

A conjecture inevitably popped into Fushimi's mind.

He immediately stepped forward, picked up the little bit of water left over from wiping Miyazawa Rin's body, soaked a relatively clean cloth, and walked to the little girl.

The little girl hadn't quite caught on yet and stared at him blankly.

Fushimi squatted down, gently supporting the back of her head with one hand, and used the other hand to wipe her face with a damp cloth.

His movements weren't gentle; he wasn't exactly a gentle person to begin with...

"Huh?!"

The little girl was startled and immediately began to flail her little hands, like a kitten that had been suddenly grabbed, making protesting noises and trying to push Fushimi's hand away.

The grime on her face was so thick that Fushimi scrubbed it a little too hard.

"Don't move."

Fushimi's voice was flat, but his movements unconsciously became softer, avoiding her eyes.

The little girl couldn't struggle, so she had no choice but to puff out her cheeks and let Fushimi do whatever he wanted to her face.

On the bed, Miyazawa Rin had actually been awake for a while and was secretly peeking through a crack in her eye.

Seeing this, she wondered to herself... What's going on now? Could it be some kind of unusual fetish...?

But she was weak all over, her wounds were still hurting, and more importantly, she hadn't figured out how to face Fushimi, so she decided to continue pretending to be asleep, though her eyelashes were trembling violently.

The dirt was wiped away little by little.

The fair skin underneath was exposed.

Fushimi then lifted his relatively clean inner lining and wiped the water droplets from her face.

Then, he cupped the little girl's clean face in his hands and examined her closely.

The firelight illuminated her features, highlighting her fluttering eyelashes and slightly wrinkled nose. Fushimi gently rubbed her cheeks with his fingers, then pinched her chin, looking her over from left to right.

After the dirt was removed, a pale but delicate face was revealed.

Her skin appeared pale due to prolonged lack of sunlight and malnutrition, but her features were delicate and refined, with light eyebrows, long eyelashes, a straight nose, and soft, light pink lips.

Fushimi unconsciously pinched her soft cheek with his fingertips.

His movements stopped.

This face... is clearly a miniature version of Hayakawa Chiho.

Fushimi suddenly remembered something Hayakawa Chiho had mentioned when she was at his house... her younger sister who was receiving treatment abroad...

He released his grip and took a half-step back.

The little girl rubbed her cheeks, which had been pinched red, and looked at him in confusion.

"Do you have a name?" Fushimi asked.

The little girl opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only made a soft "ah...ah..." sound and nodded.

Fushimi rephrased the question: "Is your surname Hayakawa?"

The girl tilted her head and shook it blankly.

Fushimi was somewhat surprised, but then he asked:

"So... your surname is Hoshino?"

This time, the girl's eyes suddenly lit up.

She nodded vigorously, her dirty hair swaying as she grabbed Fushimi's sleeve with her small hands, as if eager to confirm something.

Fushimi was silent for a few seconds, then let out a long breath.

It turned out to be the case.

"Then from now on, I'll call you Hoshino."

As Fushimi spoke, his voice softened slightly, and he reached out to ruffle her hair.

Kohoshino didn't seem to mind the way she was addressed, or rather, she probably didn't care what Fushimi called her.

She simply tilted her head back and obediently let him rub her head.

Fushimi withdrew his hand, got up and walked to the bed, touching Miyazawa Rin's forehead with the back of his hand... The temperature had indeed dropped a lot, it seemed that the talisman and medicine had worked.

Miyazawa Rin kept her eyes tightly closed, her lips pressed together, and her eyelashes trembling.

He had, of course, noticed long ago that the woman was already awake.

Fushimi dragged a reasonably intact chair from the side, placed it by the campfire, sat down, and, his gaze fixed on Miyazawa Rin, spoke in a calm tone:

"Now that you're awake, let's talk, Ms. Miyazawa."

I can't keep up the act anymore.

Miyazawa Rin's throat bobbed, and she reluctantly opened her eyes slowly, her gaze unfocused, not daring to look directly at Fushimi, her face flushed slightly by the firelight.

Just then, Kohoshino also noticed that Miyazawa Rin had woken up.

She ran to the bedside, stood on tiptoe, and mimicked Fushimi's earlier gesture, reaching out her little hand to carefully touch Miyazawa Rin's forehead before giving her a joyful smile.

Touched by the child's soft little hand, Miyazawa Rin's last bit of embarrassment and awkwardness was suddenly shattered.

She couldn't help but smile, and reached out to gently touch Hoshino's face, which had just been wiped clean.

"Thank you for taking care of me these past few days... Hoshino."

She spoke in a hoarse voice, without any pretense or exaggerated performance, and used the title naturally.

Then, she turned her gaze to Fushimi by the fire, trying to make her expression appear more serious:

"Thank you for saving me, Mr. Fushimi."

She paused, seemingly choosing a form of address.

"Do you know my name?"

Fushimi's expression didn't change much, but Miyazawa Rin felt an invisible pressure.

As expected, the Special Affairs Division took notice of the train incident, and his file had likely already been archived. Fushimi understood; this wasn't surprising, but it confirmed his suspicions.

Miyazawa Rin nodded, neither denying nor explaining in detail, as her mind was still a little foggy.

Suddenly, Hoshino remembered something. She reached into the inside pocket of her oversized leather jacket and rummaged around until she pulled out the milk chocolate that she had been so reluctant to finish and had carefully rewrapped in tin foil.

She carefully peeled off the foil, revealing the chocolate that was still mostly inside, then held it up and offered it to Miyazawa Rin's lips.

Hoshino remembers that this older sister always refused to eat the monsters' flesh, and even when she was starving, she would only eat the mushrooms that Hoshino found.

Therefore, when they obtained other food from Fushimi, their first thought was of the weakened Miyazawa Rin.

That's why she returned the half-finished water to Fushimi, but not the leftover chocolate.

She could find water, but the food Miyazawa ate wasn't readily available everywhere; even those mushrooms weren't easy to find...

Fushimi raised an eyebrow slightly as he watched this scene.

He remembered that the little guy had clearly been craving chocolate, but had only eaten a small piece before carefully putting it away. So... he was thinking of saving it for Miyazawa Rin?

Looking into Hoshino's eyes, which were pure and full of expectation, Miyazawa Rin was stunned.

Immediately, a strong feeling of sorrow and emotion welled up in my eyes, and my eyes instantly reddened.

Tears welled up uncontrollably and slid down my cheeks.

"fool……"

She said softly, her voice choked with emotion, "You eat it yourself..."

Hoshino stubbornly held up the chocolate and pushed it forward a little further.

Miyazawa Rin hurriedly raised her hand to wipe away her tears, but the more she wiped, the more tears flowed: "How... how could there be such a good child like you..."

Hoshino seemed startled by her sudden tears; her little hand holding the chocolate froze in mid-air, looking somewhat helpless.

Then, as if she suddenly realized something...

This chocolate was given to her by Fushimi. How could she give it to someone else without permission?

She quickly turned around and looked at Fushimi, her big eyes filled with questioning and a little unease, as if seeking his permission or apologizing for her presumptuous decision.

Fushimi sighed silently as he looked at her cautious demeanor.

He took out some bottled water and compressed food from the shadows and placed them by the bedside.

Then he reached out and gently pinched Hoshino's wrist, which was holding the chocolate, and pushed the chocolate back to her mouth.

"How can someone recovering from a serious illness eat this kind of thing... Go away."

Hoshino blinked, looked at the chocolate near her mouth, then at Fushimi, as if she understood something.

Her small shoulders relaxed, and she obediently said "Oh," taking a small bite of chocolate. She walked to the other side of the bed, sat down against the edge, hugged her knees, and stared blankly at the campfire.

Miyazawa Rin's tears had not completely stopped.

Ignoring her emotional turmoil, Fushimi picked up a bottle of water, unscrewed it, and then opened a pack of compressed biscuits.

Miyazawa Rin took the food, thanked her softly, and sipped the water and ate the dry biscuits, which made her feel like she had regained some strength.

After she had almost finished eating, Fushimi spoke again, his tone calm:

"Tell me, what do you know...?"

Fushimi made her stance clear: the two of them were now in the same boat, and if she still worried about the Special Affairs Section's confidentiality agreement, they might both die in the Mortal World.

Of course, there was an element of intimidation in his words, but he wouldn't stoop to saying things like, "I saved you, so you have to tell me."

Miyazawa Rin took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

She felt that she was incredibly lucky...

"I don't know much... but I'll tell you everything."

Miyazawa Rin never cared about that damn treaty from beginning to end; she was about to die anyway, so who cared about this or that?

She began to recount her story from the beginning, starting with noticing the commotion Fushimi was causing on the train, and then moving on from the monster to the Creation Cult...

"A religion of creation?"

Fushimi caught the key words: Creation Cult... Life Master...

Immediately afterwards, Miyazawa Rin told Fushimi everything she knew about the Creation Cult.

Fushimi had noticed the name in those cult files before, but there was so little information about it that it didn't become the primary suspect.

As he pondered, he stared blankly at Miyazawa Rin.

Although she was covered by a blanket, she wasn't wearing anything underneath... Miyazawa Rin couldn't help but feel embarrassed and wrapped herself tighter in the blanket.

And what remains to be done is...

Because of her special psychic ability [Reappearance], she was temporarily assigned to a reconnaissance team of three Level 1 field agents, tasked with infiltrating a mortal node suspected of being related to the Creation Cult to conduct an investigation.

Then, as soon as they entered, the team was broken up due to the rules of this world, and she lost contact with her teammates.

He fell into this eerie pool area alone, was injured by monsters, and after desperately killing several, his wounds became infected. Finally, he was found by Hoshino, who was out foraging for food, and brought back to this room...

This is pretty much what Fushimi guessed.

As for the fate of those three combat specialists at level one, he clearly didn't have the ability to worry about them. However, being rated as level one meant they couldn't be too weak...

Bless yourself.

"So what are your psychic abilities?"

Miyazawa Rin touched her still slightly feverish forehead, and made no attempt to hide it.

If she wanted to return to the real world, she could only rely on this high school student who was much younger than her but gave her a very reliable and dependable feeling.

"【Reproduction】is a relatively rare auxiliary spiritual ability. Under certain conditions, it can rewind and display scenes that occurred at a certain location over a period of time in the past. These scenes could be recent events or moments when significant changes occurred..."

It actually has such a useful ability?

Fushimi was somewhat taken aback, but he understood.

No wonder she was able to be rated as a Level 2 Specialist with such strength... It is indeed a very powerful spiritual ability.

The Special Affairs Section must be frantic with worry over her disappearance...

Seeing that she had just recovered from her fever and looked drowsy, Fushimi didn't ask any more questions, since there was still plenty of time ahead.

He took out a uniquely shaped watch with six hands, three black and three white, moving slowly along a complex trajectory.

These represent the flow of time in the present world and the current eternal world, respectively.

The black pointer representing the present time has only passed ten minutes... while the three white pointers representing the current time in the mortal world... are in a state of slight trembling stillness.

Time seems to stand still here.

Thinking about it this way, Hoshino's age issue can also be explained...

Having gone through so much, Fushimi, feeling slightly exhausted, covered the room with talismans, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and began to recover the spiritual energy depleted from the continuous battles.

Little Hoshino watched him for a while, then quietly moved closer to him, and imitated him by closing her eyes, though her little hands nervously clutched the hem of her clothes.

After eating and drinking, the effects of the medicine and her fatigue surged up, and she gradually drifted into a semi-conscious state.

Only the faint sound of the campfire burning and the three people's even breathing remained in the room.

Time, in this stagnant dimension, seems to have lost its meaning.

I don't know how much time passed.

"Thump."

"Knock knock".

A rhythmic knocking sound suddenly came from outside the dark red wooden door.