Chapter 146 Chapter 146 It seems to be laughing.

Although they didn't witness the truth of some things firsthand, it was enough for Tsukino and Chiya to deduce the general facts.

Without a doubt, Aurora is just as wicked as that doll monster from Kujo Mansion... Is it really true that they are of the same kind?

Not long has it been since Aurora's "death." Referring to the circumstances of the doll's "death" at the Kujo Mansion, Tsukino and Chiya deduce that Aurora's "resurrection" is still some time away. In other words, all the unnatural phenomena they encountered after exiting the elevator were not caused by the "dead" Aurora.

Everything here is likely a scene from the past that the unknown red-haired dolls wanted them to see.

It is inferred that most of its power has been consumed by Aurora. This explains why Aurora displays such incredible power.

Peeking into the future, the resentment and obsession stemming from deaths that occur in the future are brought into the present timeline, giving rise to the bizarre, even…

Tsukino and Chiya looked at Ohma Kokichi.

He didn't try to hide his gaze, looking straight ahead, and soon received an innocent look in return from Wang Ma Xiaoji. The two exchanged a glance, and then went inside together before the door closed again.

After they came in, Kazuko Sakuraba closed the door.

She is merely a projection from the past, simply doing what she did in the past. In other words, Tsukino, Chiya, and the other two cannot truly connect with the projection of the past, and this shadow of the past cannot see them either.

If they hadn't entered in time, they would most likely have been locked out.

The room was brightly lit, and the closed door shut out the unusual darkness and thick fog outside.

Of course, the darkness and fog only applied to the three of them.

"Wow—this is incredible!" After entering the house, Wang Ma Xiaoji looked around—they had been to this house more than once, but the purple-haired boy still exclaimed in amazement, "This is a completely new experience even for an evil mastermind like me!"

"What do you mean?" Higashigo Mimi's voice drifted over lightly. Nothing the three of them said would hinder the doll and the girl who were recreating the past.

At that moment, the doll instantly teleported to the sofa in the living room. Sakuraba Kazuko, who had just returned from school, smiled and slowly walked towards the sofa.

Miya Higashi followed. Tsukino, Chiya, and Ouma Kokichi remained standing at the doorway.

"You mean the situation in the room?" Wang Ma Xiaoji said cheerfully. "Finally, there's a time when I don't need a flashlight. It's really rare for the lights to stay on in a room during such a paranormal event. I was used to all the lights in the rooms just being for show."

But that's not all.

When Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi arrived here before, all they saw was an abandoned shrine where the priest's family lived, empty and lifeless. But now... everything looks so warm and beautiful, almost unreal... but it's not reality, after all.

However, even if what she was seeing now wasn't reality, it was undoubtedly a scene that had truly happened in the past. Kazuko Sakuraba had already come to the sofa and was snuggling up to the unknown doll. The girl took out a magazine she had bought at the bookstore on her way home from her backpack, which she had already put down, and introduced it to the doll, sharing the exquisite free gifts included.

A short while later, the free gifts were neatly placed on the sofa. Kazuko Sakuraba opened a magazine and began reading it with the doll.

Perhaps it was because Sakuraba Kazuko's smile was so gentle and friendly, or perhaps it was because the doll's craftsmanship was so exquisite that it was indistinguishable from a real person. For a moment, Tsukino and Chiya thought that what they saw before them was really just two girls snuggling together, very close.

"That's quite a clever tactic."

Wang Ma Xiaoji pulled out a chair from the dining table at some point, sat down, and started making comments while watching the activity on the sofa.

"Some of these methods are indeed quite old-fashioned, but they become old-fashioned precisely because they are effective, so everyone likes to use them. Now it seems that the same applies to dolls."

Instead of finding a seat, Tsukino and Chiya casually found a spot and leaned against the wall, thinking for a moment: "But it's rare to see you use those methods that might be considered 'old-fashioned,' Ohma."

Even with "old-fashioned" methods, Ouma Kokichi always manages to find an unexpected twist. But that's probably one of the things that makes him interesting to Chiya.

"Hehe, if everyone used the same tricks to do bad things, how boring would that be? The world needs some original bad ideas to make a dull life more interesting... That's what my classmates all think! I'm always bringing something new to everyone's lives, so I'm the most popular student in the class!"

Wang Ma Xiaoji sat backwards in the chair, his hands resting on the back of the chair, tilting his head to look at the two shadows of the past on the sofa.

Miya Higashigore: "After you said that last sentence, did you even believe it yourself?"

Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Hehe, why don't you believe me? I hate lying the most, so every word I say is the absolute truth. Right, Xiaoyueye?"

Tsukino and Chiya: "Um, it's like this... right?"

The sound of pages turning came from the book, followed by the sound of two "people" quietly discussing what they had just seen in the magazine.

They were talking about everyday things. At this moment, the atmosphere around the two girls on the sofa, as well as Tsukino and Chiya, seemed very comfortable. If they hadn't just passed through a dark fog not long ago, they might have really thought it was just a peaceful evening after school.

But none of this was ever possible. Even the moment when this projection of the past actually unfolded was destined to make that afternoon anything but peaceful.

because……

"Do you think this is its last bit of power?"

The two people reading over there didn't make any new moves for the time being, so Higashigo Mimi, Tsukino, and Chiya weren't so nervous as to keep staring at the sofa. So when Ohma Kokichi asked a question, he successfully received two pairs of eyes looking at him.

The purple-haired boy shrugged. "Everyone has their own expertise. I'm the mastermind of evil, not a supernatural expert. When I encountered murder cases before, I always cooperated with the detectives, you know? So, in this situation, it's more humbly appropriate to ask you two... oh, one expert, isn't that right?"

He surprisingly remembered that Tsukino and Chiya had emphasized more than once that "I am not an expert on paranormal events."

Wang Ma Xiaoji continued, "According to our speculation, Aurora devoured the power of another doll... the one whose name we don't know, and disguised herself as it. Then she lived with the Sakuraba family as a doll, and then suddenly... So it's a common but really effective tactic."

It turns out that keeping a diary does have some benefits.

The puppet's acting... while indeed quite good, wasn't exactly flawless. The head of the Sakuraba family at the time noticed something amiss, and just in case, he recorded these events—a way of leaving clues for anyone who might investigate should he encounter any misfortune in the future.

Then, Tsukino and Chiya, who were investigating based on the information given by the detective they met in Yokohama, successfully found this clue.

“However, that’s not the point,” Wang Ma Xiaoji said. “What I’m more curious about is…”

"Is it about the fact that 'the dolls I ate still have the power to let you see things from the past'?"

This is a voice that shouldn't have suddenly appeared in this conversation.

The three of them looked at the sofa together.

Time seemed to stand still on the sofa. Kazuko Sakuraba froze in the act of turning a page, her fingers already on the page, halfway through. Her eyes remained fixed, unblinking, staring blankly at the book in her hands.

The doll that had just spoken and joined the conversation between the three remained nestled beside the girl.

But it raised its head and looked straight at... the location where Wangma Xiaoji, who had been speaking earlier, was.

The doll's face was expressionless, and its voice was flat, but at a certain moment, Tsukino and Chiya felt as if it were laughing.