70 Jinjiang Exclusive
◎We went on a date! ◎
72
Half an hour later, as Fyodor instructed, Sigma met him in a secluded park.
Although the Kanto Plain isn't as cold as Siberia, the night wind still makes you shiver. Sigma rubbed his frostbitten nose and asked, "I remember your previous plan was to make the Armed Detective Agency appear as terrorists in everyone's eyes, right?"
“This plan has been abandoned,” Fyodor replied.
"Next, I will use Bram to spread a virus in Port Mafia that can turn people into vampires. As for the detective agency—"
"As long as the Mafia believe that the Detective Agency brought them the virus, they will naturally take the initiative to destroy them for us."
"...!"
It was probably too cold, because Sigma felt his face stiffen, so stiff that he couldn't make any expression, and even his tongue felt frozen.
"Then... how are you going to convince the Port Mafia that the Armed Detective Agency is the one spreading the virus?" Sigma asked, feeling as if his tongue had finally regained its ability to move.
Fyodor did not answer, but simply waved the "pages" he was holding.
"Moreover, we have helpers."
"—'Divine Might'."
With that, he left Sigma behind and disappeared into the night sky.
Even though Fyodor had already walked far away, Sigma was still sitting blankly on the park bench. He didn't know how much time had passed before he slowly got up, went to a 24-hour convenience store, ordered a coffee, and leaned against the store entrance to drink it.
Just before he left the convenience store, he sent Gogol a message, and his phone vibrated to indicate that Gogol should reply.
What are Tuosijun's next plans?
He said it's a secret for now.
Sigma: "...!"
"Really?" he asked, unwilling to give up.
Gogol simply replied, "Even a clown doesn't lie about everything he says."
Did Gogol really not know?
Sigma felt as if the blood in his body had frozen.
So, did Dostoevsky only tell him the news?
This means that if word gets out, he will be the only one suspected. Even if the truth is deduced by someone like Dazai Osamu or Edogawa Ranpo, he will still be suspected.
Perhaps this is indeed Dostoevsky's next plan, or perhaps even the plan itself is a hoax. But one thing is certain—
Dostoevsky wanted to test his loyalty.
Sigma gripped the hot drink in his hand tightly. The coffee seemed to become scalding hot at that moment.
Sigma didn't know where he was going. After slowly finishing his coffee, he looked at the dawn sky and unknowingly arrived downstairs at the detective agency, then went straight into the Whirlpool Cafe.
Clearly...
He had just had his coffee.
"Sigma, Sigma!" Atsushi Nakajima, who was having breakfast with Kyoka Izumi in the whirlpool, was startled by Sigma's sudden intrusion.
Izumi Kyoka didn't react much, but Yasha Shirayuki silently appeared behind her.
Sigma: "..."
"I just came here to get something to eat."
As he spoke, he actually sat down in the seat next to him, and without looking at the menu carefully, he randomly ordered something.
"Mirror Flower Sauce, the tofu soup is still a little hot, eat slowly." He could hear Atsushi Nakajima's concerned voice.
"Speaking of which—" He had already spoken by the time he realized what was happening.
"...?" The boy and girl at the next table cast puzzled glances at them.
"..."
His fingers twisted nervously together, but Sigma still managed to ask the question he really wanted to ask.
"Do you think 'family members' should suspect each other?"
Atsushi Nakajima and Kyoka Izumi exchanged glances, but neither of them spoke up.
That's true...
They are "enemies," so they have no right to answer this question.
Just as Sigma was about to finish eating and leave, Atsushi Nakajima suddenly spoke up.
"What is true family? Perhaps I can't explain it clearly."
"But if you want to know what it feels like to have family around, you might want to take a look at how the detective agency operates."
…………
At seven o'clock in the morning, Kawakami Wakana yawned as she met Fyodor at Shin-Yokohama Station on the Shinkansen.
Originally, Fyodor was wondering if Kawakami Wakana really had ulterior motives.
For example, you could extract information about the "five signs of decay" from him.
For example, this was actually a "luring the tiger away from the mountain" tactic; her real purpose was to do something while he was away from Yokohama.
For example, as long as he is far away, Dazai Osamu can deal with Gogol or Sigma.
But he discovered that this trip to Kansai was actually just a date.
Everything seemed normal on Gogol's side, and Kawakami Wakai really did look like a couple on a date.
On the Shinkansen, she would chatter on and on about how fast it was, then ask Fyodor Lucia if there were any similar express trains, and finally, as if suddenly remembering something, she would ask:
"By the way, Fei Jia, haven't you ever been to Kansai yet?"
“I’m not here to play around,” Fyodor said curtly.
Seeing the girl's suspicious look, he obediently admitted, "At first, I did think about going on a day trip to Japan with Gogol and the others." (1)
Kawakami Ruoyi: "..."
Neon City isn't very big, but it's not so small that you could visit it in a day.
Upon arriving in Osaka, Wakai began to act as a tour guide, introducing Fyodor to the city's famous attractions.
Hmm... it might have been better if I hadn't just read it from a certain Wikipedia page.
But the girl retorted confidently, "I'm not a tour guide."
Moreover, she seemed to have taken his physical condition into consideration, finding places to rest at each attraction and relying mainly on taxis for transportation.
This made Fyodor suddenly feel as if their relationship had returned to the time when they first met in Yokohama.
"Here it is! Authentic Osaka takoyaki!" After getting two plates of takoyaki from the street vendor, Kawakami Wakana handed one of them to Fyodor with a smile.
"Eat as much as you can, because if you can't finish it, I'll take care of you!"
"..."
The two sat on a bench, eating takoyaki and gazing at the sunset that had already appeared in the sky. This made Fyodor feel as if they had really become an ordinary couple.
This scene...
It does resemble the song "Moscow Nights".
But dawn will break sooner or later, and dreams will eventually fade away.
“Hey Neko,” he said, placing the takoyaki on his lap, “so, when you invited me here, did you want to experience what it's like to be in a relationship, or did you want to find that Fei Jia from the old ‘Jinjiang’ website?”
"...?"
Ruoyi's mouth was stuffed full of takoyaki. She looked at Fyodor with a puzzled expression, swallowed the food, and then said:
"But aren't you the same person, both the one in front of me now and the Lucia person online?"
"I didn't ask you to come here today for any other reason. I just thought that you sometimes want to be like this, to date, go on a trip, and have a relationship like a normal person, that's all."
“Then,” Fyodor stared intently at the toothpick on the takoyaki, “aren’t you disillusioned?”
"After all, there's quite a difference between the person you know online and the person I am now."
“But this is the real Fedia now,” the girl said.
thump--
For a brief moment, Fyodor felt as if his heart had stopped for a second.
Today, Kawakami Wakana's hairstyle was long and flowing. After shopping all day, she realized that long hair was indeed a bit of a hassle. Just as Wakana was taking out her hair tie, preparing to casually tie her hair up, Fyodor suddenly suggested:
"Let me comb it."
Kawakami Wakai: Huh?
"You can even comb hair?"
You know, when she was little, her mother was sometimes too busy and would ask her father to take care of her. Her father would always tie her hair crookedly.
“I helped Dazai with his hair before,” Fyodor said simply.
"...?"
no?
What exactly is your relationship with Dazai Osamu?
Although there were a lot of inexplicable flaws, Ruoyi still turned her back to Fyodor, letting his fingertips dance through her hair.
A moment later, Ruoyi looked at the two buns on either side of the girl's head in the makeup mirror: "I thought you would braid your hair."
"Could it be that you don't know how?"
Fyodor: "..."
Who said he couldn't braid his hair!
He used to even braid Dazai's short hair into a small pigtail!
I just wanted to see Neko with different hairstyles.
"Just pretend I don't know how." He pushed the takoyaki towards him. "I'm full. Didn't you say you'd help me finish this?"
He could only feel the soft touch of the girl's long hair still lingering on his fingertips, and he could almost smell the fragrance of shampoo.
The demon thought that perhaps he had truly experienced the feeling of "being in love".
Even if it's just a fleeting dream.
A few minutes later, before it got completely dark, Kawakami Wakana immediately hailed a taxi and took them to the hotel she had booked in advance.
After checking in, the girl excitedly introduced, "By the way! Fettia, do you know why I chose this place? It's because it's a very famous hot spring inn in Osaka Prefecture!"
"You probably haven't been to a hot spring much, have you? It's much more relaxing than taking a bath!"
As the two were talking, they happened to pass by the hot spring bathhouse on the first floor of the hotel.
Fyodor immediately noticed that in addition to the men's and women's hot springs, there was also a mixed-gender bath.
Mixed, mixed bathing?
Is this silly cat going to soak in the hot spring with me?
Some unpleasant images flashed through my mind, and a warm sensation seemed to rush into my nasal cavity...
Ruoyi, noticing that Fei Jia had stopped walking and that he was bleeding from his nose again, thought: "...??"
Is Fedia alright?
If you have a nosebleed, it's not a good time to go to a hot spring!
By this time, the night had deepened.
Tonight is a beautiful night; you can clearly see the starry sky.
However, whether it was Kawakami Wakana, who was concerned about Fyodor's nosebleed, Edogawa Ranpo, who was secretly investigating Fukuchi Sakura, or Sigma, who had just left the Armed Detective Agency, all of them staring at the same sky knew that tonight's night was just the calm before the storm.
Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.
At least we can enjoy the present.
[Author's Note]
It's finally a little sweeter (but not really).
Is it just my imagination that I feel so heavy-hearted since symphagia started?
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