Chapter 189, Seventy-Third Cycle (19)
Boom—
Like thunder, or like a mountain collapsing, Morobuchi Kagemitsu's mind went blank, and he experienced tinnitus.
"What?" he heard himself ask. "What did you just mean?"
He felt he was still relatively calm. Although there were indeed a few seconds of blankness when he couldn't process what the other person was saying, he was now able to consider whether the other person's identity as a reincarnator was real and how credible their words were.
However, the worried expression on the blond youth's face as he turned to look at him suggested that he was not so calm after all.
The boy watching him had an incredibly complex expression in his eyes—sadness and pity,感慨 and worry.
Morofushi Kagemitsu calmly thought that it was probably more of an expression for Morofushi Kagemitsu twelve years later.
“Hiro…” Furuya Rei stood up, stood next to him, and grabbed his shoulder.
Morofushi Kagemitsu shook his head to indicate that he was alright, his eyes still fixed on the boy who brought both hope and despair to the future.
"Could you... elaborate?" he asked. "You've come from twelve years in the future? In the near future, during the final battle with the organization, even though we fought with all our might, we still couldn't save Zero from death? Or did something go wrong with our plan? Was it the world's consciousness or the system that caused it? How did Zero die?"
Hanagaki Takedo shrank his neck, nodded and shook his head, trying to organize his thoughts: "It's the future of your current timeline. Mr. Morofushi from twelve years later told me that his childhood friend, Furuya Rei, died on Christmas Day, December 25th, which is the final battle you plan to wage this year to destroy the Black Organization."
The boy was a bit timid and flustered. It was clear that he was organizing his thoughts and sorting out the whole story. Neither Furuya Rei nor Morofushi Kagemitsu interrupted him, and they listened quietly as he spoke his mind.
"I... actually, I don't know much either. I'm still a newbie. This is my third time traveling through time. The first two times were very short and I didn't meet Mr. Morofushi... Oh right, after I changed the past, I can freely control myself to return to the changed future."
"I met Mr. Morofushi after I changed the past and returned to the future for the second time. Then I learned that there was actually a Zero Reincarnation Group before our No. 1 Reincarnation Group. I also learned that the public security police officer Furuya Rei, who went undercover and died twelve years ago to destroy an international terrorist organization, was also a reincarnator and our predecessor."
The delinquent with his cheaply dyed yellow hair secretly glanced at the blond youth next to him, who was frowning and deep in thought.
He already knew everything about the legendary figure Rei Furuya, and now that he finally saw the real person in person, it felt a little unreal. He was very excited, but also even more regretful.
How could such a person, such a hero loved and respected by countless people, die?
He saved everyone else, but no one could save him.
If we can save Rei Furuya, that tragic future can surely be changed, right?
"Mr. Morofushi invited me to join the Sakura Team..." Hanagaki Takedo said, pausing for a moment when he saw the white puppy cautiously approaching, then instantly breaking into a relaxed and happy smile, his hand itching to reach out. "Is this Haro? Haro was so cute when he was little!"
Hello: "Woof?"
Although letting him hold Haro might make him more emotionally stable, Furuya Rei still subtly carried Haro away from the boy and turned around to put the warm little puppy into Morofushi Kagemitsu's arms.
Morobuchi Kagemitsu looked down into Haro's clear, bright canine eyes, adjusted his position to hug the puppy tighter, and looked up to ask, "You and Haro are very close?"
"Mmm!" The boy nodded vigorously, his eyes still on Haro. His body language showed that he was much more relaxed now, and a smile appeared on his face. "Everyone in the Sakura Squad is very nice and kind, but... but everyone is too strong, and most of the time they are also very serious. I only dare to play with Haro."
He quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic, his expression serious and moved: "Actually, Mr. Furuya and I were not originally from the same world. I come from 'Tokyo Manji Avengers,' and Mr. Furuya comes from 'Detective Conan.' We are two different worlds with different protagonists and main storylines, and we should not have merged in the first place."
"It was the Sakura Team who spent twelve years and countless experiments that finally found the only hope after thousands of failures, allowing two world lines that should never have intersected to meet only once. Now I can stand before you with the hope of working with you to create a world line that can allow both of our worlds to achieve a happy ending."
Rei Furuya finally couldn't hold back any longer: "How did they do that? What did they do? What did they sacrifice? Is it related to the system?"
Hanagaki Takedo shook his head: "No, it has nothing to do with the system. The system disappeared along with Mr. Furuya, who died twelve years ago. So the members of the Sakura Team suspect that Mr. Furuya's soul was taken by the system to another world to continue the next cycle of reincarnation. Therefore, the reason why everyone initially wanted to observe other worlds was to find Mr. Furuya."
Zhu Fujingguang frowned.
Hanagaki Takedo continued, "At the beginning, the members of the Sakura Team didn't have any definite solutions. They could only try and explore step by step. Ms. Miyano Shiho, Professor Agasa, Mr. Sawada Hiroki, and Mr. Matsuda Jinpei decided to create a machine that could observe other worlds based on the Dream Chair that the organization had researched. At the same time, they began to build a time travel machine, making preparations for both scenarios."
Jianggu Ling was stunned.
Dream... chair?
"It wasn't until seven years later that the World Observation Device was successfully created. Although the time travel machine failed, it brought an unexpected surprise: Noah's Ark could enter the time travel machine to travel to other worlds and could also change the timeline to some extent."
After saying that, Hanagaki Takedo smiled happily and pointed to himself, saying, "My world and your world seem to be very close, and there is a possibility that they can merge. So, after 95,873 experiments, twelve years after Mr. Furuya's death, the Sakura Team finally created a world line where the two worlds intersect, allowing me, who has the power of reincarnation, to come here with information about the future to change the past."
He finally finished speaking, let out a deep breath, and concluded: "Although it was Mr. Morofushi who initially entrusted me with this task, to be precise, I came here carrying the hopes of the entire Sakura Team and everyone who hoped that Mr. Furuya would live."
What do these few simple words really mean...? Only those who experienced it firsthand twelve years later will know. Even so, bystanders will be shocked and saddened by them.
Rei Furuya lowered his head to hide his slightly sore and hot eyes. His chest heaved a few times, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "How are the others? Besides me... is everyone alive? Was the resurrection card used successfully? Are there any aftereffects?"
"I don't know the specifics, but the others who experienced the destruction of the Black Organization with Mr. Furuya should still be alive. Ms. Miyano Akemi, Mr. Morofushi Hiromitsu, Mr. Hagiwara Kenji, Mr. Date Wataru, and Mr. Kudo Shinichi, although they couldn't participate in scientific research and production, have been helping with research in other places. Oh, and Ms. Vermouth also often comes to help."
Hanagaki Takedo thought for a moment and continued, "The resurrection cards were used by Mr. Furuya before the final battle. There were five cards in total, which resurrected Mr. Morofushi's parents, Ms. Miyano's parents, and Mr. Furuya's mother. All of them lived well until twelve years later."
“And they entrusted me with saving only Mr. Furuya,” he said.
So it's likely that only Rei Furuya died.
In other words, it's a world line where everyone except Rei Furuya has a happy ending.
"Why?" Morofushi Kagemitsu, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up. "What was Zero's specific cause of death? Why haven't you told me this most important thing?"
Huayuan Martial Arts School fell silent for a moment.
In fact, aside from glancing at him twice at the beginning, he never dared to look at Morofushi Kagemitsu again.
Compared to the silent yet weathered man with long black hair and stubble twelve years later, the current Morofushi Kagemitsu looks sharp and bright, but is much more approachable.
But Huayuan Wudao still didn't dare to look at his expression, let alone meet his gaze.
Is the light in those blue eyes despair or hope?
He didn't know, and he didn't dare to look.
Both despair and hope are too sharp and heavy. Just looking at him is like being drowned by the deep sea of sorrow and pain. Just standing next to him is suffocating and sad.
Whenever the death of Rei Furuya is mentioned, no one can bear to look into those eyes.
Even so, the man's back remained straight, he worked tirelessly every day, and he had a happy and fulfilling family. His friends stayed by his side and fought for the same goal.
However, he was still in great pain and very sad.
Huayuan Wudao could not bear the pain and sorrow in those eyes.
"I'm sorry..." He lowered his head even further.
“But I don’t know,” the boy whispered. “Even twelve years later, no one knew how Mr. Furuya died.”
*
After the delinquent-looking Huayuan Wudao left, it was completely dark.
Rei Furuya and Hiromitsu Morofushi sat silently on the sofa, the atmosphere was terrible, and Haro couldn't help but bark and coax them from both sides.
The puppy didn't understand what was happening.
Rei Furuya patted Haro's head reassuringly and whispered to Kagemitsu Morofushi, "I'll go tell everyone."
Morofushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his daze, nodded, and after a couple of seconds asked, "Zero, what do you think was the real cause of your death? What exactly happened back then that would have caused your death?"
Rei Furuya hesitated for a moment while holding his phone: "I don't know, but there are quite a few possibilities, and most of them are related to the system."
He looked at the Sakura team's group chat on his phone, his expression somewhat complicated.
"We must have made thorough preparations for the final battle and my ultimate demise. How could we die a horrible death in a situation where we should have escaped safely without having to reload our saves? The only thing I can think of is system interference." Furuya Rei calmly pondered. "Although I ultimately died in the explosion with Gin, Hanagaki Takedo said that the explosion was completely unexpected by everyone. Moreover, the cause of the explosion was never investigated afterward, and my body and Gin's body were reduced to indistinguishable ashes. This explosion was very strange."
Morofushi Kagemitsu turned to look at him, and after a full five seconds, he said, "Even if you die, Zero can reload the save."
"Unless the system takes back your ability to load saves."
His voice was very low.
"Unless you give up reloading because of some threat."
*
[Reincarnation Group No. 0]
[Rei Furuya: That's about it. Although I'm still unsure what I'll encounter in the future, the system has probably set the most difficult trap for me. Even with information about the future, we don't know how to change it.]
[Rei Furuya: I'm probably going to die.]
[Rei Furuya: This time it's true death. I wonder if the reincarnators will enter the cycle of reincarnation (laughs)]
[Rei Furuya: I don't know how things are going for you. Hanagaki doesn't have any information about you. Reincarnation Group 0 and Reincarnation Group 1 shouldn't be communicating with each other.]
...
[Homura Akemi: I asked Madoka Kaname.]
[Homura Akemi: I asked her if she thought this world was precious? Did she value order more than desire?]
[Homura Akemi: Rei Furuya, I also want to ask you this now, what do you think?]
[Fenggu Ling: Of course. 】
[Rei Furuya: I am Rei Furuya, a public security police officer.]
*
Rei Furuya woke up very early the next day; he was going to officially start working at Poirot Cafe starting today.
Before he left, Morofushi Kagemitsu and Haro saw him off at the door.
However, in Furuya Rei's view, it was more like a plea to keep him than a farewell.
Morofushi Kagemitsu remained silent for a moment, then finally looked up and met his gaze, asking, "Do you really have to go?"
Based on their discussion in the Sakura Team group all night, the best approach before knowing the specific cause of Furuya Rei's death was to directly change the world line.
They could simply change the worldline where only Rei Furuya doesn't exist, jumping to any worldline they like, as long as Rei survives. They could then work together to resolve the consequences and eventually find a solution.
If the world line is to be changed, it would be best to do so before Rei Furuya officially becomes a waiter at Poirot's Café and Kogoro Mouri's apprentice.
Now is the best time; once you miss it, it will be very difficult to change things.
In fact, Morofushi Kagemitsu felt that this was the reason why everyone would choose this time twelve years later to send the Hanagaki Martial Arts Academy over.
However, Furuya Rei rejected this method.
"I'm heading out," he said with a smile and a wave.
The sunlight outside shone on his blond hair, making the blond youth even more dazzling, and the light golden halo even blurred his figure.
"Wait for me to come back," Furuya Rei said.
*
Poirot Cafe.
Conan Edogawa stared in shock at the blond youth he had met again. He hadn't expected to run into this troublesome person so soon, especially since the young man had become a new waiter at the coffee shop downstairs from his house.
The handsome young man with blond hair and dark skin wore a black apron with the Poirot Café sign printed on it. He was even more handsome and gentle than the waiter who had disguised himself as a bespectacled man before. Young girls kept blushing and stealing glances at him.
He put down their coffee and desserts, but instead of leaving, he smiled and whispered something to Kogoro Mouri.
However, Kogoro Mouri reacted strongly, shouting so loudly that everyone could hear him.
"What? You want me to take you as my apprentice? You want me, the famous detective Kogoro Mouri, to take you as my apprentice?" he said incredulously.
The blond youth named Amuro Tooru smiled and nodded, his eyes bright and resolute.
"Yes, Mr. Mori's reasoning a few days ago was so brilliant that it made me realize how much I still lack. So I decided to start learning how to be a detective from scratch with Mr. Mori," he said.
Yes, everything starts from scratch.
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