Chapter 95, Chapter 94: The Hunter's Training: Necessary Death...
My son, are you tired from this trip?
My name is emmmm
Good question. Zhuge Tongzhi thought to himself.
What's your name?
This is a question that appears in the same English book as "How are you," and it is even more important than a casual greeting between friends.
Asking for someone's name is the first step in getting to know a stranger.
But before a name becomes an essential part of self-introduction, it is first and foremost the first anchor a person receives after coming into the world. Whether it is a blessing or a curse, your original name will carry a part of your life.
Name is the anchor, time is the skeleton, and memory is the flesh and blood that fills this body.
Only someone who has walked through the "past" can stand in the "present" and express their own joys and sorrows.
If the theory holds true, then why would she, with a complete past, be troubled by her identity?
Yesterday's hallucinations were clearly just loud and exaggerated talk, and they didn't mention my identity at all, so why did I panic as soon as I heard those words?
Was there something wrong with the flesh and blood filling this body...? Just as she was about to begin checking her memories, she felt something warm squeeze in next to her.
The black-haired girl lying on the bedroom floor slowly opened her eyes, blinked her misty eyes, turned her head to look at Yoshida Ayumi sleeping next to her, glanced at the faint morning light outside the window, and finally quietly turned her head back.
It's only early morning, still a long way off.
Nestled beside her warm, fragrant companion, Zhuge Tongzhi peacefully closed her eyes. She still had time to review the situation…
"The early bird catches the worm! It's time for all the young men to get up!" Uncle Ishikawa's booming voice broke through the window, and amidst the startled chirping of birds and barking of dogs, he continued to shout, "Get up!"
Startled by the sudden loud noise, Yoshida Ayumi shrank back and buried her head in Zhuge Tongzhi's neck. After struggling and trembling for a few seconds, she finally opened her eyes, still half asleep.
Almost simultaneously, the sound of Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya and Genta Kojima's hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway, one light and one heavy. The two boys chased each other energetically, running past the bedrooms of Kirito and Ayumi Yoshida.
The thumping footsteps instantly snapped Yoshida Ayumi out of her daze and she quickly turned on the device. The short-haired girl sat up abruptly.
"Watch your step," Morofushi Kagemitsu gently reminded him, his steady footsteps slowing down in front of the two girls' door before he knocked three times as standard.
"Are you awake, Kiri-chan and Ayumi-chan?"
Yoshida Ayumi glanced down at Zhuge Tongzhi, who was still pretending to be dead with his eyes closed, and called out energetically to the door, "We're up! Mr. Midorikawa!"
"Tong-chan, Tong-chan!" The short-haired girl grabbed her friend who was still in bed and shook her back and forth, chattering, "Don't stay in bed! Get up quickly, we're going up the mountain to hunt today."
Let's recap... Under the shaking of his seemingly weak but actually quite strong partner, Zhuge Tongzhi was forced to open his eyes. He felt that his brain, which was originally clearly divided into water and flour, was now finally a mess of mud.
"...I'm up now, stop shaking me, Ayumi, I feel a little dizzy."
"Let's go! We're going up the mountain again today!"
It seems yesterday's events really didn't leave you with any trauma. Looking at Yoshida Ayumi happily bouncing around on her futon, the black-haired girl, still aching all over after waking up, couldn't help but reveal a half-moon-shaped smile.
Being young is wonderful.
The two girls quickly changed their clothes and came out of the guest room together. Yoshida Ayumi, in high spirits, grabbed her friend and skipped and jumped down the stairs.
Zhuge Tongzhi was swaying as he combed his somewhat tangled hair—he had been crawling around in the grass yesterday, and a lot of it had broken off when he washed it, and now it was all messy and tangled together.
Ouch. She tried to comb through a knot repeatedly, but it only made her scalp ache. With a comb hanging on her head, she gave up and started looking for scissors in the room instead.
"Snip, snip, snip." Zhuge Tongzhi, who was casually imitating the sound of scissors cutting, was intercepted halfway by her cheap guardian when he pushed her shoulder and pressed her down onto a small stool.
“I have experience with this, let me do it.” Morofushi Kagemitsu said, having grown his hair a little longer to match the disguise, and pulled out the comb that was caught in his hair, and began to comb the girl’s frizzy hair.
Combing hair, real or fake?
Zhuge Tongzhi turned his back to Zhufu Jingguang, trying to express his sincere doubts with the back of his head.
Five minutes later, she stared wide-eyed at her neatly styled black hair in the mirror, and reached out to pinch the perfectly proportioned little ponytails on both sides of her head.
She could even braid symmetrically... Zhuge Tongzhi turned to look at the gently smiling Zhufu Jingguang, revealing an exceptionally wise look in his eyes.
So you weren't the rough, straight guy who quickly ties his hair up with a hairdryer?
"I was originally thinking of braiding your hair like Natalie did," Morofushi Kagemitsu casually mentioned, ignoring the experience pack he had just gained, and led Zhuge Tongzhi towards the courtyard. "But when we go hunting in the mountains, it's better to be agile, right?"
Last night, the conversations were quickly killed off by extremely concise dialogues. The cat-eyed man observed the black-haired girl, whose complexion had improved considerably today, and tentatively requested to interact.
"Hmm." Zhuge Tongzhi grabbed one ponytail with each hand and, as he had hoped, added a few more words to his answer, "I was just a little surprised; it turns out you're quite good at combing hair."
The black-haired girl looked up at Morofushi Kagemitsu with her big, dark eyes and said, "After all, you've never used this kind of skill to soothe a child before."
With a smile, Morofushi Kagemitsu paused in his steps.
Previously, Zhuge Tongzhi was either left to his own devices or threatened and forced to obediently recover from his injuries. There was no affectionate gesture like combing his hair; the child often went out with his hair all messed up and came home with his hair all messed up.
Was he being held accountable? Morofushi Kagemitsu found it both amusing and somewhat helpless.
"So it was quite unexpected." Zhuge Tongzhi let go of his hands, shook his exceptionally firmly tied twin ponytails, and after confirming that they wouldn't come undone, he ran with satisfaction toward the Junior Detective League, who were waving at him.
"It's just a little tight on the scalp." The black-haired girl turned back and smiled at her guardian, then ran to the three little ones and stood there, waving and shouting, "Come on—let's go hunting in the mountains!"
Seeing that Zhuge Tongzhi seemed to have regained his energy, Zhuge Jingguang smiled and quickly walked into the small team. Led by Ishikawa Yu, they entered the mountains again via another path.
However, since it's called hunting, children who are not adults and do not have a legal gun license are naturally not allowed to handle guns.
So today, they mainly followed the route they set up the traps last time, patrolling the mountain again to see what kind of prey might be in the traps.
As expected of a seasoned hunter with decades of experience, Ishikawa Yu's traps were so effective that they almost always managed to securely bind the animal's hind legs after being triggered, making it no exaggeration to say that he was almost always right.
While it was exciting to see prey tethered in a trap, the children quickly realized that the animal struggling as they approached, bound by the iron rings, was also a living being.
"Should we...kill them?" Ayumi Yoshida clenched her hands, looking at the black-and-white raccoon in front of her, one leg trapped and unable to escape. Hesitantly, amidst its terrified hissing, she said, "But it's so cute, and..."
"Besides, the main culprits destroying farmland are wild boars, right? Maybe we can spare them!" Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya quickly interjected, looking at Yu Ishikawa carrying a heavy wooden stick, and confirmed once again, "This is a raccoon, right?"
“Then we can let it go!” Genta Kojima added finally.
“This is indeed a raccoon. Because it’s cute, many people feed it.” Ishikawa Yu looked at the three nervous children and shook his head as he explained, “But this is not a native Japanese animal, and it is at the top of the food chain, so it has no natural enemies here.”
"Don't underestimate raccoons. They're experts at picking locks, stealing things, and rummaging through trash cans," the hunter said coldly. "It's a pity that, although they're cute, they're on the government's hunting list."
"Ah—how could this be!" the three children exclaimed simultaneously, drawing out their voices.
“This is Ishikawa’s job.” Professor Agasa pulled the three children into his arms and watched as Ishikawa Yu carried the wooden stick past. “These animals destroy farmland and damage fruit trees, causing great distress to the villagers.”
Ishikawa Yu swung his wooden stick, staring at the struggling raccoon. He seized a moment and swiftly and forcefully smashed the stick into its head, instantly killing the once vibrant creature.
This minimizes the suffering of the raccoon as it dies, and it also reflects his respect for life as a hunter.
The fleeting nature of life is so cruel, and yet this is a hunting operation advocated by the local authorities. The Junior Detective League was momentarily speechless with shock, and Professor Agasa patted the three children's heads reassuringly.
"You must be feeling really upset, that's perfectly normal."
He chose this mountain forest as a place for an outing for two reasons: firstly, to visit his old classmate Ishikawa Yu, who had recovered from a long illness; and secondly, to let the children experience a vivid life education lesson through the most primitive and traditional hunting.
Despite having witnessed countless deaths in their daily lives, behind those tragic, misunderstanding-driven, and impulsive acts of killing often lies a heart that has lost its reverence for life.
Killing should not be the first choice people make when they are swept away by emotions. Anyone who knows the value of life and has witnessed the loss of life would not do such a thing.
Dr. Agasa hopes that these children, who are used to seeing death at crime scenes, can truly feel the weight of life during this hunter's training.
This is also one of the reasons why Ai Haibara did not participate in this outing. After learning about the theme, she, who loves small animals, decided to stay at the professor's house.
As Yoshida Ayumi began wiping her eyes, Zhuge Tongzhi, who was standing far to the side, felt his head being pressed as well. He blinked and said, "I don't think it's scary."
“From the perspective of bystanders or animals, this is cruel. But from the perspective of the villagers, the lifeblood that farmers have worked hard for all year can be completely destroyed by wild boars or something overnight.”
The black-haired girl looked at Ishikawa Yu as he picked up the raccoon with its head drooping and said, "In the eyes of the villagers, Uncle Ishikawa is like a guardian angel. With him protecting the farmland, the harvest for the year is guaranteed."
“So, I’m not afraid.” Zhuge Tongzhi walked a few steps with the group and stopped a short distance away in front of a wild deer that was constantly neighing loudly, watching as Ishikawa Yu raised his wooden stick once again.
The stick fell with a dull thud, and the wild deer that had been kicking its hooves fell to the ground beneath the tree stump.
The wailing sound, like the flowing life, came to an abrupt end at that moment.
Zhuge Tongzhi looked at the fallen deer and said to the owner of the large hand that was pressing down on his head, "Because this is a necessary death."
You should understand this better than I do, Scotland.
Ishikawa Yu squatted down to remove the iron ring from the deer's leg, and explained to the silent children behind him, "You should know that the deer's last cry was not a plea for mercy, saying 'Save me' or 'Don't kill me.'"
"It's warning the other deer nearby, 'It's dangerous here, don't come near.'" The man wearing a deerstalker hat stood up, picked up the fawn with one hand, and sighed, "Just like us humans, we would do our best to protect our brothers and sisters."
"Some lives, even at their last moment, are doing their best to protect the lives they love."
Ayumi Yoshida, who had only sniffled and had reddened her eyes, suddenly burst into tears. Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya turned away and wiped his eyes, while Genta Kojima gritted his teeth to stop crying, though snot was already dripping into his mouth.
Zhuge Tongzhi, who was standing far away, did not expect that although he had escaped the scene, he could not escape the verbal attacks, and for a moment he also felt a tightness in his heart.
He wanted to find something to kick to vent his anger, but all he had around him was a large rock with a broken bone and an old tree stump, and Morofushi Kagemitsu, who only made him feel more frustrated.
The life education was very successful. The three little ones had red eyes and were sobbing. Zhuge Tongzhi stood quietly for a while, but in the end, he couldn't help but kick Zhufu Jingguang's shin twice.
I hate people like you the most!
You, Kenji Hagiwara who called others to go first even after the countdown had started, Jinpei Matsuda who went on the Ferris wheel alone, and Wataru Date who entrusted his children to a notebook of clues on his deathbed.
A troublesome person who gives people a headache just by looking at them.
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled and rubbed the head of his subordinate.
…
The original plan was to hunt in the morning, have a barbecue feast at noon, and then set off back to Tokyo in the afternoon.
However, the children, who had returned with a bountiful harvest in the morning, were not in high spirits and had no appetite to savor the so-called delicious wild game. They simply made do with a light and simple lunch.
After taking the children with swollen eyes upstairs for a nap, Professor Agasa, Ishikawa Yu, and Morofushi Kagemitsu discussed it for a while and decided to postpone the barbecue party to the evening, stay in Chiba for another night, and set off again the next morning.
After a good night's sleep to ease their emotions, the young detectives were back to full strength as expected. With the guidance of the adults, the children, who have a strong mental fortitude, quickly came to their own understanding.
Ayumi Yoshida still found it hard to accept, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya expressed his understanding, and Genta Kojima said that he would definitely eat every single grain of rice and every single piece of eel in the eel rice bowl!
"Genta!" Ayumi Yoshida and Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, hands on their hips, looked at their friend who was obsessed with eel rice. "How did you come up with this idea?"
“But I’m right.” Genta Kojima scratched his head, but he had his own theory. “Catching eels is also killing lives. Every grain of rice we eat is saved from the mouths of wild boars and deer.”
"If you know all this and still waste food, isn't that disrespectful to life?" The boy with the oval head smiled innocently, patting his big belly, and said, "Luckily, I've never wasted any food."
"That's right, your bento box is twice the size of mine." Zhuge Tongzhi, standing to the side, let out a long yawn.
"Genta, you can't eat any more!" Ayumi Yoshida and Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya looked at their extremely chubby little friend with half-moon eyes.
"Oh dear, Genta is absolutely right." Professor Agasa walked over cheerfully, leading the children toward the sizzling kitchen. "Not wasting food is also a way of respecting life."
In the dim light after dusk, the charcoal fire crackled and popped under the grill, and the wild boar hanging nearby had already been prepared and was now being skillfully sliced by Ishikawa Yu and placed on a plate.
Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was standing to the side, was in charge of putting the meat onto the grill. The man, who also had some knowledge of cooking, was skilled and precise in his technique, and he controlled the grilling time of the meat slices in different positions perfectly.
Zhuge Tongzhi moved closer and watched as the tender slices of wild boar meat curled gently in the flames. The irresistible aroma of meat wafted into his nose and became even more enticing after being brushed with a layer of sauce.
The aromas of soy sauce, cumin, and chili are inhaled along with the rich, smoky flavor as you sniff them, drawing them straight into your stomach.
Zhuge Tongzhi and the three little ones silently swallowed.
The tears that fell this morning for the cries of the fawns and piglets now flowed uncontrollably from the corners of my mouth.
It smells so good.
As if by magic, Morofushi Kagemitsu produced a wooden tray with an iron plate, placed the roasted meat on the heated plate, and set it in front of the four eager children, saying with a gentle smile, "Eat up."
Zhuge Tongzhi picked up a piece of piping hot wild boar meat and stuffed it into his mouth. He hissed as tears streamed down his face from the heat, and swallowed the crispy and tender roasted meat.
Well, although it's a bit troublesome, it's not without its benefits.
Tracing the meaning of life is too complex, understanding the passing of life is too heavy, but there are many, many simple reasons to want to live.
Just like now, Zhuge Tongzhi is taking big bites of the golden-brown grilled meat skewers, fiercely battling it out with chopsticks alongside Yoshida Ayumi, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, and Kojima Genta.
People can live for barbecue!
-----------------------
Author's Note: Although in the world of Detective Conan, death and murder are quite normal.
However, in reality, there are far too many cases of impulsive killings and misunderstandings involving murder.
Furthermore, viewing murder as the primary means of dealing with problems (in non-extreme circumstances) is itself a flawed mindset.
So, let's use the hunting as an opportunity to talk about life.
It is something that is both very heavy and very light, very tenacious and extremely fragile.
Xiao Ke and Xiao Lan have always been believers in the importance of life.
But fake alcohol is definitely not; they belong to the "necessary death" faction.
So you'd probably be attracted to Xiao Ke's qualities too (shyly).
…
Sorry it's so late!
There was a group fight going on downstairs, and I couldn't resist watching (making a huge fuss).
…
Mwah!
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