Just then, Kogoro said.
"Let's et the client first. Then we can find out the whole story of the case."
Following Kogoro's words, we went to the community center to find the client. The community center was busy preparing for the festival.
"What brings you here? Oh? You're soone I've seen a lot on TV..."
The village head who was at the community center recognized .
"Nice to et you. I'm Onmyōji Jin. We received a request and ca to the village. We're looking for soone."
"Oh~ I see. Nice to et a celebrity. But who are you looking for?"
"A person nad Saori requested our help by letter."
"If it's Saori, she's not on the island right now. I don't know the details, but she hasn't been seen for three days. People say she might have taken a boat to the mainland... If you want to know more, you'd better go to the seafood souvenir shop where Saori worked."
When the village head said this, Heiji, who had been listening from behind, said to us.
"Three days ago would be around the ti the letter arrived."
"That ans sothing happened around the ti the letter arrived."
"I think we should go to the souvenir shop like the village head said."
We moved to the souvenir shop near the port. The souvenir shop was selling various festival-related items, so the girls were looking at this and that.
"rmaid amulets, rmaid-shaped straps, wow~ there are also dugong dumplings! This place is a complete rmaid paradise."
Kazuha, who was looking at souvenirs with Ran, saw the dugong dumplings and asked Heiji.
"What's a dugong?"
"A marine mammal that resembles a human."
"Like a rmaid?"
"No, it looks more like a seal than a rmaid. But from a distance, it looks just like a person. That's why it's the animal that beca the model for rmaids. They used to live in southern Japan too, I think. Dugong at has been known as a longevity dicine, maybe?"
anwhile, Kogoro was asking the souvenir shop owner about Saori (the client).
"The arrow of the dugong? What's that?"
"Yes, it's a charm for immortality. Saori lost the arrow she drew at the festival a year ago, and she's been trembling in fear for a week. She said the rmaid would punish her."
"Ah..."
"You could say that most of the tourists coming today are here to get that arrow. It's that rare."
"But disappearing because of a re charm seems a bit..."
Kogoro had a point. Even for an isolated island, believing so strongly in superstition was a bit strange.
'I suppose, there's also doing Onmyō arts. Even if it's just a fraud using abilities...'
Just then, a female clerk at the souvenir shop said to Kogoro.
"rmaids exist. There's also Manshin-sama, who ate rmaid flesh and beca immortal. So during the festival, the person who receives the dugong arrow tied with Manshin-sama's hair can achieve immortality. So it's only natural to run away from the island if you lose such an arrow."
"Who is she?"
When Kogoro asked who the clerk was, the shop owner answered.
"Ah, it's Naoko, Saori's friend."
"Then Manshin-sama is..."
"The great elder, the star of this festival and the symbol of the island."
Then Heiji, who had been listening, also asked the shop owner sothing he was curious about.
"By the way, how old is that elder really?"
"Well, so say 180, so say 200, but actually, even the islanders don't know. Instead, why don't you visit the shrine where the festival is being held?"
"The shrine?"
"Yes, the shrine maiden Kimie, who lives with Manshin-sama, should be there. Kimie is a friend of the Saori you're looking for, so you might be able to hear sothing."
"Ah... I see."
Thinking there was nothing more to get, we bought so souvenirs and left. Then Haibara grumbled and said to .
"We're just walking around all the ti. Give a piggyback ride. My legs hurt."
"You should exercise more. Staying at ho on the computer all day is why you're like this."
"Mind your own business. Do what you want."
I picked up the grumbling Haibara and put her on my shoulders. Then we were about to head to the shrine, but when I looked at the ti, lunchti was approaching.
"It's lunchti. What should we do? Go eat on the yacht? Or buy sothing?"
When I asked everyone, Kazuha said to .
"Let's just eat on the yacht. There are so many tourists, it looks hard to buy food. There don't seem to be many restaurants either."
"Should we? What about everyone else?"
Since restaurants had long lines of tourists and eating there would be difficult, the others didn't particularly object.
So we returned to the yacht and ate. Ran and Kazuha helped a lot with the al preparation.
"As expected, eating here was the right answer. We have the best chef with us."
"Right, right."
Even though we ca because of the request, I prepared the al with care so we could also enjoy the trip, and I was glad everyone liked it. The nu was stir-fried pork (jeyuk bokkeum) and egg drop soup.
We ate deliciously, rested a while eating fruit, and were about to go to the shrine, but Haibara said she would just stay on the yacht. She seed tired of walking around.
"When the festival starts later, we'll probably end up going anyway, so I'll just stay on the yacht."
So I decided to stay on the yacht too. There was still dishes to wash, and I didn't want to leave Haibara alone.
"I'll stay too. There are still dishes to wash, and I don't want to leave Haibara alone."
Everyone said okay and got off the yacht.
"Well then, see you later."
"See you~"
Of course, I used the dishwasher for the dishes. Since there were many people, doing them by hand would have taken a long ti. And since I had always done it that way, people just left it to .
Anyway, while the dishes were running, I did a quick cleaning of the yacht. Haibara was lazing around in her room, so I used my [Life Magic] ability to finish quickly. [Life Magic] is really convenient. One use cleans the floors and bedding as if you'd wiped everything down.
But it's not all-powerful. If there are scratches, it removes the dirt in the scratches, but it doesn't remove the scratches themselves. In short, it doesn't restore things to their original state. So when I make or modify new things, I just leave the original item in my inventory, copy it with [Matter Copy], and use that. If it breaks, I can just copy it again.
After finishing the cleaning, I sat in the saloon, drank coffee, and watched the news. While I was passing the ti like that, everyone returned and told what had happened. They said they t Saori's friends and Kimie, the shrine maiden, but there was no significant information.
"Well, this is... Stuck already just finding the client..."
As Kogoro grumbled, Heiji spoke based on the information gathered so far.
"Hmm... We know that Saori, the client, lost the dugong arrow and, fearing retaliation from the rmaid, asked Manshin-sama and us for help. If that's the reason, she might have really gone to the mainland."
"Then we ca here for nothing. Good grief..."
"But there's sothing strange. Saori and her other friends take the rmaid legend very seriously. Kimie, the shrine maiden, didn't seem to think that way though..."
"That's probably because they were born and raised here, so they're deeply into folk beliefs. Kimie knows the situation and sees the elder directly, so she's less so."
"Hmm... That could be."
Listening to the two of them, Heiji certainly had good deductive skills. His planning and preparation are a bit lacking, though.
"Ah~ I'm tired from walking around. I'm going to take a nap, so wake up when the festival starts."
Leaving those words, Kogoro went into his room. Then Ran said to us.
"Well then, shall we eat the dugong dumplings? I bought so because I was curious about the taste."
"Yeah, let's."
We called Haibara, lightly heated the dugong dumplings in the microwave, and ate them as we talked.
"By the way, isn't Kimie-chan at the shrine pretty?"
"Yeah. She's pretty and kind. Plus, she gave us lottery tickets for the dugong arrows."
As in the original, Ran and Kazuha seed to have received lottery tickets. At the festival, if the number announced by Manshin-sama matched the number on the ticket purchased, you could receive a dugong arrow.
"But isn't it a problem if you win? They say if you lose the dugong arrow, the rmaid's curse will fall upon you."
When Heiji said that to the girls, Kazuha got worried.
"That's right. The client ran away from the island because she was afraid of that. If we win, won't we live in fear of the rmaid's curse forever?"
I told her not to worry.
"That won't happen. Even if there is such an effect, I'll remove it with my Onmyō arts, so don't worry."
"Co to think of it, that's right. We have a capable Onmyōji here. I was worried for nothing."
"Right, so trust and just think of it as for fun."
"Okay."
Even after I told them there were no rmaids, they acted like this. It showed how vulnerable people are to superstition.
'This is how cults cause problems...'
Anyway, after resting a bit, we woke Kogoro, had a light dinner, and went to see the festival. The path to the shrine had various snacks and souvenirs for sale, and various festival gas like goldfish scooping, balloon popping, and yo-yo fishing were going on.
Since there were many people, I gave Haibara a piggyback ride again to watch the festival. Then Ran smiled and said.
"You look just like a father."
"When we get married and have kids, won't I be going around like this?"
Ran looked embarrassed at that.
"Th-That might be true..."
Just as the mood was about to get nice, Haibara tapped my head.
"Stop saying weird things and buy so takoyaki."
"Yeah, yeah."
We enjoyed the festival, snacking and playing gas, and then went to the shrine to see the highlight of the festival: Manshin-sama drawing the people who would receive the dugong arrows.
When we entered the shrine, the festival organizers were beating a large drum to the beat, raising the excitent. Ran and Kazuha clutched their lottery tickets tightly and looked toward the shrine.
"My heart is pounding."
" too!"
When a certain number of people had gathered, the shrine doors opened and Manshin-sama appeared. Manshin-sama was very short, wore traditional Japanese makeup, and was dressed in shrine maiden attire.
Then Kogoro looked at Manshin-sama and asked .
"That elder seems to be Manshin-sama. You said that's makeup? She's really small. Is that possible? Is it a child in makeup?"
"That's what I was told by the previous generation."
Then Heiji asked, surprised.
"Eh? That's makeup? What do you an?"
"Ah, right. You didn't hear that."
Since Heiji had gone to comfort Conan and hadn't heard what I said, I briefly explained. Heiji was also very surprised.
"I-I see. So that's makeup..."
"Don't tell people. As I told the others, their livelihoods may depend on this."
"Got it."
Manshin-sama stood up, picked up a long rod prepared inside the shrine, lit the end of the rod on fire, and set fire to the shrine's paper sliding door.
"Oh, she set fire to the door."
"Won't that cause a big fire?"
People murmured at the sight, but only the large characters burned on the paper door, and the fire didn't spread elsewhere. The characters were 'Three, Seven, Eighteen'. Then Manshin-sama went back inside the shrine.
Watching this, Heiji said.
"I see, so this is how they draw the winning numbers."
Just then, a woman's happy voice was heard from the side.
"Wow~! I won, lucky~!"
People looked at the woman at the sound, and Kogoro also saw her. He recognized who she was.
"Huh? That's the woman we saw at the shrine. I think they said she was Saori's friend, Michimi was it? She seems to have won."
But Kazuha also looked at her number and the number on the door several tis, then said to Ran.
"R-Ran! I-I won too!!"
"Eh~?? Really??"
We gathered around Kazuha and checked her number. Kazuha's ticket had 'Eighteen' written on it. Seeing that, Heiji teased Kazuha.
"Oh~ You really won? Now you'll receive the rmaid's curse..."
Hearing that, Kazuha scowled and slapped Heiji on the back.
Smack!
"Ugh!"
"What did you say!"
"Haha, just kidding, just kidding."
While Heiji and Kazuha were doing that, people who seed to be shrine officials ca with fire extinguishers and put out the fire on the paper door. A young, pretty shrine maiden ca out and called out to the people.
"Everyone! The dugong arrows will be presented in one hour at rmaid Falls!"
Presumably, this shrine maiden was 'Kimie'.
After a while, we followed the crowd to rmaid Falls. rmaid Falls was a place where water fell forcefully from a steep cliff. In the pebble field in front of the falls, a bonfire was prepared, decorated with shinawa (sacred ropes) and shide (lightning-shaped paper strears), and Kimie, the shrine maiden, stood in front.
Kazuha, who had won, looked very happy.
"Will I gain eternal youth and beauty too?"
"Kazuha, didn't you hear what Jin said? This is just a show. And there's nothing good about living long."
"Don't worry, Heiji. If I live long, I'll take care of your body when you die."
"I don't need that."
When it seed everyone had gathered, Kimie called out to the people.
"Now, the three lucky winners! Please co forward!"
Hearing that, Kazuha held up her lottery ticket and went forward.
"Ah, yes! I'll go get it~"
Besides Kazuha, Naoko, the souvenir shop clerk, also ca forward to receive the dugong arrow. But when a third person didn't co forward, Kimie called out again.
"Next? Is the next person not here!?"
"I'm coming. Hic."
Just then, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his 50s, appearing as if he had drunk a lot of alcohol, staggered forward. I had no information about him from here, but from the original, I knew he was Benzo, the father of the client Saori.
"Huh, that's strange? I think the woman Michimi we saw at the shrine also won... Weren't there three winners?"
Heiji sensed sothing strange and asked .
"Right, there were three. Did they sell winning tickets?"
While we were talking, the three people received their dugong arrows in turn. Then Kimie said to the people preparing beside her.
"Please fire the celebratory fireworks!"
At Kimie's words, those people began shooting fireworks into the sky. As the area lit up, a woman's body, which had been invisible in the dark, was seen hanging from the top of the waterfall, swaying back and forth as the water hit it.
"Look at that!"
"What is that?"
People murmured at the sight, but didn't seem to think it was a body. I quickly put Haibara down and entrusted her to Ran.
"Ran, take care of Haibara!"
"Okay."
When I spoke with a serious face, Ran imdiately agreed. Then I urgently called Heiji and Kogoro.
"Heiji, Detective!"
"I know."
They too, having handled many cases and seen many bodies, recognized it imdiately without confusion and began to follow quickly.
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