In the hospital room, Yuu Hoshimiya sat on the sickbed while Momiji Ooka clung to his arm with a smile, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Yuu-kun, I'm so happy you came to see me!"
As expected, Japanese girls could be very forward, especially daughters of wealthy conglomerates like Sonoko Suzuki.
Truly, the Sonoko of Kanto and the Momiji of Kansai!
Yuu wouldn't mind a dozen more beautiful girls like this.
However, business came first. Yuu asked, "Momiji, who taught you Karuta?"
Momiji replied immediately, "My master is Shikao Nagora, a very famous Karuta master. But due to an incident five years ago, he hasn't been seen since."
"An incident five years ago? Momiji, could you elaborate?"
Momiji nodded.
"Five years ago, there was a Nagora Society in Kyoto, as famous as the current Satsuki Society in Osaka. My master, Shikao Nagora, was the president."
"In a match, as long as my master wanted a card, he would never let anyone else take it."
"But my master developed an eye disease, limiting his competitive Karuta career to at most one more year. He desperately wanted a match against the president of the Satsuki Society—President Achiwa's wife, Mrs. Satsuki."
"My master publicized the match in the media, stating that the loser would disband their Karuta society. But in the end, my master never showed up for the match."
"The media claimed he was afraid to fight, so he skipped the match. Naturally, Mrs. Satsuki won by default."
"After that, my master disappeared. Without a president, our Nagora Society in Kyoto disbanded."
"After the disbandment, Yajima, Sekine, and I all joined the Satsuki Society here in Osaka. We've achieved good results; I've won the Satsuki Cup twice, while Yajima and Sekine are always competing for second place."
Momiji had a proud expression, practically begging for praise.
Yuu naturally obliged with a gasp of admiration.
"Wow, I didn't expect you to be so skilled, Momiji. Winning the championship twice at such a young age."
Momiji smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
Feeling the softness against his arm and smelling the girl's fragrance, Yuu felt a stir in his heart, but he controlled himself well.
"Momiji, let's play a game of Karuta."
Yuu wanted to play a round with Momiji to identify Shikao Nagora's favorite cards, hoping to piece together the crucial fingerprints.
Besides that, he also wanted to defeat Momiji in her area of expertise.
Women admire strength. Being crushed in her specialty by the man she already liked would likely make Momiji determined to marry no one but him.
Momiji, unaware of the severity of the situation, laughed lightly. "Yuu-kun, I'll be giving it my all. Even if you're amazing, I won't lose at Karuta!"
Momiji was naturally confident. She soon let go of Yuu's arm, and they sat facing each other on the sickbed.
Leaving a space between them for the territory, she took out her phone, selected a recording of a poem reader, and began the match with Yuu.
"In the age of the gods, the dark rocks stood silent..."
Outside the door, Ran and Sonoko heard the chanting of poems and looked surprised; they were actually playing Karuta in a hospital room.
Inside, Momiji was all smiles. Only five cards remained in her territory.
The rest of the cards were stacked neatly to the side, following Nagora's method, with the top six cards all related to maple leaves (Momiji).
Momiji looked at Yuu's territory, which still had twenty-five cards, and laughed triumphantly.
"Yuu-kun, it looks like you're going to lose. It seems you're not an expert at everything after all."
Yuu chuckled. "Oh, Momiji, don't underestimate me! Believe it or not, I won't let you take a single card from now on."
The groundwork was laid; it was time to make this black-stockinged busty beauty submit under his... hand!
Momiji laughed exaggeratedly, clearly not believing him.
In truth, Karuta held zero difficulty for Yuu. He had skimmed through all the poems earlier, and with his photographic memory, he had memorized all one hundred.
The rest was listening and finding the cards. While Momiji needed to train her hearing, vision, and reaction speed, Yuu's reaction speed alone was enough to crush her.
With speed several times that of a normal human, finding the cards before Momiji was child's play.
The next scene played out exactly as Yuu predicted. Momiji failed to grab even half a card. Every time she moved, Yuu's fingertips were already touching the card.
He didn't even need to swipe them away; he simply listened to the first half of the poem from the phone and lightly picked up the corresponding twenty-five cards one by one.
Momiji watched helplessly as the twenty-five cards dwindled rapidly while the cards in her own territory increased.
In the end, Yuu's territory was empty. He defeated Momiji with unstoppable momentum.
Momiji stared in disbelief. She had trained in competitive Karuta for over a decade and won the Satsuki Cup twice, yet she had lost so easily. It was unacceptable.
Her cat-like eyes stared at Yuu as if he were an alien species.
"Yuu-kun, how did you do that?"
Yuu picked up the stack of cards Momiji had set aside and spoke calmly.
"I just sped up a little."
He looked at the six cards in his hand and fanned them out. Sure enough, parts of a dark red fingerprint appeared on the bottom of the six cards, piecing together a complete print.
The blood was dark red, matching the color of the cards, which was why it hadn't been discovered for so long.
A smile touched Yuu's lips. It seemed the case had changed slightly, but the overall situation matched the intelligence from his past life.
While he was silently contemplating, a soft body suddenly tackled him onto the bed, and he felt a wet sensation on his cheek.
The girl's moist, soft lips carried a faint fragrance. After the kiss ended, she whispered praise into Yuu's ear.
"As expected of my future husband! I didn't know your Karuta skills were so superb. That's wonderful! Yuu-kun, can you teach me Karuta in the future?"
Momiji's eyes were full of anticipation. This was her only hobby, and seeing Yuu so skilled at it made her even happier.
How could anyone endure this situation? Yuu raised an eyebrow.
"Momiji, forget Karuta for now. Let me teach you something more interesting!"
With that, Yuu wrapped his arm around Momiji's soft waist, reversed their positions, and pressed down on her soft, delicate body with the force of his hips. He kissed her instantly.
Yuu unleashed his kissing skills. The inexperienced girl was no match for him; soon, her face flushed red, and breathing became difficult.
Mist filled her cat-like eyes, and tears actually began to flow.
The saying "women are made of water" was perfectly apt for Momiji Ooka.
Yuu had seen her cry several times on their first meeting.
Crying during a kiss was a first for him. Surprised, Yuu released her mouth, but he saw Momiji lifting her head, wanting to continue.
A wicked smile appeared on Yuu's face, and seeing it, Momiji lowered her head shyly.
The shyness of that bowed head was the most heart-stirring sight.
Yuu lowered his head again, kissing Momiji's lips while his large hand stroked her smooth black stockings.
Her beautiful legs were perfect—one inch more would be fat, one inch less would be thin. Just right!
The deep kiss lasted a long time. In her seventeen years, Momiji had never encountered such a situation. Toward the end, she could barely handle it, her body trembling gently.
Finally, Yuu released the fledgling, letting her pant for breath on the bed.
It wasn't that Yuu didn't want to continue, but Ran, Sonoko, and the butler Iori were waiting outside. The timing wasn't right.
He gathered all the scattered cards on the bed into the box and opened the door.
Muga Iori, Ran, and Sonoko walked in one by one.
Ran looked at Momiji's slightly flushed face and guessed what had happened, casting a helpless glance at Yuu.
Sonoko, Momiji's arch-rival, hadn't noticed a thing.
This fit Yuu's impression of her careless nature perfectly.
Yuu addressed the group: "Momiji, Mr. Iori, may I ask a favor?"
"Yuu-kun, ask anything!"
"Please don't reveal that we brought out the twenty-year-old traditional Satsuki cards. Otherwise, I fear something else might happen."
Muga Iori was very clever and reacted first.
"Mr. Hoshimiya, are you implying that today's explosion is related to these cards?"
Yuu nodded. "Mmm. If my prediction is correct, the culprit's goal is to destroy these cards. So please, keep this a secret."
"So, Yuu-kun, you already know who caused the explosion?" Momiji stared intently at Yuu.
Yuu smiled and nodded but didn't say much more.
"Alright!" Momiji regained her lady-like aura and ordered, "Iori, listen to Yuu-kun. You are forbidden to reveal this matter."
Iori bowed immediately.
"Yes, Miss!"
"I'll take these cards for now. Momiji, rest well. We'll go to Kyoto tomorrow to watch your match."
Hearing this, Momiji waved goodbye to Yuu energetically.
Yuu and the girls left the room, and Momiji and her butler prepared to discharge from the hospital.
Soon, Yuu saw Mikiko outside the consultation room. He also instructed her not to mention the cards.
Although Mikiko didn't understand Yuu's meaning, hearing that she could still use the cards in the finals, she had no objections.
Under Yuu's design, President Achiwa had no idea the cards had been saved.
Meanwhile, Conan and Heiji rode a motorcycle to the Yajima residence. Using the name of the Osaka Police Superintendent's son, they infiltrated the crime scene.
The scene still held the body of Toshiya Yajima. Blood flowed from the back of his head, and Karuta cards were scattered all over the room, many stained with blood. Yajima had been beaten to death.
Yuu could know the details of their investigation anytime through Noah.
But since they deliberately kept it from him to solve it alone, Yuu couldn't be bothered to interfere.
Naturally, he wouldn't offer any help either.