Chapter 17: The Kyoto That Cannot Be Reached
Conan Edogawa adjusted his glasses, his mind racing through the results of his earlier probing. He took a step forward, fully intending to pull Natsume aside, lay out his deductions, and formulate a careful strategy for their next move. But before the young detective could even close the distance, his breath hitched. Natsume was already moving. She strolled casually straight toward the two men in black.
Her pace was brisk, her posture entirely relaxed. As she brushed past the two towering figures, her hand shot out with blinding speed. Her fingers closed around the handle of their metallic suitcase, wrenching it from their grip with a force that completely defied her slender frame. Without missing a single beat, she hurled the heavy case backward over her shoulder.
The two men blinked, their heads whipping around to follow the flying luggage. That split second of distraction was all Natsume needed. Her hands darted forward, seizing both men by their thick collars. With a sharp, fluid motion powered by the lingering physical strength of the Traveler, she yanked them inward.
A heavy thud echoed through the carriage as their skulls collided. Their eyes rolled back, and they crumpled to the carpeted floor like discarded puppets, entirely unconscious before they even understood what had hit them.
A few feet away, Genta let out a loud grunt. He scrambled forward, throwing his arms out just in time to catch the heavy suitcase against his chest. He staggered slightly under the weight but managed to keep it steady before it could hit the ground.
Conan Edogawa stood frozen in place, his jaw hanging slightly open.
The matter was clearly resolved. The immediate threat was neutralized, and it was certainly a good thing that the bomb would not explode. Yet, Conan felt a bizarre, choking sensation in his chest. The entire flow of events felt violently wrong. According to every rule of logic and deduction, shouldn't they have cornered the suspects, presented the evidence, broken down their psychological defenses with airtight reasoning, and only then moved to apprehend them? Skipping straight to the physical beatdown bypassed the entire process. It was just too fast.
Around them, the quiet atmosphere in the carriage shattered. Passengers shrank back into their seats, gasping and whispering. A young woman had just committed a blatant robbery and assaulted two grown men in broad daylight. Panic began to ripple through the cabin.
Recognizing the escalating fear, Conan immediately snapped out of his daze. He raised his voice, adopting his most innocent, carrying tone to explain the situation to the frightened onlookers, quickly urging a nearby passenger to fetch the train attendants.
Once the crowd realized the two unconscious men on the floor were dangerous criminals and that the girl had no intention of hurting anyone else, the heavy tension in the air thinned. Still, wary glances darted toward Natsume. The passengers kept a wide berth, giving her and the children plenty of space.
Natsume walked over and gently took the suitcase from Genta's arms. "Genta, thanks to you catching the suitcase, you did a great job."
Genta puffed out his chest, scratching the back of his head with a wide grin. "Hehe, of course! We are the Detective Boys, after all."
Mitsuhiko leaned in, his eyes fixed on the metallic surface of the luggage. "But Sister Natsume, what is inside this suitcase? You told us to catch it carefully just now and not to shake it violently."
"Well, I am not entirely sure," Natsume replied, her tone conversational, "but it is very likely a bomb."
Genta froze, his triumphant smile sliding right off his face. "Eh! Does that mean we just prevented an explosion?"
"Yes, you guys are very impressive."
The word bomb finally registered in Conan's brain. The image of Natsume casually hurling the suitcase through the air replayed in his mind, and a wave of ice-cold dread crashed over him. If Genta had tripped, if he had missed the catch, the entire train would have been reduced to twisted metal and ash. They would have all been buried right here.
He stared at the four of them, who all seemed entirely oblivious to the sheer scale of the danger they had just skirted. He could not hold his tongue.
"Sister Natsume, what you did just now was incredibly dangerous!" Conan shouted, his voice cracking slightly. He spun around to face the children, his tone dropping into a stern, uncharacteristically serious register. "And Genta, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, if you had not caught that suitcase, something terrible would have happened to all of us!"
Natsume looked down at the furious little detective. She had only taken the risk because she knew the rules of this world. The protagonist was standing right there; Conan Edogawa was not going to meet his end in a random train explosion., she remembered the original storyline clearly. Even after Conan had kicked this exact suitcase in the anime, it had not detonated immediately. She trusted the explosive's stability. It probably would have been fine even if it had hit the floor.
But she obviously could not say any of that out loud.
"Cough." Natsume cleared her throat, offering an apologetic smile. "Conan, it was an emergency just now, and that was the only way I could think of to separate them from the trigger. I definitely will not do anything so dangerous again in the future."
Her internal philosophy was simple: admit the mistake quickly, soothe the detective, and deal with the consequences later. 'Besides,'she thought to herself,'the stunts you pull in the future will be far more dangerous than tossing a single suitcase.'
The train attendant rushed into the carriage, breaking up the conversation. After taking one look at the unconscious men and hearing the word bomb, the attendant did not dismiss the claim as a child's prank. The sheer gravity of the situation prompted an immediate call to the police.
Word spread quickly through the train. Kogoro Mouri and Ran Mouri soon pushed their way through the crowd, arriving at the scene with pale faces. They waited anxiously with Conan and the children for the authorities to arrive, though Kogoro made sure to thoroughly scold the kids for getting involved in such a reckless stunt.
Before long, the screech of brakes echoed through the cabins as the train made an unscheduled emergency stop. The doors slid open, and a familiar, stout figure stepped aboard. Inspector Megure had arrived.
The Inspector immediately ordered the evacuation of the surrounding carriages, ushering Kogoro's group off the train to take their statements on the platform. Moments later, the heavy boots of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squad echoed down the aisle as they moved in to handle the suspected bomb.
None of this concerned Natsume anymore. She had already stepped off the train, enjoying the fresh air of the platform.
She turned, intending to walk over to Ran Mouri. Just as she moved, a figure dressed entirely in black brushed past her shoulder. In this world, the color black was an automatic trigger for paranoia. Natsume instinctively threw a sharp glance over her shoulder before turning her head back.
A second later, her brain caught up with her eyes.
Natsume spun around, her gaze scanning the chaotic sea of evacuated passengers. The platform was packed. People were shoving past each other, blocking her line of sight. Through the gaps in the crowd, she managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of a man walking toward the train. He had a distinct head of messy, black curly hair.
That hair. That profile. It dragged a specific name from the depths of her memory.
Jinpei Matsuda.
The man who should have sacrificed himself in a Ferris wheel explosion long before the main plot of this world ever officially began. Natsume remembered sitting in front of her screen, indignantly cursing the author for killing him off. She had mourned the tragic, bitter fate of the Police Academy Five, watching as their numbers dwindled until five minus one truly equaled zero.
But it could not be him, right? She had only arrived in this world after the main plot had already started. She had no opportunity to influence the past, no chance to save him. Yet, the figure walking away looked exactly like the character she remembered.
Natsume pressed her lips into a thin line, her brows drawing together. Before she could push through the crowd to follow him, Ayumi's bright voice called out her name, anchoring her back to the present. She took one last look at the train doors, deciding to lock this mystery away in her mind. She would investigate it later.
Meanwhile, the curly-haired man who had just been summoned to the scene by Inspector Megure paused in the doorway of the train. He glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes scanning the crowd until they landed on the blonde girl. A strange sense of familiarity tugged at him. She looked remarkably similar to the golden-haired man who had miraculously saved his life a few years ago.
But the shouts of his squad leader pulled his attention away. With an active bomb sitting in the carriage, he did not have the luxury of dwelling on the past.
The operation proceeded smoothly. The EOD squad confirmed the suitcase was packed with high explosives and successfully defused it. Back at the station, the two unconscious men woke up in handcuffs. Under interrogation, they quickly gave up the identities of the individuals they had been conducting their transaction with, leading to a swift round of arrests.
The crisis was averted, but the delay was fatal to their travel plans. The train had been grounded for hours. It was far too late to make it to Kyoto in time for the wedding. Defeated, the group had no choice but to purchase return tickets and head back the way they came.
By the time the police statements were finalized and Natsume finally unlocked the door to her new home in this world, the sky was dark.
"Traveler, you are back!" a bright, energetic voice called out from the kitchen. "I left some snacks on the counter for you. You can eat them if you are hungry."
"Xiangling, thank you." Natsume let out a long breath, the tension of the day melting from her shoulders.
The words nearly brought a tear to her eye. Because of the endless police questioning, she had been forced to eat a boxed dinner at the station, and the bland, cold rice had not suited her palate at all. Knowing there was fresh, warm food waiting for her at home felt like a true blessing. It saved her the exhausting chore of cooking after a long day.
That was right. The character she had pulled after her last ten-pull of Primogems was none other than Liyue's famous chef, Xiangling.
When the golden light had faded and Xiangling appeared, Natsume had been ecstatic. It meant she would never have to suffer through mediocre meals again. More, the empty commercial space on the first floor of her building finally had a purpose.
Natsume knew how to cook, and her meals were perfectly decent, but the daily grind of preparing food was a chore she desperately wanted to avoid. Now, with a master chef living under her roof, she finally had a lifetime supply of free, world-class meals to look forward to.
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