Not a detective

Page 197

Instead, she went to an inconspicuous toilet, where she moved several pieces of furniture and floor tiles, activating numerous passwords and mechanisms.

Finally, a hidden passage appeared.

Standing in front of that door, Yuki Yasui took a deep breath, rubbed her face, and made her hair even more disheveled.

When she pushed open the door, she reverted to her panting, terrified state:

"Holy Maiden... Holy Maiden...! Run! Brothers and sisters outside, they look strange... they're about to break in...!"

The room was actually very cramped, so it had to be this way because it couldn't be too obvious on the architectural drawings, and her screams were particularly piercing.

Within a mere few square meters, besides Yuki Yasui who entered through the door, there was only a single flight of stairs in front of her.

Above the steps was a spacious bench, made of luxurious wood and carved with classical Eastern patterns, on which someone appeared to be sitting.

But there was a curtain in between, and the lighting was dim, so it was impossible to see clearly. Only the outline was vague, but it seemed to be a young girl.

That is—the Saintess.

Yuki Yasui actually knew very little about it.

All she knew was that the police believed the Church's power center was the "Church Master," but that was a misconception. In reality, Lord Shinonome was merely the main provider of funds.

The one who truly holds the power to perform miracles is this mysterious saint.

To take the simplest example, ever since Yasui Yuki learned about this place, this saintess has never come out.

She sat on the bench the whole time, neither eating nor defecating, just like a puppet, simply giving orders.

Every time she gave instructions on the development of the church, it further expanded the church's influence and brought in new important figures; she never made a mistake.

It was practically a divine message.

Given the cunning of a con artist like Yuki Yasui, she would always suspect that there might be a secret passage under that chair, where someone might secretly bring food to the saintess.

But after observing for so long, she still couldn't find any flaws... In the end, she had to believe that this saintess really did possess some kind of power.

Yuki Yasui believed that even if the church's leaders were all killed, even if all its funds were confiscated, even if all the believers went mad...

As long as this saintess is still alive, there is still a possibility of her rising again.

But the curtain in front of her remained calm and still, and the silhouette of the shadow did not respond at all, as if ignoring her anxiety and shouts.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Yasui boldly approached and lifted the curtain that no one had ever dared to touch.

It is precisely because she is not a believer that she could do such a thing—

"Holy Maiden...it's urgent, run! I'll take you away, or can you save the believers..."

Yuki Yasui's acting skills are still excellent, but at this moment, she couldn't help but pause for a moment.

To her disappointment, even after lifting the curtain in the room, she still couldn't see the saint's true face.

A white cloth was draped over the saint's face, gently covering her eyes and obscuring her entire face.

It felt eerie, like what you'd wear at a funeral or memorial service.

Although she seemed even younger than expected, just as Yasui Yuki was about to say something and pull the saintess up from her seat—

He found that his words had turned into blood, spurting from his throat.

"Cough cough..."

The saint's hand passed through Yasui Yuki's chest and pulled out her heart from behind.

Yuki Yasui's face contorted in pain. She, who had no religious beliefs, felt intense agony, but what she couldn't understand even more than the pain was how things were unfolding:

"Why... Your Majesty, I came to save you..."

"You just want to use this opportunity to kidnap and manipulate me, become the new patriarch, and establish a new church. What a boring plan, what a boring person."

The saintess's voice was soft and gentle. She dropped her heart along with Yasui Yuki's and stood up: "Didn't you hear? Rumors are circulating in this city; a new link is about to be completed. I never imagined that all my efforts would end up being a 'wedding dress' for me. Was I too merciful, or was I too cowardly to face it myself…?"

It was less like he was explaining to the corpse and more like he was talking to himself.

"This plan has failed. Let's start Plan C."

The blood-stained white cloth was removed, crumpled into a ball, and dropped on the ground, revealing a pair of eyes that were dull and flat, like the surface of paper.

God's Winter: God's Winter After 8

"So... you didn't actually plan to go to university in Mie Prefecture?"

“Who wants to go to such a rural place? I’m a native Tokyo man…”

"Apologize to the people of Sanchong? Then what were you doing there for six months? Going on vacation?"

"Of course I lied to the Imperial Academy. I told the Onmyoji there that I would study at the university there, and then they obediently let me visit the shrine. Hehe."

"That's absolutely awful..."

"Tch, if I hadn't come back, who would have taken care of you, the younger generation? You haven't been able to eat my cooking for the past six months, you'd probably be crying your eyes out."

"Who cares where you go...!"

The two of them started arguing as soon as they came down, and Yuki could only awkwardly try to break them up, saying, "Stop arguing..." She felt a little embarrassed standing between them.

For a moment, she wanted to pretend she didn't know these two childish guys.

Who would have thought that they were the ones who just saved Tokyo?

Dongyun Sueyue remained seated in her usual spot, and despite the intense fighting in the air just moments before, she was the only one who hadn't gone to the window to watch.

She simply gave Hoshino the order: "Someone has illegally entered the agency. Throw her out—"

Xingyu also said awkwardly, "That's not a good idea," and gave a silly laugh.

In such a chaotic atmosphere, the fact that everyone was dressed in almost all sorts of strange costumes actually created a bizarre Halloween atmosphere.

Only Yumiko Ezaki felt a little out of place, stood up, and timidly raised her hand:

"Um... now that everything's alright, I'd like to go to the police station to see my parents. I wonder where they are..."

"It's not safe for you to go out now."

"Don't go out."

Asakawa Riku and Chizuko stopped arguing at the same time and turned around to say that although they used different tones, they meant the same thing.

Although Shinonome Kosuke was eliminated and his followers temporarily regained their senses and stopped attacking people like zombies, it was still not safe outside. The snow country that Yukie and Hoshino brought had only recently melted, and the icy water was still up to their calves on the streets and had to be drained slowly. Other parts of Tokyo were still in chaos.

Due to the impact of the riots, many stampedes occurred during the escape, some shops along the street had their windows broken, some people took the opportunity to loot and plunder, and there were also many fires.

The whole of Tokyo is still under a chaotic curfew, as if it had been swept by war... some of it was affected by the battle between the "Great Tengu" and the "Supreme God".

Let alone rebuilding, it will probably take at least two or three days, or even a week, to return to basic normalcy.

Moreover, although Shinonome Kosuke was eliminated, it does not mean that the "Supreme God" was eliminated. As long as there are believers, there is a possibility of resurrection.

Although the one resurrected may not be Shinonome Kosuke, but rather a "deity" that better meets the expectations of the believers.

To completely extinguish any hope of the resurrection of the gods, it is necessary to rely on national-level resources to provide individual counseling and psychological treatment to believers, which is a long process.

Let the Ministry of Supervision handle it; they've been slacking off way too much this time.

Asakawa Riku looked at Ezaki; he'd had enough of the cult stuff already, and now he had something more interesting to say:

"Besides, you still owe me a commission fee."

"Eh……?"

"I didn't mean to reopen old wounds, but you promised me, and this is a condition. What exactly happened to the Detective Club before you were kidnapped by the Spider Woman?"

In that instant, Ezaki's face suddenly turned pale.

In that instant, it felt as if we had returned to that springtime...

"Let me tell you."

Chizuko suddenly chimed in:

"Actually, there was nothing particularly secret, nor was there any conspiracy. It all started because of one mistake... my mistake."

"In the spring of 2023, I was a first-year high school student, just like Yumiko and the others. Because I love mystery novels, but there was no such club in this school, I posted a poster on the bulletin board and gathered seven other freshmen in our grade to form the 'Mystery Club,' which is the prototype of the club we have today."

"Although the club was formed, and I was elected as the president because I was the original convener, it wasn't good for the club to just sit there idly. So at the time, I made a decision that I regretted very much, which was to start the mystery club's research activities with the Tsuchigumo as the research object."

"Yes, the Spider Woman had already started to become active before that. She must have just escaped from the Dragon Palace and was in a state of mania and suspicion. She built an underground cellar and scavenged for living supplies and goods to transport into it. At that time, there were many eyewitness reports about a monster that looked like a spider, with a terrifying appearance and extremely fast movement."

"At the time, I really believed that it was the yokai [Tsuchigumo], and I had the club members investigate it. Although there was a certain risk involved, I was confident that I could control it if the target was a yokai. If it really was Tsuchigumo, I had a whole set of plans to deal with it. If it got out of control, I would deal with it immediately."

"But unfortunately, her true identity is that of a [superpowered person]."

"This caused my plan to completely go wrong. I only started to panic and fear when the members disappeared from their homes one by one. But the Spider Woman's teleportation left no trace, and there was no way to track her down. At that time, I didn't even know if she was still in Tokyo, if she had already left the country, or if the hostages were still alive. All of these were unknown..."

"This accident is entirely my responsibility. It was my mistake, my naivety and arrogance that caused it, and I made others pay for my mistakes."

"So, after that, I searched all over Tokyo for the Spider Woman's trail while looking for a way to rescue the hostages. After discovering the cellar, I still couldn't easily break in. I might not be able to take down the target by myself. Asking my father or the Inspection Department for help would easily scare the target away, making it difficult to capture the Spider Woman who has the ability to teleport. I couldn't alert her, so I had to use a 'bait' method—a bait that doesn't seem that powerful, but can kill with one blow, to make the Spider Woman lure the wolf into the house herself."

"I spent a whole year planning and waiting. During that time, I would sneak over to the cellar from time to time. Fortunately, Yumiko and the others were in relatively stable condition. If the Spider Woman had any intention of going all out, I would have had to force my way in myself. But this year has been relatively peaceful. Although the dosage of the anesthetic was unsettling, I had to be patient and lie low."

"That's the background, Asakawa-san. You know what happened after that."

"This whole thing started because of me, it's all my fault. If you hadn't come, things might have been even worse."

God's Winter: God's Winter After 9

When Chizuko said these things, her tone was calm.

But from her slightly trembling shoulders and increasingly lowered head, it was clear that she was deliberately controlling her emotions; her actual regret and pain were unspeakable.

Letting her recall this experience herself might be even crueler than letting Ezaki tell it.

I once thought it was just a fun club activity, but I never imagined that my choice would have such serious consequences.

At that moment, Yumiko Ezaki suddenly walked over and stood between the two:

"This...this can't be blamed on the president! This...this was a survey that we all decided to conduct together...it's not the president's fault!"

Originally uneasy and timid, she actually stood up to defend Chizuko: "After we were rescued, the president came to visit us many times... She's very kind!"

Asakawa Riku was speechless. He knew that Ezaki might have misunderstood. Seeing his argument with Chizuko, he might think that their relationship was really bad.

All I can say is:

"I see."

In fact, he couldn't possibly blame Chizuko-senpai.

She was indeed responsible for that student disappearance incident. After all, as the club president, it was wrong of her to recklessly allow ordinary students to investigate when she knew the target was in danger.

But the real culprit is the Spider Woman. Chizuko spent a whole year making amends and trying to make amends, which proved her regret and determination.

"It's okay, Yumiko, it'll make you feel better to talk about it."

Chizuko patted Ezaki on the shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "Besides, it's all over now. My main purpose in going to Ise Grand Shrine this time, besides investigating the secrets of divine descent, was to find a way to heal you. I've already found it, and after some time, you'll forget that painful experience and be able to start a new life."

"...Really?!"

Jiang Qi stared at her in disbelief. For so long, she had been plagued by gloom and nightmares, and she never thought that she could get rid of them one day.

Moreover, what about her classmates who have more severe symptoms and are still in the hospital...? Could they also be saved?

"of course it's true."

Chizuko smiled confidently, it seemed that she had never given up on the idea of ​​saving them all this time: "If you want to return to the Mystery Club in the future, I will welcome you anytime."

"Don't get yourself into trouble..." Asakawa Riku walked over and tapped her head. "Besides, you'll graduate in a few months, won't you?"

Chizuko covered her head, tilted her head back in dissatisfaction, and grinned.

"Knowing I'm your senior, you still act so disrespectfully... Besides, you're still part of the mystery club, right? If Asakawa-kun were here, that kind of thing definitely wouldn't have happened."

—I can't guarantee that.

Asakawa Riku thought helplessly, but didn't say it out loud. In the past two years, he felt that too many unusual things had happened around him, many of which were beyond his expectations.

Even during his years as a "Faceless Man," he had never had such a thrilling experience. At the time, he insisted that this was just a world without supernatural powers.

But the past two years have been bizarre and strange. I've met more and more people and encountered all sorts of strange things.

It's as if the timeline changed the moment I entered high school.

I originally wanted to be an ordinary student and live an ordinary high school life, but it felt like I was being pushed along, forced to keep moving forward.