"Stop waving over there!"
Retracting his gaze, Fujino immediately stood up and shouted to the group, "Ms. Toda is drowning!"
"What?!"
Everyone present paused upon hearing this, stunned.
Clearly, they found it hard to believe Toda Kiwako would drown.
But recalling her behavior earlier, they had no choice but to believe it.
"Kiwako!"
Recovering his senses, Matsuzaki Masahiko was the first to shout and charge out.
"Wait! Masahiko, you can't swim!"
Subsequently, the other four university diving club members followed suit, rushing towards the sea together.
Seeing them all charge out, Ran also stood up, following along almost simultaneously with Conan.
Fujino, seeing this, didn't idle either, immediately following them.
It was high tide in the afternoon. The previously calm sea surface was now turbulent, ocean currents carrying the sea breeze, whipping up waves.
Soon, the group reached the drowning Toda Kiwako.
Matsuzaki Masahiko, the first to rush forward upon learning she was drowning, was knocked down by a wave. Unable to swim, he choked on seawater and coughed violently.
"Did you forget you can't swim?!"
Itou Hiroshi quickly caught up, grabbed Matsuzaki Masahiko, and threw him back.
He then swiftly reached Toda Kiwako, grabbed her jaw, and pulled her towards the shore.
"Kiwako!"
"Calm down!"
Everyone hurried over to check the situation.
"This shouldn't be..."
Nearby, Fujino looked at the seawater, which only reached his chest, his brow furrowing slightly.
The water was this shallow, only up to his chest.
Even if Toda Kiwako wasn't as tall as him, logically, it shouldn't have submerged her head...
A normal person might panic and drown.
But Toda Kiwako was a member of the diving club; her swimming skills should be far superior to ordinary people.
How could someone capable of snorkeling drown in such shallow waters?
Did she get a leg cramp?
Just as Fujino collected his thoughts, intending to return to shore with the others, a system notification suddenly sounded in his ear: "New Detective Profession Task detected. Please check."
Fujino opened the system task interface. A system light screen appeared before him:
[Detective Profession Task: Sea Snake Murder Case]
[Objective: Solve this case]
[Reward: 1,000,000 Yen, +100 Detective Reputation]
[Time Limit: 3 Hours]
"So it really wasn't that simple?"
Fujino looked at the system interface, then turned his gaze towards Toda Kiwako.
"A sea snake?"
If it was a sea snake, then that sea snake should still be nearby.
Finding that sea snake meant finding the crucial evidence.
One had to admit, a sea snake was indeed a very clever murder weapon.
One bite, and half your life is gone instantly.
Release it back into the sea, and the physical evidence vanishes.
Closing the system interface, Fujino activated his visual enhancement glasses and began searching for the sea snake mentioned in the system task title.
Soon, he spotted a black shadow flashing past in the churning sea.
Although it was only for a second or two, he confirmed the direction the sea snake was fleeing.
Taking a deep breath, he dived underwater.
It was a long, slender creature. Its head seemed to possess two transparent wings – a sea snake.
The sea snake's body undulated continuously, swimming at incredible speed against the current towards the depths of the ocean.
"How could something like this be here?"
Fujino caught up to the sea snake, grabbed it, and examined the two transparent white wings, his mind racing.
Meanwhile, on the shore.
"Where's Masahiko?"
Toda Kiwako, being carried towards the shore by Itou Hiroshi, coughed twice, asking weakly in a daze.
"Masahiko is right over there."
Itou Hiroshi teased, "After knowing you were drowning, he was the first one to charge into the sea without a second thought. He's soaking wet now."
"That's good..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she closed her eyes.
"Alright, your wife is yours now."
Itou Hiroshi handed her over to Matsuzaki Masahiko. "She just drowned a little; shouldn't be anything serious."
"Yeah, yeah, you don't need to worry too much."
Kawazu Kunio chimed in. "I think she just got a leg cramp."
"I knew I shouldn't have let her go snorkeling..."
Matsuzaki Masahiko complained as he took Toda Kiwako.
"Strange, where's Fujino-senpai?"
Just then, Ran, returning with the others, noticed something was wrong.
She turned her head, searching around, but couldn't find any trace of Fujino.
"He was right near here just now."
Conan, hearing this, also scanned the surroundings.
"Could it be..."
Ran's expression turned worried. "Senpai drowned too?!"
Conan turned his head towards the turbulent sea surface, his brow furrowed tightly.
He remembered Fujino swimming quite fast earlier; how could he possibly drown?
Could it also be a leg cramp?
That wasn't impossible.
Cramps made everyone equal. Even a professional athlete could drown if they got a cramp in the sea.
Thinking this, Conan suddenly panicked, shouting to Ran, "Ran-neechan, quickly go look for Fujino! He might have drowned too!"
Although that guy Fujino often teased him, he couldn't let him die now.
He still needed to use his exquisite reasoning to properly interrogate the guy who always bullied him!
"Fujino-senpai seems to..."
Just as Ran was about to ask the others for help, a loud shout came from behind: "Nobody move!!"
"Huh?"
"Splash!"
Hearing the sound, everyone turned around and saw Fujino leaping out of the sea like a dragon breaching the water, waving a black, wriggling, elongated object in his hand.
This scene strongly resembled Fujino conquering the sea.
"Phew..."
Fujino took a deep breath, alleviating the dizziness caused by lack of oxygen, then waved the sea snake, its head firmly gripped in his hand. "I just found this sea snake nearby. Ms. Toda might have been bitten by it."
"Sea snake?!"
Only then did everyone notice the long, black-and-yellow-spotted sea snake Fujino held, twisting erratically like some super noodle man.
"Fujino, you..."
Conan looked at Fujino in astonishment, at a loss for words.
How long was this guy underwater?
And he caught a sea snake!
Sea snakes could reach speeds of up to twenty kilometers per hour in the water.
Human swimming speed topped out at around five kilometers per hour.
Not to mention free diving without oxygen.
He remembered it seemed like four minutes had passed since he last saw Fujino.
Could this guy have really been underwater for four minutes?
Was that something a human could do?
Indeed, not something a human could do.
He had held his breath underwater for three minutes to catch this sea snake.
If his constitution wasn't different from ordinary people, this sea snake might have actually gotten away today.