In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
Fujino's Izu vacation came to a successful close.
This time, his gains were quite substantial.
Besides the one million yen system reward, he also obtained a large number of proficiency points.
Solving the case earned him 100 Detective Reputation points, and treating Toda Kiwako yielded another 100 Medical Profession points.
As a bonus, he also learned how to swim.
All in all, not only did he not lose money on this vacation, he actually earned a million.
With this million, he could open his shop or upgrade his Fighter profession.
The former, if successful, would provide him with funds; the latter would enhance his strength and constitution.
Sweet.
Driving back to his home in 5-chome, Tokyo, it was noon.
Just as he returned to his bedroom, Fujino received a phone call.
It was from Suzuki Sonoko.
"Fujino-senpai, are you going to attend the Magic Lovers Alliance gathering?"
"Gathering?"
"The one we talked about this morning."
Fujino took out his laptop and turned it on.
"I've been vacationing in Izu these past two days, haven't checked the chat room at all."
"I see... Anyway, everyone in the chat room is attending the gathering. It's this weekend."
"Wait, let me check."
Fujino logged into the Magic Lovers Alliance chat room.
Upon entering, he saw everyone chatting back and forth excitedly.
They were discussing organizing an offline gathering, to be held this weekend.
Suzuki Sonoko, under the username 'Magician's Apprentice', proposed bringing her girlfriend.
Sonoko's hidden identity in this chat room was male, so having a girlfriend naturally made sense.
However, Sonoko's acting skills were poor.
People in the chat room had long figured out she was female.
"A hobbyist gathering?"
After accepting the invitation to the gathering, Fujino hung up the phone, looked at the discussion content in the chat room, and scratched his short black hair.
He remembered this gathering; a murder case should occur.
But when he watched this episode, he didn't pay close attention, only remembering the killer was female, the victims were two internet trolls, and Kuroba Kaito also appeared in the end.
Those two internet trolls should be the same guys who insulted him a few days ago.
One called 'Escape King', the other 'Vanishing Pani'.
"Can only take it one step at a time."
Fujino sighed softly; thinking too much was useless.
Although his memory was decent, remembering most plots,
with over a thousand episodes, he had skipped some when watching in his past life.
No matter how good his memory, he couldn't fabricate memories out of thin air.
The White Wolf Cigarettes could be used to find people; he still had a few in his pocket dimension.
But people in the chat group used usernames.
The condition for using White Wolf Cigarettes was knowing the target's real name.
Without knowing their names, the cigarettes were useless.
Knowing nothing, he couldn't just crawl through the internet cables either.
If he could crawl through the internet cables, he would definitely go beat up those two internet trolls first.
A day passed uneventfully. The next day was a school day.
Fujino sent Ai-chan to school early in the morning, then headed to Teitan High School himself after dropping her off.
Today, the midterm results were released.
As expected, Fujino surpassed 99% of the school, ranking in the top ten.
Teitan High School Faculty Room.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, isn't it time to honor our agreement..."
Fujino, smiling, looked at the ever-present Hiratsuka Shizuka, saying sheepishly.
"Alright, alright. The third-year textbooks plus supplementary materials are all here."
Hiratsuka Shizuka pulled out a bag from under her desk and handed it to Fujino.
Fujino took the bag and immediately started examining the textbooks.
An incessant stream of [Student +1] prompts seemed to appear above his head.
"No need to be in such a rush, right?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at Fujino's smug, impatient expression and rubbed her forehead.
"Sensei, you don't understand. There's gold in books."
Fujino looked up at Hiratsuka Shizuka, saying meaningfully.
To a normal person, these books might not be anything special.
But to Fujino, these were proficiency points.
The Student profession gained proficiency points by learning various things.
But the most efficient method was reading.
Speaking of which, the Detective Samonji books he got last time... because he treasured them, he hadn't read them yet.
He wondered if Detective Samonji could grant any proficiency points.
"I didn't expect you'd actually know Chinese proverbs."
Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at Fujino with surprise.
"Well, my father had Chinese ancestry. I learned these from him."
Fujino immediately brought up his father from this world.
"No wonder your eyes and hair color are like that."
Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded in understanding upon hearing this.
After chatting for a while, Fujino left the faculty room and returned to Class 2-B.
"Ran, do you want to come to our Magic Lovers Alliance gathering too?"
Just as Fujino returned to his seat, he heard Sonoko inviting her best friend, Ran.
"Magic lovers gathering?"
Ran looked thoughtful. "Is it the chat room you and Fujino-senpai mentioned before?"
"That's right."
Sonoko snapped her fingers. "And Fujino-senpai will be attending too."
"I can't, really. I don't understand computers at all."
Ran waved her hand. "Besides, I'm not part of the chat room. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to go, right?"
"What does it matter?"
Sonoko looked nonchalant. "I've already thought of an excuse for you. I already said I'm bringing a friend."
"Well, in that case..."
Ran accepted Sonoko's invitation.
Probably the shinigami elementary student has to go too.
It's over. Even if a murder case wasn't supposed to happen this time, it would be forced to happen.
He could fleece the system for bounty money again.
In the blink of an eye, the day passed.
After school, Fujino drove to Teitan Elementary School.
Most elementary school students in Japan walk home by themselves, so among the crowd of children, Fujino stood out somewhat.
"Fujino-niichan, are you picking up Ai-chan again?"
The Death Squad group, walking out of school, noticed Fujino.
Ayumi was the first to run up and ask.
"Mhm. Want me to drive you guys home too?"
"No need."
Ayumi shook her head. "Today, our Detective Boys have a commission to handle."
Conan, looking at Fujino with dead fish eyes, said to Ai Haibara with a slightly teasing tone, "Don't you get tired... or embarrassed... being picked up from school every day?"
"No. Perhaps it might be embarrassing for you, but for me, it's just right."
Ai Haibara looked back.
"You really are strange..."
Conan scratched his head cluelessly.
"Then what about these kids?"
"Can't you look after these little ones?"
"You say it so easily. Dealing with these kids alone is incredibly troublesome."
A slight curve appeared on Ai Haibara's lips as she walked towards Fujino.
She was fundamentally different from that Kudo Shinichi fellow.
If Kudo Shinichi was light, living in a sunny and warm environment, then she was akin to darkness, forced to hide in the shadows.
Being picked up after school every day, having someone waiting at home upon returning.
These might be commonplace things, but for her, they were desperately craved luxuries.
Since shrinking, her fantasy seemed to have become reality.
Now, she desired nothing more than for this fantasy to continue...
Just like this, continuing was fine.
In the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived.
Saying weekend, it was actually the third day after Fujino returned from Izu, having attended school for one day.
Still drowsy, Fujino had just woken up when he was disturbed by the phone ringing.
He picked up the phone beside his bed and saw the caller ID: Megure Juzo.
"Fujino-kun, another murder case just occurred over in Beika Town. A strange message was left on the computer..."
Megure Juzo's voice came from the other end.
As Megure Juzo's voice sounded, a system task suddenly appeared before Fujino:
[Detective Profession Task: Magic Lovers Murder Case]
[Objective: Solve the Magic Lovers Murder Case]
[Reward: 1,000,000 Yen, +100 Detective Reputation]
"Beika Town?"
Fujino's spirits lifted upon hearing this. "Tell me the specific address, I'll head over right away."
Following the address provided by Megure Juzo, Fujino arrived in Beika Town.
Parking his motorcycle in front of an apartment building, he dismounted.
Three or four police cars were parked in front of the building, with guarding officers conducting routine inquiries at the entrance.
Fujino walked over, and the police stopped him.
After stating his title as Inspector Megure's dedicated assistant, the police let him through.
The crime scene was on the fourth floor of this apartment building.
Fujino took the elevator to the fourth floor. As the elevator doors opened, he saw police tape.
After being questioned again, Fujino entered the crime scene.
"Fujino-kun, you're here."
Upon entering, Megure Juzo noticed Fujino and greeted him immediately.
"What's the situation with the victim this time?"
Fujino walked slowly towards the room where Megure Juzo was.
As soon as he entered, he saw the male corpse slumped over the computer, a hole forced into the back of his head.
"The victim's name is Nishiyama Tsutomu, forty-one years old, single male, currently unemployed, main source of income is stock trading. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Estimated time of death is around seven PM last night. The body was discovered by Mr. Nishiyama's mother. Mrs. Nishiyama has currently been taken back to the MPD for questioning."
Nearby, Takagi Wataru flipped open his police notebook. He then pointed to the computer next to the body. "On the computer next to the body, a strange message was left."
"We still don't know what these words mean yet."
Megure Juzo took over. "However, based on preliminary deductions, we can confirm these words were likely left by the killer, and the fingerprints on the keyboard have been wiped clean."
Fujino walked over, glanced at the words on the computer screen, then put on gloves, moved the mouse, and opened the [Magic Lovers Alliance] chat room. "So this guy was Escape King."
He glanced at the corpse.
This guy called 'Escape King' certainly didn't hold back criticizing him, the high school detective Fujino, in the chat room.
Probably a professional internet troll in his daily life.
Well, look what happened now. Someone literally crawled through the internet cables to cash him out.
Daring to talk trash online in Beika.
Truly ballsy.
Everyone in Beika is talented.
As the saying goes, Beika people, Beika soul, Beika people's grudges never last overnight.
They'll even get you through the internet cables.
Honestly, Fujino didn't understand how the killer found this guy.
After all, even he found it difficult to track someone through the internet.
But suddenly, he felt a sense of satisfaction.
Anyway, the killer wasn't him; he didn't kill the guy.
"Fujino-kun, you know this guy?"
Megure Juzo asked Fujino with surprise.
"Mhm."
Fujino nodded, closing the chat room. "This guy and I were both members of the Magic Lovers Alliance chat room."
"Magic Lovers Alliance?"
Megure Juzo murmured, seeming to recall something suddenly. "I remember hearing from Mrs. Nishiyama that this guy was supposed to attend a gathering for that chat room you mentioned today."
"There is indeed a gathering for the Magic Lovers Alliance today."
Fujino switched back the interface, glanced at the signature on the computer screen. "This guy signing off as Kagemusha is also a member of this gathering."
"Which means, that guy will also attend the gathering today?!"
Megure Juzo immediately decided. "In that case, as long as we police arrive at the gathering site, we can catch the real killer, right?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple."
Fujino shook his head. "Since he dared to leave his name, he's definitely not afraid of the police staking out the place. Besides, since the police already know about this gathering, logically, he wouldn't easily expose himself..."
"Indeed."
Although his reasoning skills weren't great, Megure Juzo agreed with Fujino's words.
"Ring ring!"
Just then, Fujino's phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
He took out his phone; it was Suzuki Sonoko calling.
Fujino looked up at Megure Juzo, then answered the call:
"Fujino-senpai, where are you? Ran and I are already downstairs at your place, but Akemi-nee said you're not home."
"I'm currently dealing with some client matters."
"Then today's gathering..."
"Don't worry, I'll be there. I'm heading back right now."
Fujino hung up the phone, turned to Megure Juzo, and said:
"Anyway, leave this matter to me."
"Since that Kagemusha said he's only the first, then others will likely be targeted later. During the gathering, he will definitely target others. When that happens, as long as I spot him making a move, the killer's identity will naturally be revealed."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Fujino-kun."