Ran won the tournament just like in the original work without any trouble.
We congratulated Ran on her victory and had a simple meal at a family restaurant before heading home.
Two days passed like that and the weekend arrived.
I was just lying around at home doing nothing.
"Ah~ I really, really don't want to do anything."
Knock knock knock!
I was busily playing dead when the housekeeper knocked.
"What is it?"
"Young master, someone is here.
They said they're your classmates."
"Really?"
I checked the time and it was already evening.
I didn't have any friends who would come this late, and I hadn't told many people where I lived, so I was puzzled and looked out the window.
Then I saw Ran, Sonoko, and Shinichi who had turned into Conan standing outside the gate.
"What brings you here on the weekend? And how did you know where my house is?"
I opened the gate and went outside to greet Ran, Sonoko, and Conan.
Sonoko answered my question.
"It's about Shinichi.
He's missing, and what you said before came to mind, so we got worried."
"I see? Come on in for now."
I guided them to the living room and gave each of them a cup of tea, and gave Conan a juice.
Ran and Sonoko looked around my house and said.
"Wow~ Jin, you live well.
This is the first big house I've been to besides Sonoko's."
"Yeah, same here."
I knew Conan's identity, but I pointed at Conan and asked the girls.
"By the way, who's that kid?"
Ran answered.
"This is Conan.
The neighbor, Professor Agasa, asked me to look after him for a while, so I'm taking care of him for now."
"I see?"
I stared at Conan intently.
Then Conan broke into a cold sweat, avoided my gaze, and just kept sucking his juice through the straw.
It was kind of funny, but I pretended not to know and asked how they found my house.
"But how did you find my house?"
This time Sonoko answered the question.
"Ah~ It's pretty famous among rich people.
And there's only one house this big around here, so it was easy to find."
"I see.
So Shinichi went missing?"
At that question, Ran explained in detail.
She said she went to Tropical Land with Shinichi yesterday, a case happened, Shinichi solved it with his deductions, and after they split up there had been no word from him.
They looked around everywhere and, with Sonoko's help, came to my house.
"I see... But isn't it a bit early to say he's missing? It's only been a day.
Since it's the weekend, maybe he went off to play with friends?"
Ran said with a serious face.
"No, he doesn't have any other close friends besides us, and this is the first time he's been out of contact and not home for this long."
'So Shinichi doesn't have a single close friend except for girls.'
"Alright, I'll try divining it."
"Thank you.
And..."
Ran took money out of the bag she brought and handed it to me.
"I heard that these things work better when you accept payment, so I prepared this.
I really want to find him."
The money she handed me was a considerable amount.
I knew the Mouri Detective's household finances were tight since he wasn't famous yet, so seeing her prepare this much money meant she must be desperate.
I gave the money back and said.
"No, it's fine.
You're going to be my wife in the future, so I'll look into it for free."
"Eh?? Wasn't that just a joke you said to mess with Shinichi?"
Hearing my words, Ran's face turned red and she looked flustered.
At that sight, Conan glared at me.
"No, it's true.
Honestly, I was surprised too.
I'm into curvy Western beauties, you know."
Hearing that, Sonoko suddenly stood up and slapped my back.
"Come on!"
Smack!
"Ugh! Why?"
"Men, I swear... Anyway, just do the reading."
"Y-Yeah..."
I stood up and led them to a large room I had decorated to look like an onmyoji's divination space.
Talismans were plastered all over the walls, and I had set up the middle of the room like a Japanese shrine, so it gave off a creepy vibe.
I had put effort into decorating it because I thought rich people would feel like it was legit if it looked like this.
"Uwah... This place is kinda creepy."
Seeing the room, Sonoko got scared and clung tightly to Ran.
"Just wait here for a bit."
I went to the room next door that I had prepared, put on onmyoji robes, and came back into the room.
Sonoko was impressed at the sight and said.
"Oh~ Dressed like that, you really look like an onmyoji."
"I am a real onmyoji."
"Ahahaha, r-right..."
I lit incense in the middle, sat in front of it, took a posture like I was concentrating, and recited a chant.
This time I pretended to chant in Sanskrit, making sure to do it properly.
They said 'Sunguri dangdang' was childish, so I had no choice.
It was kind of fun though...
Seeing me proceed seriously, Ran, Sonoko, and Conan swallowed and watched with tense expressions.
After a while, I opened my eyes and said.
"Hmm... This is strange..."
"Huh? Why? Is there some problem?"
"Right now, there's no one named Kudo Shinichi in this world.
That means he's dead."
"What!!?? What did you say!!!??? Is that true???"
Sonoko and Ran were incredibly shocked by those words.
"Calm down and listen for a second."
I calmed them down and continued speaking.
"The strange thing is that when a person dies, their soul should be visible.
But in Shinichi's case, I can't see him no matter how hard I look.
In cases like this, it usually means he changed his name and is living as someone else.
In the onmyoji world, we consider names very important.
So sometimes it shows up like this."
Hearing that, Ran and Sonoko finally sighed in relief and said.
"Ah... Thank goodness.
I really thought something terrible had happened."
"Yeah, I felt my heart drop for a second there."
"But why would it show that he changed his name? And what on earth is Shinichi doing, not even coming home!"
Ran looked at me and said.
"Can you find him?"
I pretended to think for a bit and then said.
"Hmm... It would be easy if I knew the name he changed to, but I'll try."
I sat down again, held up a talisman, pretended to concentrate, and shouted.
Then I stood up, closed my eyes, and acted like the talisman was leading me, slowly walking toward Conan.
Conan panicked and started backing away.
When I kept following Conan, he broke into a cold sweat and, realizing his short legs wouldn't work, suddenly started running away.
Dadadadada~
"Uwaaah!"
Seeing that, Ran scolded Conan.
"Conan! You shouldn't run in a place like this!"
"Ahahaha, well..."
Smack!
I stuck the talisman on Conan's forehead, who had paused briefly at Ran's scolding.
"Huh?" "Huh?"
Ran and Sonoko were flustered at the sight.
I was laughing inside, but I also acted flustered and said.
"Huh? Why did it stick here? This talisman is supposed to find people... Did it fail? Let me try again."
Smack! Smack! Smack!
I kept pretending to search and stuck more talismans on Conan's face.
Conan had given up on running away and just stood there.
Looking at Conan's face while sticking them on, seeing him unable to escape and breaking into a cold sweat in panic was truly a sight to behold.
The sweat made the talismans stick really well, which made it even funnier.
"This is strange... If this is happening, it means this kid knows where Shinichi is.
Let me try reading his soul..."
When I raised my hand to touch Conan's head, Conan decided he couldn't take it anymore and hurriedly ran outside.
"Sis, if I don't go home this late I'll get scolded! I'll be at home~!"
Dash dash dash!
"Conan! Wait~!"
Ran called out to him in a hurry after seeing that, but he was already gone.
"Why is he acting like that? And Jin, why did you keep sticking talismans on Conan's face?"
"The key to finding Shinichi is with that kid named Conan.
So I was trying to read his soul..."
"I see? Then can I ask you again tomorrow? I'll bring him."
"No, I'll go.
It's late today, so I'll give you a ride."
I changed clothes, came out, rode my bike, dropped Ran off first since she was close, and then took Sonoko on the back to her house.
Vroom vroom vroom~
"Hey, um..."
"Huh? What?"
"About that fortune, that you'll marry Ran in five years, was that not a joke but the truth?"
"Yeah.
We're firmly connected by fate, so unless something special happens, that's how it'll be."
"Still... you said the future isn't set.
Then maybe it could be someone else?"
"That's right, the future isn't set.
That's why I said 'unless something special happens'."
"Special like what?"
"Hmm... A big accident that changes fate, or I could use sorcery to slightly twist the fate and change it."
"I see... But Shinichi and Ran are close..."
"I don't care.
I'm going to meet lots of women before I become an adult, so I can't demand that a woman only look at me.
And fate says that, but right now they're just friends and nothing more.
There's still a lot of time left."
"Still, it feels weird to think that the person you're going to marry is seeing other people."
"Not really, like I said before, I'm into curvy Western beauties."
Suddenly Sonoko slapped my back with her palm again.
"Come on!"
Smack!
"Ugh! We're going to crash!"
"Honestly! Men!"
Anyway, I dropped Sonoko off and went back home.
The next day the weekend ended and I went to school again.
As expected, Shinichi was absent.
Seeing that, Ran rushed over, grabbed me, and shook me while saying.
"Nothing's happened to Shinichi, right? Right?"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down.
It said he's still alive.
After class today, let's go see that kid named Conan."
So until class ended, Ran couldn't sit still.
Sonoko was worried seeing her like that.
When class ended, I rode my bike with Ran to the Mouri Detective Agency.
As soon as we went in, Detective Mouri greeted me warmly.
"Oh~ Son-in-law, welcome! Puhahahaha! I heard about it!"
"Nice to meet you, Detective Mouri."
At those words, Ran said flustered.
"Geez! Dad! I said that just came up in the fortune."
It seemed Detective Mouri had heard about the fortune I mentioned from Ran.
"Getting married early wouldn't be bad at this rate.
You're super rich and famous! Hahahaha!"
I wondered why Detective Mouri was acting like this.
He wasn't famous yet, so maybe it was because of money troubles.
Ran seemed to give up on explaining any further and just served tea without a word.
I sat on the sofa in the office and looked around.
There were trash bags here and there that hadn't been cleaned, and a huge pile of cigarette butts in front of the TV.
Come to think of it, I didn't see Conan.
"Where's Conan?"
"He went out somewhere."
I figured he was probably at Professor Agasa's house.
Since he wasn't going to school yet, that was the only place he could be.
At that moment, Detective Mouri asked me to read his fortune.
"By the way, I've been getting no clients lately.
Could you read my fortune?"
"Of course, you're going to be my future father-in-law."
"Puhahahaha, that's my son-in-law."
I pretended to concentrate for a bit and then told Detective Mouri his fortune.
"Hmm... It says a big lucky charm has come in recently.
If you don't kick that lucky charm away, you'll gradually have financial luck going forward."
"Oh~ Is that so? Then that lucky charm must be you!"
I was talking about Conan, but what a misunderstanding.
"I don't think it's me."
"Hahaha, no way.
It must be you for sure."
'Man, this guy just won't listen... Now I get why Ran said she suffers because of the people around her.'