A few more days passed.
At school, Ran was excitedly telling me about Conan.
"You know, the other day those kids you saw, Conan's friends, they went treasure hunting and happened to catch some robbers, and get this, Ayumi gave Conan a kiss on the cheek, saying it was thanks to him."
'Ah~ that's the early treasure hunt episode.'
"She was so cute.
Now I get why you said they're connected by fate."
"Conan must've been happy, huh?"
"His face turned all red and he got embarrassed, hehe."
'Hehe, that Conan guy.'
Just then, Sonoko came over and said.
"Jin! Ran! This weekend my sister's college film club is having a gathering at our villa.
Want to come hang out with us?"
'This is the villa episode, huh?'
There were so many Conan episodes that even I got a bit confused.
Ran thought for a moment and then said.
"Sure, I don't have anything to do this weekend."
"How about you, Jin?"
"Wait a second, I have a bad feeling."
"Huh?"
"I feel like something bad might happen to Sonoko and Ran.
I think I need to do a reading on this."
Sonoko said, flustered.
"What? Really?"
"Yeah."
I took out some rice from my bag and sprinkled a little on the desk like last time, pretending to do a reading, then thought for a moment and said.
"Hmm... It doesn't seem to be about Sonoko and Ran, but more about that club."
"What!? Then you're saying my sister's in danger.
This won't do, let's go to my house right after school!"
And so we headed to Sonoko's house after school.
Ran came along too, worried by what I said.
Using , I could already tell that Sonoko's mother Tomoko and her sister Ayako were the only ones at Sonoko's house.[Observation Haki]
"Hello."
"Oh my! Ran, it's been a while, and Sonoko brought a guy! Wait! That's the onmyoji Jin!"
"Yes, I'm onmyoji Jin.
Nice to meet you."
Tomoko hurriedly went somewhere and came back with paper and a pen.
Tomoko was a married lady, but she still maintained considerable beauty.
I wasn't into ajummas, though.
"Could I ask for an autograph?"
"Hahaha, of course."
While I was signing the paper, the downstairs got noisy, and Ayako came down from her room.
Sonoko's older sister Ayako was also a beauty.
In the anime, the art style was pretty inconsistent.
"Oh? It's Jin! Why is a celebrity at our house?"
"Well, about that..."
Sonoko explained.
"But this club gathering is important.
We already made all the plans... And canceling just because you sensed bad energy is kind of..."
"Jin is different from other fakes!"
Ayako was the type who didn't believe in superstitions, like Conan.
No matter how hard Sonoko explained, she wouldn't listen.
"Then, let's just do a quick reading."
I took Ayako's hand and pretended to chant a short spell.
Ayako got embarrassed when I held her hand.
"Hmm... An axe and bandages..."
Sonoko asked.
"Huh? Axe and bandages? What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure, but they're things to be careful of and avoid in the future."
"Ah~ Is it like the black and medicine you told Shinichi about before?"
"Right, I think I should go with you this time.
If a weapon came up, it means someone might die."
"What??? Then it's extremely dangerous!"
At that moment, Ran said.
"I'll help too.
I have a black belt in karate, you know."
And so it was decided that Ran and Sonoko would go with me.
On the day, I took a wooden sword out of my inventory and was about to leave with Ran when Conan threw a tantrum, insisting on coming too.
This kid probably thought Ran and I were going on a trip together.
"No way! Conan, Jin and I have important things to do."
"Yeah, Ran and I are going on a trip to enjoy our honeymoon together."
"What are you saying, Jin!"
Smack!
I got smacked on the back for joking around.
"Cough... Actually, the reading came out bad, so we're going to catch a ghost.
So it's dangerous.
You'd be scared too, right, Conan?"
"Wow~ I want to see a ghost too!"
This kid had no intention of backing down.
Anyway, time was running out, so we had no choice but to take Conan.
We took a bus for about two hours and then walked through a forest path.
While walking, Conan looked at me and asked about onmyoji techniques.
"Big brother! Can I learn onmyoji techniques too?"
"You can learn, but it's too late.
Spiritual beings take interest in people who can perceive them.
So when you're born, we open your Spirit Eyes (eyes that can see ghosts) and you grow up under an onmyoji's protection so stray spirits don't attach to you, and then we remove the protection once you can defend yourself.
So if Conan wants to learn, you'd have to stay with me 24 hours a day for 5 years.
Then you could learn."
"Ugh... I'll just give up..."
"Why? Don't you like this big brother? Eung~?"
When I looked at Conan with a cheesy expression and said that, Conan made a disgusted face and said.
"Blech! I feel like I'm gonna puke!"
"Hahaha, I'm kidding, kid."
I was just making that up.
I don't know it either, so how could I teach him? But Conan seemed to be starting to believe what I was saying now.
"Then, like on TV or in movies, can you put curses on people too?"
"It's possible, but if a curse fails or gets broken midway, it rebounds to the caster, so it's dangerous."
Conan, this kid, kept asking about onmyoji techniques the whole time we were moving.
Like a true detective, now that he knew a new world existed, he asked everything he was curious about.
"Are there ghosts here right now too?"
"Hmm..."
I looked around.
There wasn't a single one.
But I wanted to mess with him.
"There is."
"Where?"
"One's sitting on Ran's shoulder."
"What! Eek!"
Startled by that, Ran hurriedly tried to brush her shoulder with her hand.
Pat pat!
Ran was cute, thinking of ghosts as bugs or something.
"Hahaha, I'm joking, joking.
There aren't any ghosts around here.
And ghosts don't fall off just because you brush them with your hand.
Hahaha."
"Geez! Jin, really!"
Still, this world definitely had weak spiritual influence.
Seeing that no ghosts were visible even in the mountains.
Maybe because there's a death god nearby?
"Jin, I think we're lost..."
"Really? Just a second."
I already knew the villa's location with .[Observation Haki]
But to act like an onmyoji, I struck a pose like I was doing a reading and started moving.
"This way!"
"Huh~? You can do that too?"
"Of course~ Just trust me!"
I took the lead and guided them, and soon the villa came into view.
"Wow~ Onmyojis can do anything."
"Right?"
We moved a bit more, and a deep cliff appeared ahead, with a large bridge made of wood and rope connecting to the villa.
"Building a villa here... Sonoko's family has unique taste."
"I'll say."
Conan agreed with my words.
"This looks perfect for a murder case."
Hearing that, Ran frowned and said.
"Don't say things like that."
"Ahaha..."
As we approached the bridge to cross it, someone was already crossing ahead of us.
Looking closely, it was an adult male wearing a bucket hat pulled down low and wrapped entirely in a black coat.
As he started crossing, the bridge shook, and the man turned around.
His face was wrapped completely in bandages.
Seeing that, Ran said.
"Oh, bandages! Hey, you there!"
When Ran called out to the person ahead, the mysterious person wrapped in bandages hurriedly ran away.
"Jin, isn't that him? He was wearing bandages on his face?"
"I don't know, it was too far to tell."
I plan to just wait until the first murder happens.
Because in this episode, the person who dies deserves it, and I don't want to interfere with a revenge that was prepared for a long time.
We crossed the bridge and arrived at the villa.
Then Sonoko came out to greet us.
"Why are you so late? I was so worried waiting."
"Hahaha, Ran's directionally challenged..."
Poke!
"Ugh!"
Ran jabbed my side.
"Who's the little kid next to you?"
"This is Conan.
I told you before, the kid Professor Agasa is looking after."
"Ran! Jin said it might be dangerous, so how could you bring a kid!"
"Ahaha, well, there was nowhere else to leave him... Sorry..."
Sonoko looked at the wooden sword I was holding and said.
"Jin, did you learn 'kendo' too?"
"No, not kendo, but a sword technique passed down in my family.
If I hold a sword, there's probably no one in this world who could beat me."
"Come on~ No way.
You look like a pretty boy noble type."
"Seriously, you don't believe me..."
They don't know.
If I wanted to, I could wipe out the entire population of the Conan world in just a few days.
"Let's go inside for now."
"Okay."
We went inside the villa with Sonoko's guidance.
"We prepared rooms on the second floor, so unpack and come down."
"Got it."
I went up to the second floor first and knocked.
In this episode, Ran bursts doors open and learns the culprit's secret, which makes the culprit target her relentlessly, so I wanted to prevent that.
Knock knock!
"Yes!"
When I knocked, a man inside came out and opened the door.
"Sorry.
There's supposed to be an empty room on the second floor, but I don't know where it is."
"Oh! You're the onmyoji Jin.
Nice to meet you.
I heard you were coming.
The empty room is at the end of this hallway."
"I see.
Thank you."
I took Ran and Conan and moved to the end room.
Just in case, I knocked again.
Knock knock!
There was no response, so I said.
"This seems like the empty room?"
We went inside, and there was nothing except furniture, so I told Ran to use this room, and I decided to use the room right across with Conan.
Then Conan's expression turned sour.
"Why? Sad you can't stay with your sister?"
"No, it's fine..."
This kid really couldn't hide his expressions.
We unpacked and went downstairs.
Then the club members were all ready and had come down.
"Wow~ It's the onmyoji Jin.
Could I get an autograph?"
"Yes, of course."
I gave autographs to the people who asked.
Then Sonoko introduced each person.
"This is Ohta Masaru-san, who mainly played the lead roles in my sister's film club."
"Nice to meet you."
Masaru was a guy with long hair and a handsome appearance.
"This is Sumiya Hiroki-san, who handled filming."
"Nice to meet you."
Hiroki was the kind of person you could see anywhere, ordinary.
Since he was in charge of the camera in the club, he was currently holding a small camera and filming something.
"This is Takahashi Ryouichi-san, who handled stage setup."
"Nice to meet you."
Ryouichi was a pretty chubby guy with glasses.
"And this is our sister, who handled makeup and costumes, currently looking for a boyfriend."
"Oh my, this kid..."
This is Sonoko's sister, Ayako.
In the anime, the art style was really inconsistent.
Soon she gets a boyfriend and gets married.
"Lastly, this is Ikeda Chikako-san, who was the director, wrote the scenarios, and was the club president."
"Nice to meet you."
Chikako was a chic-looking beauty with a short pixie cut.
She was also the writer of the famous work 'Blue Kingdom'.
Chikako looked at me and said.
"Well, I didn't expect to see a celebrity in a place like this.
I heard the story, that bad energy surrounds our club members?"
"Yes, now that I'm here, I can definitely tell.
There's a female ghost with short hair, glasses, and freckles lingering around."
"Hic!!!"
At my words, people turned pale, broke into cold sweat, and froze in place.
"It seems to be saying something, just a moment."
I stood up, sat in the middle of the living room, and pretended to use techniques.
"Hmm... She says she can't forgive... I don't know what this means."
Then Chikako stood up, glared at Ayako, and shouted loudly.
"What are you doing right now! Is this a hidden camera!? Stop it right now!? Ayako! Did you tell him?"
Ayako was flustered and said.
"No, it's a misunderstanding.
I didn't say anything.
Jin suddenly came to our house and said bad energy surrounds this gathering and it might be dangerous, so we should go together."
At that moment, I said.
"Ayako-nim is telling the truth.
I just say what I see with onmyoji techniques.
Do you know something about the ghost that's lingering now? She seems to have deep resentment."
Everyone was reluctant to talk.
The ghost I mentioned was Atsuko, who was in the same club and dreamed of being a novelist.
But Atsuko had worked hard preparing her novel 'Sky Blue Kingdom', and Chikako saw it, copied it, revised it into a movie script as 'Blue Kingdom', and submitted it under her own name.
Because of that, Chikako won a newcomer screenplay award, and Atsuko, in despair, committed suicide in the club room.
This was the cause of this incident.
"Hmm... You seem reluctant to talk, so I won't ask further."
After that, everyone just sipped tea in silence.
Then Ryouichi, who handled stage setup, stood up and said.
"I'll go fix the roof.
The weather forecast said it would rain this evening."
"Thanks, Ryouichi.
Be careful."
"Yeah."
Chikako also got up to go somewhere.
Seeing that, Hiroki, who handled filming, asked.
She was his girlfriend.
"Chikako, where are you going?"
"For a walk."
"Wait, they said it's going to rain!"
"I don't care."
Chikako was in a bad mood because of my words and was just being stubborn, and Hiroki followed to stop her.
And Masaru, who had played the lead, approached Ran and hit on her.
"Would you like to take a walk with me?"
"But they said it's going to rain..."
"Walking in the rain is also a very romantic thing."
Ran looked troubled, and Conan and Sonoko didn't look pleased.
So I pulled Ran into my arms and said.
"Is there something you want with my girlfriend?"
"Was she Jin's girlfriend? Sorry about that."
Ran understood my intention and didn't say anything.
Masaru just gave up and went somewhere else.
I looked at Sonoko and Conan, winked, and gave a thumbs up.
"Thanks, Jin.
That was awkward."
"What, this much is nothing."
We sat at the table playing cards to pass the time, and the people who had gone out came back one by one and said.
"Did you see that person? The one with bandages wrapped around..."
"I saw them too.
They were walking around with an axe.
I got scared and came back to the villa quickly."
Finally, it looks like it's about to start.