A group of people divided up the work.
Hattori Heiji would go check out the body and ask around about the victim. Ran Mouri and the others would talk to the locals and see if anyone held a grudge against Toshimi Ebihara — maybe someone would turn out to be a suspect.
As for Jiangxia... Coincidentally, his task was "go talk to Kadowaki Saori and see what she knows."
Kadowaki Saori was a key figure in this case — she'd previously claimed "the mermaid wants to kill me," and now someone had actually been murdered, with the killing eerily linked to mermaid legends.
Although there wasn't hard evidence connecting the two events, the detectives' instincts told them Kadowaki Saori might know something.
Since Hattori Heiji had been too blunt earlier, his first interaction with Saori didn't go over well. Anyone with eyes could tell she disliked him from the moment they boarded the boat. Hattori, being somewhat self-aware, wisely excused himself from further contact.
So the "important clue" duty was handed off to Jiangxia, the unsurprisingly competent case-solver.
And also, while on the boat, others had noticed Saori giving Jiangxia a few curious glances — surprised, and... kind of delighted?
Sure, it felt a little like selling out his teammates by weaponizing his face, but hey — clue priority.
Jiangxia accepted the job without complaint.
Partly because he couldn't think of a good excuse to say no. But also, this task was easy to take on — Kadowaki Saori wasn't even on the island at the moment. All he had to do was chat with her drunk father, then wander around asking the neighbors until someone inevitably mentioned "oh yeah, Saori runs away from home a lot." Boom — mission complete.
——
Meanwhile, Naoko had returned home and gingerly placed the arrow she got at the Mermaid Festival by her pillow.
She remembered how Saori had lost her own dugong arrow a few days earlier, and how frantic she'd been. Naoko was determined not to make the same mistake — she even kept the arrow within arm's reach while sleeping. No chance of Saori sneaking in and snatching it back.
Now that Naoko had her own dugong arrow, she finally understood Saori's panic.
That night, she dreamed of yet another young man dying miserably at the waterfall.
Naoko woke up in a cold sweat. After a moment of dread, she reassured herself: Thank goodness I didn't run off chasing mermaid tombs before getting the arrow...
She reached under her pillow and happily pulled out the dugong arrow. With this in hand, she felt certain she could find the truth.
…
Except — the arrow felt light.
Naoko looked closer.
The arrow was broken in half.
Her heart nearly stopped.
When did it break?!
She leapt from bed. It had been whole when she got it… right?
The mermaid legend didn't say what would happen if the arrow was damaged, but she knew losing it meant disaster.
All composure gone, Naoko fumbled with her phone and called Shimabukuro Kimie in a panic.
But after she explained the situation, the shrine maiden just replied:
"I took that arrow from my grandmother with my own hands. It was perfectly fine. Maybe you rolled over on it while sleeping..."
Naoko had no time to debate the mechanics of arrow breakages. She just needed a fix — fast.
But Shimabukuro told her the festival was over. No more arrows.
Click. The call ended. Nao collapsed into despair.
Then her phone buzzed again.
She checked the screen blankly. A new message. Sender: "Saori."
She opened it.
[I found it!
The Mermaid Tomb!!]
——
Elsewhere, Jiangxia was drifting alone through the sea, using a puppet shikigami shaped like the Tengu.
He'd just sent the message from a phone he'd "found," and now casually tossed the device into the sea, watching it sink like its original owner.
After that, he dismissed the puppet and returned to his real body.
Right now, he was outside Kadowaki Saori's house.
Earlier, he'd met Saori's father — a perpetually drunk man who couldn't care less about his daughter's whereabouts. Apparently, he'd sold her dugong arrow to some tourist for a million yen.
Now, with Saori missing, the old man just seemed nervous someone would find out about the arrow.
Too embarrassed to let Jiangxia inside, he blocked the doorway and insisted there was nothing to see.
Which, frankly, was perfect. Less work for Jiangxia.
He looked at the firmly shut door, noted the clues involving the old man's sketchy arrow sale, and headed to the next neighbor's house to "investigate."
After that — free time unlocked.
——
Meanwhile, Hattori Heiji was already heading into the back mountain, with Toyama Kazuha trailing behind.
Earlier, they'd gone to ask Kimie about the Mermaid Tomb. But she refused to give any clear answer — only warning them not to mess with the place.
She trembled as she said:
"Those who covet the Mermaid Tomb are cursed."
Heiji didn't believe in that sort of thing. But Kazuha? Very much did.
——
Just as they exited the shrine, they spotted a shadowy figure dashing toward the mountains in the distance.
Startled, they gave chase.
The forest was dense, and visibility dropped as soon as they stepped in.
They lost sight of the figure quickly. They called out, but no one replied. So they just went on memory.
Eventually, instead of a person, they stumbled upon a tiny, primitive grave.
It was barely half a meter wide, with a little pile of fresh incense ash and a round tombstone sitting on top.
Heiji blinked.
"…This is it? The legendary Mermaid Tomb?"
He hadn't expected to find it this easily.
Curious, he knelt down and poked the round tombstone.
Kazuha, who'd been spooked by nonstop mermaid monster tales these past few days, stood stiff nearby, watching nervously.
Just then, she noticed a sign at her feet: "Danger! Cliff ahead."
Right as she saw it, she heard a loud crack.
She turned just in time to see Hattori Heiji, having accidentally knocked over the tombstone, chasing after it in a panic —
—straight toward the overgrown edge of a cliff.
——
Jiangxia, who had just lit a ghost mint on the back mountain, froze as a distant shriek reached his ears.
It was faint, but oddly familiar.
…Sounded kind of like Kazuha.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 25/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*