Chapter 131: Director, This Wasn't in the Script!
Anya's interest in magic evaporated in an instant.
Koizumi Akako hadn't been lying.
Anya had heard it clearly through her telepathy—when Akako was learning magic, the study materials weren't just measured by weight, they were an absolute mountain of books.
So forget it. Compared to becoming a magician, her first-grade homework was already more than enough torture.
"Huh, where's Conan?" Anya felt a little flustered seeing her father smiling at her with those narrowed, scheming eyes, and quickly changed the subject.
Natsukawa didn't respond immediately, instead revealing the kind smile typical of a devious parent: "Anya, actually becoming a magician sounds pretty good. Miss Akako would definitely teach you sincerely. Why don't you give it a try? You have plenty of free time—learning another skill is never a bad thing."
"Papa, what did you say? The waterfall is too loud! It's so noisy! I can't hear what you're saying!" Anya looked around frantically before hugging Aunt Yor's leg and hiding behind her.
Papa is so mean!
"Alright, stop teasing Anya. Honestly though, I haven't seen Conan either. Hasn't he come out of the bathroom yet?"
Yor gradually adopted a motherly stance, her eyes filled with tenderness as she looked down at Anya.
Ran, noticing Conan's absence, grew anxious. Had he been dragged away by the Tengu?
"I saw Conan run off just now. Judging by the direction, it looked like he was heading toward the meditation room." Koizumi Akako pointed toward the depths of the corridor. "Should we go check on him? It's not safe for a little kid to run around the temple like that at night."
Natsukawa added, "Indeed, the mist is so thick that moss has even grown into the corridor. Conan was moving so fast—I hope he didn't slip and fall."
The group slowly made their way to the meditation room. Just past the front entrance of the main hall, they spotted Conan lying flat on the ground near the doorway, intently examining something.
"Conan! What are you doing?" Anya rushed forward and flopped down beside him.
Right now, she just wanted to get as far away from Papa and Akako as possible. Those two were absolute devils.
Conan glanced back at the group, ignoring Anya's presence, and said seriously to Natsukawa, "The meditation room seems to be locked from the inside. We can't get the door open."
He then pointed to the water stains seeping from under the door onto the hallway floor: "Something must have happened inside. I suspect Abbot Tennei has started killing again."
"Again?"
Both Ran and Yor were startled, unsure what Conan meant by that ominous statement.
Natsukawa stepped forward to investigate.
"Did you notice? The waterfall's sound is quite loud here." Natsukawa pressed his ear against the wooden door, feigning surprise. "Wait—there's the sound of flowing water coming from inside."
"Yes, I noticed it too! It must be that method!"
Conan's expression turned extremely grave, his voice noticeably more mature than usual: "Natsukawa-san, come with me to the second-floor corridor quickly, or we'll be too late!"
"Got it." Natsukawa turned to the girls. "You all wait here. Stay away from the door, and don't let anyone out!!"
With that, Natsukawa scooped up Anya and deposited her into Yor's arms before heading upstairs with Conan.
"Papa, I want to go too! Anya's a detective too!!"
However, Natsukawa and Conan had already disappeared up the stairs.
Anya couldn't break free from Yor's gentle but iron grip, and could only look up at her with bright, sparkling puppy-dog eyes: "Aunt Yor, let's go up and watch, okay~?"
(╥﹏╥)
Anya's pleading expression was hard to refuse, but Natsukawa had just told them to stay put.
"Come on, come on! It's fine with Akako-neechan and Ran-neechan here~"
"Okay, but we'll just watch from a distance."
In the end, Yor couldn't resist Anya's appeal and nodded to the other two before heading upstairs.
With Ran around, no one should be able to escape anyway.
Conan arrived at the second-floor corridor above the meditation room and immediately discovered what was happening.
The corridor floorboards had been pried up at some point and were now being used as a makeshift channel to divert the waterfall's flow directly into the skylight of the meditation room below.
Conan crouched down and twisted the dial on his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes. At this moment, he didn't care that his behavior was completely unlike a normal child's. He kicked the corridor floorboards high into the air with tremendous force.
CRASH!
The wooden planks flew high into the night sky, shooting out beyond the temple grounds and disappearing into the boundless darkness.
The waterfall, no longer guided by the improvised channel, returned to its normal flow pattern.
Inside the meditation room, Shunian—who had been silently waiting for the water level to reach the ceiling beam—was completely dumbfounded.
What the hell just happened?
Were the wooden planks too old and couldn't withstand the water pressure, so they just... exploded?
Director, this wasn't in the script we agreed on!!
Shunian desperately wanted to go check the second-floor corridor, but the water level was only at seven meters. The skylight was nine meters above the ground, and the door below couldn't be opened due to water pressure. To reach the skylight, he'd have to use a rope to climb up to the beam.
But if he used a rope to climb onto the beam, it would leave marks, and his plan to make it look like the Tengu had hanged someone from the ceiling would fall apart completely.
Suddenly, Shunian found himself caught in an impossible dilemma.
"Conan, doesn't your foot hurt?" Natsukawa was genuinely curious. What kind of material had Professor Agasa used to make those shoes?
Otherwise, considering Newton's third law—forces are reciprocal—there was no reason Conan shouldn't be feeling pain after kicking such heavy wooden floorboards with that much force.
"Natsukawa-san, why are you worried about that at a time like this?"
Conan had no time to answer Natsukawa's question. Instead, he stuck his head through the skylight opening.
The meditation room had been filling with water for over five hours now. At this rate, the water level would reach the ceiling beams in just two more hours.
Just as I thought!
Conan confirmed his deduction was correct.
This method was exactly as he'd figured out.
Well, although Natsukawa had given him a crucial hint, most of the deduction was his own work. Natsukawa's mention of the room looking like a water reservoir had just been the final piece of the puzzle.
On the water's surface in the meditation room, a small inflatable boat swayed precariously. Lying on it was a robed figure covered with a white sheet.
Conan's sharp gaze shifted, locking onto the face beneath the sheet.
"Wait—why is it Abbot Tennei?"
⊙▃⊙
Conan was stunned.
Abbot Tennei was clearly supposed to be the murderer, so why was he lying on the inflatable boat, peaceful as a corpse?
SPLASH!
The sound of water splashing violently pulled Conan back to reality. He turned to look.
He saw a figure in a raincoat diving down where the sound had originated.
What was that person doing? Who was it?
The water was turbulent and the lighting was poor, so Conan couldn't make out the face. But judging from the build, it seemed to be one of Abbot Tennei's four disciples.
Although he couldn't see the face clearly, the shaved head was unmistakable.
"Conan, kids shouldn't lean out like this—it's way too dangerous!" Natsukawa leaned halfway into the narrow skylight opening, pulling Conan back up with one hand. Conan's position had been far too precarious; any further forward and he would have tumbled right in.
However, Natsukawa's main purpose for leaning in was to catch a glimpse of Monk Shunian's expression.
Getting caught red-handed in the middle of a murder attempt was a rare sight even in this bizarre world. He was curious what Shunian was thinking right now.
Was he surprised? Helpless? Furious?
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