A few days ago, a big request came in. The granddaughter of the chairman of the Hatamoto Group was getting married, and the chairman, Hatamoto Kojo, asked me to read her fortune. Chairman Kojo was a very traditional and stubborn man from that country. Since he believed in the superstitions passed down from that country, I had handled a few matters for his family before.
This time, after receiving the request, following the tradition of the Hatamoto family for weddings, they rented a huge ship to hold the wedding on the family-owned island, and I was on board. An interesting situation occurred where my work as an onmyoji overlapped with the original story's events.
"Master Cassian, is there anything uncomfortable?"
"No, not at all. I'm also enjoying being out at sea after a long time."
"That's a relief."
Chairman Kojo was strict with his family members, but he treated me well enough. It seemed because I had resolved various matters for the family.
"Well, I leave it to you, Master."
"Understood, Chairman."
I sat the granddaughter Nazue and Takeshi, who were to be married, in front of me in the banquet hall prepared on the ship, put on the onmyoji clothes provided by the manager, closed my eyes, pretended to chant a plausible incantation, then placed my hands on their heads and read their memories.
"Hmm..."
"Master Cassian, how is it?"
Chairman Kojo asked me, curious about the result.
"The two of you have good compatibility."
"Oh~ is that so?"
"But! I can see something like several black hands clinging to the husband's side. This clearly means there's something that needs to be resolved. If only that is resolved, you will become a good couple."
"Is that true!? Can you tell what needs to be resolved?"
"Well... The husband is tightly hiding those black hands in his heart. In such a case, it would be hard to know without his cooperation."
At those words, the groom-to-be Takeshi, sitting in front, was seen sweating nervously.
"You, aren't you hiding something from me?"
"Chairman, there's no such thing."
"You're not lying, are you?"
"Y-yes, that's right."
Since Chairman Kojo absolutely trusted me, he glared at Takeshi, who was to become the husband, with suspicious eyes for a moment, then stood up abruptly and went somewhere.
"Takeshi, are you really hiding something? Master Cassian's words have never been wrong."
The granddaughter Nazue, who was to become the wife, also asked Takeshi.
"I, really don't."
"I understand, then I won't ask anymore."
Nazue was a kind woman. She believed in the man she was to marry.
So, we arrived at the Hatamoto family's island by ship. And as scheduled, the wedding proceeded, and it concluded with me wishing luck to the couple. Chairman Kojo was continuously making calls somewhere.
Now, when we were about to move again by ship, Kogoro, Ran, and Conan were seen pleading with the Hatamoto family people.
"We missed the ship, so please."
"Detective Kogoro! Ran! Conan!"
When I called them, Kogoro and Ran called back happily.
"Son-in-law!" "Cassian!"
I spoke to the Hatamoto family people and had them boarded. Ran thanked me. Listening to the story, they said they had come to Hatamoto Island for travel and missed the return ship.
"If it weren't for Cassian, it would have been a disaster. Because dad miscalculated the ship time, we almost had to stay another day. Thanks."
"No, it's nothing much."
Then, Chairman Kojo came out, saw Conan and his group, and was about to say something angrily, but I immediately explained.
"I see. Since they are the family of the person who will become Master Cassian's wife... Then it should be fine. And Master, come with me for a moment. I have something to talk about."
Upon hearing that, Ran was embarrassed again, and Conan's expression turned bad as usual, but I just ignored it.
"Understood."
I followed Chairman Kojo into the room. Then, he handed me a large aluminum carrier.
"Master Cassian's words were correct again this time. This is the reward for this job. If it weren't for Master Cassian's words, it would have been a disaster. So, I put in a bit more."
"Thank you."
I didn't particularly ask about that matter. Because such people prefer it that way. And since I already knew the content, there was no need to ask.
"As expected, it's Master Cassian. I look forward to working with you in the future as well."
"Understood."
We probably won't meet again. Since Chairman Kojo will be killed today. He was a regular customer who paid well, so it was a pity. I went outside and immediately put the carrier into my inventory. Then, after resting a bit, when meal time approached and I went down to the dining hall, Conan's group and Nazue were having a meal together.
"You're already eating."
"Cassian, you came?"
"Son-in-law! You're here."
I sat next to Ran and had a meal. Then, Nazue asked Ran.
"Ran! Do you have a boyfriend?"
Upon hearing that, Kogoro answered instead.
"Hahaha, don't be surprised to hear this. The famous onmyoji here, Cassian, is our son-in-law."
"Wow~ really? So that's why you've been calling him son-in-law since earlier."
Ran refuted embarrassedly.
"Dad, really... the fortune came out that way, so it's not certain yet."
"Then, it's certain. Since Master Cassian has never been wrong."
"B-but, Cassian also said that the future isn't fixed..."
Kogoro cut off Ran's words and said.
"Puhahaha, I also want to send her off to marriage soon. Since it's brought up, let's decide the wedding date right away..."
"Dad! I'm still a first-year high school student!"
The situation was amusing, so I was just listening, and when I looked aside, Conan had a face as if he had chewed a truckload of those tasteless devil fruits.
"Cassian! Don't just sit there smiling, say something..."
Then, suddenly, a man's scream was heard.
"Waaaaah!"
All the people in the dining hall were startled by the sound and stood up from their seats.
"W-what was that sound!?"
"Isn't this the butler's voice?"
"It seems like father's room!"
The people in the dining hall hurriedly stood up and ran to the room where the sound came from. Then, the butler was seen trembling and sitting down in the corridor in front of Chairman Kojo's room, with a surprised expression as if he had seen something. Seeing that, the chairman's second son, Hatamoto Joji, urgently asked.
"Butler, what's wrong!?"
Even after hearing that, the butler couldn't say anything, so when they hurriedly entered the room where the chairman was, they saw that the chairman had become a cold corpse, bleeding from the stomach and dead.
In such matters, Kogoro, as a former detective, quickly went in and checked Chairman Kojo's corpse.
"It's bad... he's dead."
"Grandfather!!"
When Nazue tried to hurriedly enter the room, I quickly stopped her.
"You must not enter. The evidence could be damaged."
At those words, Kogoro also said loudly.
"Cassian is right. No one should enter the room until I say it's okay!!"
Then, the second son looked at Kogoro and said.
"But who are you?"
I answered.
"Ah, he is Detective Kogoro Mouri, who was a homicide detective and is now a detective."
"I see. But frankly, I trust the Master more."
As expected, the Hatamoto people seemed to trust me more.
"Please trust him a bit more. What a detective investigates can certainly be evidence, but spiritual matters are difficult."
"Ah~ that might be so."
When I sided with Kogoro, he looked at me with moved eyes for a moment. Then, he started checking the corpse again.
"Hmm... Rigor mortis hasn't started yet, but the pupils have begun to contract and the body temperature has dropped... It seems like 40-50 minutes have passed since death."
As expected of a former homicide detective, he quickly deduced the time of death.
"You were the first to discover it, right?"
"Yes, yes..."
"Where were you and what were you doing 50 minutes ago?"
"I was continuously preparing for dinner in the dining hall."
At those words, Ran proved the butler's alibi.
"It's true. At that time, the butler was busily moving around our table. Right, Ms. Nazue?"
"Yes, that's right."
Kogoro asked the butler again.
"When you discovered the corpse, was this room definitely locked?"
"Yes."
"Then, how is the room door locked?"
The butler showed the key he had and said.
"It's set to lock from the inside, and from the outside, it can't be opened without a key."
"Is there another key for this room besides that one?"
"No. This is the only one. The chairman entrusted it to me since we boarded the ship."
Kogoro thought for a moment and said.
"The windows are closed and the entrance is locked... It's impossible to enter from outside. That means this room was a perfect locked room!"
I called Kogoro for a moment.
"Detective."
"Huh? Son-in-law, why?"
"Here."
I pointed to the blood dropped on the threshold.
"This is..."
'Kogoro is a detective in his own right, so with this hint, he should be able to figure it out, right?'
"Huh? Why is this dropped here?"
'Aigoo...'
When I held my forehead and shook my head, Conan, seeing that, supplemented the explanation.
"The fact that there's blood here probably means he was killed when the door was open."
"Right! The chairman was attacked the moment he was coming out of the room!"
Then, Tatsuo, the husband of Akie, Nazue's sister, asked Kogoro with a question.
"Then who locked the room door?"
"Who could it be, haha...."
"Are you joking?"
Then, as if not trusting Kogoro, Nazue clung to me and said.
"Master Cassian, please at least use your magic to find the culprit. I beg you."
"That's right. If it's Master Cassian, finding the culprit should be quick!"
At those words, everyone looked at me and said. I felt sorry for Kogoro, but I had no choice but to pretend to use magic.
"Sigh... Understood. Everyone, stay here. I'll bring the tools needed for the onmyoji magic."
"Please."
I went to my room, brought an incense burner that can burn incense, incense, and talismans, and came back.
"The magic I'm about to perform is very difficult, so please do not disturb, and everyone hold the hand of the person next to you, watch each other, and observe."
After saying that, I placed the incense burner in front of the room, lit several incenses, and sat in front. Conan and Kogoro also watched it without saying anything, as if interested.
"The magic I'm about to perform requires closing my eyes, concentrating my spiritual power, and chanting incantations, so I won't be able to see what happens. Therefore, please observe well, everyone here. And the person who disturbs the magic is the culprit, so please hold each other's hands tightly and do not move. I'll say in advance, this is magic to summon a spirit, so don't be surprised. Then, I'll begin."
Everyone watched nervously, tightly holding the hands of the people next to them. I took one talisman, burned it, closed my eyes, and chanted incantations in Sanskrit.
"दुर्भाग्यवश मारे गए आत्मा, कृपया मेरे पास आओ। अन्यायपूर्ण रूप से मारे गए आत्मा, कृपया सीधे आकर अपनी शिकायतें दूर करें।..."
Then, the smoke rising from the incense began to seep into the chairman's corpse, and smoke from the corpse began to rise in the shape of a person. It gave the feeling as if a soul was leaving the corpse. This was a fake soul show made by precisely manipulating the smoke using [Telekinesis] ability and [Control] ability to make it plausible.
"Kyaah~!"
"Th-that can't be!"
"Don't move!!"
The smoke in the shape of a person slowly walked, passed by me who was chanting incantations, accurately pointed at Ichiro, the only son of Mariko, the daughter of Chairman Kojo and the culprit, and slowly dispersed and disappeared.
"How can this be..."
"This doesn't make sense..."
"Grandfather..."
I stopped chanting incantations and pretended to breathe heavily while saying.
"Huff huff... Did you see?"
"Y-yes. Are you okay, Master Cassian?"
"Sigh... Yes, it's difficult because it's a high-level magic."
People quickly caught Ichiro.
"You're the culprit!"
"Why on earth did you do that!?"
Ichiro hesitated for a moment and said.
"There's no evidence that I did it anywhere! This is a scam!"
Then, Conan picked up something from the chairman's room and showed it.
"Mister, there's a piece of bread dropped here?"
People who saw that said with疑问.
"Why is there a piece of bread there... Father only eats traditional food..."
"That's right! I've seen Ichiro erase with bread when drawing!"
As unfavorable testimonies continued to come out against Ichiro, he finally sat down on the floor, crying, and confessed.
"Sob sob... I was in love with Nazue. So, I begged grandfather to let me marry Nazue."
"What!!!???"
Everyone was surprised and continued to listen to the story.
"But grandfather, far from listening, said he couldn't give precious Nazue to someone like me, and immediately, as if to show me, married Nazue off to Takeshi."
"Such a..."
"And then he said to me, 'Give up on dreams that can't be achieved quickly.' So, I couldn't forgive him!"
It was an absurd incident of loving a cousin. The Hatamoto people decided to lock Ichiro in a room until the ship reached land. I approached Takeshi, Nazue's groom, and advised him to tell Nazue the hidden fact and seek forgiveness for lying.
Then, Takeshi also thought for a moment, said that would be good, went to Nazue, and sought forgiveness. Takeshi was the son of a president who had his company taken away by Chairman Kojo and committed suicide due to the shock. In the original story, Takeshi suffered because of that, but since I intervened, it became a non-issue. Seeing that Takeshi and Nazue lived well in the original story, it seemed he had truly fallen in love and given up on revenge long ago.
I was having a meal with Conan's group, and Conan, not even eating, was seriously pondering and asked me.
"Bro, are ghosts really real?"
Conan seemed to feel like the common sense he knew was collapsing.
"Yes, they are."
Seeing that Ran's expression wasn't good either, she probably was shocked by the soul show I performed.
"I've never seen such a thing before. I'll never forget what happened today..."
"Don't worry too much. Usually, ghosts have a hard time touching people with bodies. Unless it's a ghost or monster that has lived for thousands of years."
"Then, monsters exist too?"
"Yes. That's why people like me exist."
"I see."
"In the world, you know, what's visible isn't everything."
At those words, Ran, as if getting goosebumps, trembled and said.
"Ugh... I suddenly got scared."
"Hahaha, if a ghost appears, call me. I'll protect you."
"Okay, I'll definitely call."
So, when we arrived on land, we handed Ichiro over to the police, and Kogoro explained to the police again this time. This time, it took a while, and in the middle, he tried to explain my actions somehow, but the police had expressions of disbelief. Still, the fact that Ichiro was the culprit didn't change, so the investigation was completed safely, and after saying goodbye to Conan's group, I arrived home.