Is this an accident?
Or a coincidence?
Inexplicably, her mind felt heavier.
Eri Kisaki didn't know where this heaviness came from. It was a pressure inside her skull, like the drop in barometric pressure before a typhoon, but far more sinister.
She noticed Inspector Megure arguing with a few kids (The Detective Boys).
She noticed that Heiji Hattori was helplessly refuting that he was not the "Black-skinned Kudo."
She noticed that many police teams were guarding the exits of the Mingwang Temple.
In the distance, the noise from the Outer Temple had spread here. The excitement of the crowd waiting for Kaito Kid was palpable. There were even a few reporters setting up cameras near the shrine entrance.
But the uneasiness in Eri's heart drove her pulse faster.
Thump. Thump.
The veins on her forehead were throbbing, and she felt a slight, needle-like tingling sensation crawling up her spine.
Just in case…
She decided to make Ran and the others stay away from this place.
"GAH! GAH! GAH——..."
Suddenly, a hoarse, unpleasant cry tore through the air.
The Black Crow on Inspector Megure's shoulder flapped its wings violently, screeching at the invisible air.
The sound was jarring, but it successfully eased the inexplicable anxiety and the tingling in Eri's head. It was as if the bird's cry had shattered a building pressure.
She looked over in surprise.
She found that Inspector Megure, who was just arguing with the children, suddenly froze. His expression became deadly serious.
He looked around in doubt, as if he was trying to confirm something that only he—and the crow—could perceive.
"Takagi!"
"Yes, Inspector!"
"Report to Headquarters immediately! Code Red! Request the Special Division! Quickly!!"
"Y-Yes!"
The stern, panicked tone confused everyone present.
Only Sonoko Suzuki, who knew a bit about the "Truth" thanks to Seiran, swallowed hard. She asked with a trembling voice:
"Inspector Megure… could it be...?"
Megure did not respond to her directly. Instead, he gave a calm, sweeping look at everyone around him, shouting with authority:
"I don't know who you are disguised as! Listen to me, Kaito Kid! Now is not the time for games!"
"Stop this farce! The Metropolitan Police Department is now taking full control of Mingwang Temple!"
His voice was very loud.
Megure was sure that Kaito Kid wasn't the cause of this, but he hoped the thief was listening. If Kid was here, the Crow would have reacted differently.
But the sound of the Crow just now… that was a warning.
It was a Spiritual Threat.
Megure took a deep breath.
"Let's go. There is a Bomb Threat. To ensure your safety, everyone must evacuate immediately!"
Bomb?
Eri Kisaki smelled a lie.
But… she carefully observed the pale expression of Inspector Megure and the terrified look on Sonoko's face.
This is real. But it's not a bomb.
After a moment of silence, she didn't ask questions. She directly grabbed Ran and Sonoko by the wrists.
"We're leaving."
BOOM——!!!
Thunder crashed overhead.
The bright sky changed in an instant.
A gloomy, unnatural darkness swallowed the sun, turning day into twilight in a matter of seconds.
Eri bit the bullet and pulled the two girls away, with the three children (Detective Boys) following closely behind.
Eri's heartbeat began to accelerate.
A certain sense of oppression, becoming more and more urgent, forced her to hold her breath.
Megure was lying.
There is no bomb.
So why was he so nervous? Why did he report to the "Special Division"?
The increasingly confusing truth made Eri walk faster.
Faster!
We need to get out of the forest!
"Don't stop! Run!"
Sonoko also knew what was happening. She broke the silence, urging everyone to move.
Behind them, the voices of Abbot Ryōgen and Inspector Megure arguing should have faded away by now.
But...
"Why? Inspector Megure, this is a rare exhibition for Mingwang Temple!"
"...I can't say too much, Abbot Ryōgen. I advise you to leave quickly, as do the reporters and Hattori over there."
It was incomprehensible.
They were running. But the voices weren't getting quieter.
…..
Ai Hayasaka hid behind a large camphor tree in the distance, watching the scene in the Inner Temple with cold, analytical eyes.
After hesitating for a while, she hacked into the feed of a news camera that had been set up nearby.
This is stealing… well, borrowing.
Hayasaka watched the screen on her tablet.
What's going on!?
Her small hands trembled.
Hayasaka rubbed her eyes in a daze.
If she was not mistaken…
Didn't Eri Kisaki and the others start running a long time ago?
According to common sense, they should have covered three or four hundred meters by now. They should be disappearing into the distance.
But…
On the screen, and in her own vision… the distance did not change.
They were running frantically. Their legs were moving.
But they were still there.
They seemed to stop and talk for a while, then ran again.
Still to no avail.
"...…"
Dead silence.
Hayasaka seemed to hear the thump, thump sound of her own heartbeat.
Adrenaline surged. A tingling, primal fear washed over her.
Run!
Escape!!
There must be something incomprehensible here!
Years of training as an agent kicked in. Her keen perception screamed at her to leave.
She turned around and ran away from the temple, heading toward the main road.
She ran very fast. She moved silently and efficiently.
But her legs seemed to step into a thick pan of oil.
With each step, the pace became heavier.
And the heavy steps further deepened Hayasaka's horror.
She felt like a fly struggling on a spider web.
Knowing that it might be useless, the instinct of survival made her run for her life.
She ran until her lungs burned. Then she looked back.
She froze.
It was a tree.
It was the same camphor tree she had just hidden behind.
The distance was only half a meter. She hadn't moved an inch.
She touched the bark in astonishment.
It was it.
It was indeed that tree…
She hid behind the tree again without saying a word, her face pale.
She looked in the direction where Eri Kisaki had fled.
Just like herself.
They were trapped.
On the screen, Eri had stopped running. The panic and paleness on the lawyer's face mirrored the numbing shock Hayasaka felt.
Calm down.
Calm down!
First of all, we need to know what happened here.
Magnetic field interference? Hallucinations?
No. Not likely.
Large-scale 3D projection?
No, that's even more impossible.
Then…
Her face turned pale, and she pursed her lips. An extremely reluctant guess popped up in her mind.
A Spirit Away (Kamikakushi).
A Ghost Story.
Or perhaps, a more advanced Myth or Legend…
….
Eri Kisaki looked back at the Mingwang Temple, which was still dangerously close despite five minutes of running.
What on earth is going on…
A strand of hair stuck to her forehead with cold sweat. The delicate and cold "Queen of the Courtroom" was no longer calm.
Because of Sonoko's trembling words:
"No… it's not good… We really encountered an Extraordinary Event!"
The fear in her voice was not fake.
Eri was willing to believe this Chaebol Princess. As a Suzuki, she might know secrets that ordinary people did not.
In Eri's mind, the murals she visited a few days ago flashed by.
The legend of Mingwang Temple that she had researched constantly replayed.
Mingwang Temple.
The Great Demon.
The Evil Spirit.
The Seal.
Seven Hundred Years.
So that's it…
Really.
Those bizarre mythological records.
They are all true…
And they were right in the middle of the awakening.
....
.....
.....
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