Gensokyo Detective, but surrounded by Shura Field

"What's a few snacks worth? It's the tea leaves I want!"

"Greedy thing, I won't give way to you!"

Watching Chu Bai and Reimu fight over the tea and snacks, Alice helplessly held her forehead.

These two… they really are like siblings.

...

...

Soon, Akyuu, having been notified, arrived.

Seeing Chu Bai, she immediately greeted him with a smile:

"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Chu Bai..."

"...Huh? What happened to you two? And where are the tea leaves and pastries that were on the table?"

Akyuu curiously looked at Chu Bai and Reimu.

Chu Bai's eyes were red and swollen, clearly from being punched a couple of times:

"I don't know, probably stolen by some wild cat."

Reimu's cheeks were swollen, similarly from someone's excessive pulling:

"Yeah, maybe a greedy puppy ran off with it."

The two glanced at each other.

Then they both snorted and turned their heads away.

Akyuu looked at them, sweating, and roughly guessed what had happened.

So she had the servants bring more tea and snacks.

After a few pleasantries, they finally got down to business:

"So, Mr. Chu Bai, what brings you here today?"

Seeing that they were getting to the point, Chu Bai put down his teacup:

"Nothing much, just came to see the mastermind behind the haunted house."

Huh?

The mastermind is Akyuu?

Alice, having already guessed, remained calm.

Reimu and Youmu, on the other hand, turned their gazes.

Akyuu blinked:

"Mastermind? I don't know what you're talking about."

"The Hieda family was indeed involved in the haunted house incident, but we only bought the property rights."

"After all, the topic of haunted houses is widespread and has even made headlines in the Bunbunmaru Newspaper. So, to prevent more people from being harmed, we bought this haunted house..."

[That's a lie!]

Chu Bai suddenly raised his finger:

"Miss Akyuu, you just said 'headline,' right?"

"Eh? Did I?"

Seemingly startled by Chu Bai's momentum, Akyuu subconsciously froze.

Chu Bai then slammed the table:

"Then that's strange."

"The recent headlines in the Bunbunmaru Newspaper have all been about my scandalous news. Like selling my body to vampires, spreading rumors that I'm a harem king... and interviews about the magician's incident."

"Further back, there were reports of my battle with Remilia at the Misty Lake, the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism in the Myouren Temple's backyard, and the domestic strife meeting..."

"There's no news about the haunted house at all! Even Reimu, who's responsible for maintaining balance in the Human Village, doesn't know about it!"

Chu Bai's eyes burned:

"May I ask which issue of the newspaper you saw the report about the haunted house in?"

"This..."

Akyuu paused, then, as if just remembering something, she said again:

"I might have misremembered. Perhaps it was a unique source of information for the Hieda family."

"In any case, after buying the haunted house, we didn't change the internal facilities but directly isolated and protected it."

"And for safety reasons, we announced a rule that only those who solve the haunted house's mysteries can buy the house at a low price..."

[That's a lie!]

Another sound effect of something being smashed.

Chu Bai shook his finger:

"Miss Akyuu, if you really didn't change the internal facilities... then why is the inside of the house still 'electrified'?"

"And the windows of the room are covered in mud, so the environment inside should be damp and humid."

"But the note on the table isn't damp and soft but rather quite dry..."

"And that white ghost face that I smashed into dust with one punch was clearly a specially made prop to deliberately create a frightening effect, right? Aren't these all props that were modified later?"

Akyuu's expression finally changed slightly, and she looked somewhat uncomfortable.

Seeing her full of flaws, Chu Bai finally launched his final accusation:

"As for the final piece of evidence, it's 'Rinnosuke's job change'."

"Not long ago, he was still working for the Hieda family, but he suddenly became a real estate salesman and told us about the haunted house news that 'only the Hieda family knew'."

"Clearly, he's deliberately guiding us and must have been instructed by someone."

"And the only one qualified to instruct him is you, his employer—Hieda no Akyuu!"

He pointed confidently.

A gust of wind surged.

The intense wind element blew Akyuu's skirt, and her short purple hair fluttered wildly in the wind.

Akyuu smoothed her hair, seemingly giving up the struggle, and sighed helplessly:

"That's right, your reasoning is completely correct."

"The entire haunted house incident... was indeed a carefully planned scam by me."

Chapter 122: Pink Vitality Powder? Love from Eientei

The debate ended.

Reimu looked at Chu Bai in considerable surprise, shocked by his unique reasoning ability.

Alice looked at Akyuu in confusion, seemingly wondering why she did this.

As for Youmu... she had stopped thinking and was dozing off with her half-phantom.

"I thought you'd at most see through the haunted house scam, reaching the first layer."

"I didn't expect you to directly see through the second layer and guess the identity of the mastermind."

Akyuu looked at Chu Bai, revealing a rather satisfied, or rather, amazed look:

"The man who can establish a detective agency is indeed worthy of the name."

"You flatter me, you flatter me."

Chu Bai said with a faint smile:

"Then can you tell me why you spent so much effort to create a haunted house and only let us solve the mystery?"

"Because it's a show of goodwill to you, and also a test of you."

"...Goodwill and a test?"

"That's right."

Akyuu explained with a smile:

"To establish a detective agency, you need a very expensive house. And this property originally cost 20 million, but now we're selling it at a 90% discount. This is the Hieda family's show of goodwill to you."

"At the same time, because the decoration materials of this house are substandard, coupled with leakage and old facilities, it was indeed mistaken for a haunted house by a small number of people. So I used this as a guide, as a test of you."

"After all, if you want to open a detective agency, you should at least have reasoning skills. You can't just rely on your fists to solve cases, right?"

Chu Bai scratched his head:

"Just such a simple reason? You paid tens of millions of dollars just for a test?"

"I said there's also a component of goodwill."

Akyuu said with considerable pride:

"And for the Hieda family, just a house is nothing. It's not a big price to pay."

Chu Bai still felt that something was wrong.

But Hieda Akyuu's explanation was seamless, without any suspicious points.

Perhaps this is the leeway of the rich.

Chu Bai sighed, no longer dwelling on it, and took out the money he had prepared long ago:

"Then, here's a total of two million. Let's just go through the housing procedures."

"Okay."

Akyuu readily called over a staff member.

Under the staff's guidance, Chu Bai left the Hieda mansion and headed towards the sales office.

After that, there will be signing contracts, transferring procedures, and all kinds of processes...

But it will take quite a long time.

...

...

Watching Chu Bai and his group leave.

Hieda Akyuu suddenly showed a playful smile like a little girl:

"...But unfortunately, Mr. Chu Bai."

"You guessed the second layer, but the truth is actually on the third layer."

Responding to her was an elegant and noble girl's voice:

"This is no longer a truth that can be guessed by reasoning."

"After all, no normal person would think that someone would give them a house for no reason, right?"

The reception room, which had only Akyuu, had an additional figure at some point.

The black-haired girl sat ethereally in Chu Bai's original seat.

Seeing this suddenly appearing girl, Akyuu was not flustered but bowed respectfully:

"Dragon God-sama, according to your instructions, I have already sold that house to Mr. Chu Bai at just the right price."

"Hmm... Thank you for your trouble."

The black-haired girl nodded slightly, considering it a return gift.

Akyuu then asked somewhat puzzled:

"May I venture to ask the reason why you did this?"