After becoming a chaotic daughter

Kunikida Doppo stood alone in the busy street.

First, Luanbu took Nanako and Gogol into the crowd and disappeared, and the phone call was not connected, so he and Xie Ye started looking for someone, but there were too many people at the festival, he didn't pay attention, turned around Shi and Xie Ye got separated again.

Originally, five people went out together, but now he was the only one left who was forced to drag him. The crowd passed by his side like a tide, and he stood in the middle of the road like a pillar. After finishing the work, I was thinking about how to find the lost companion, and by the way, I also used some energy to worry about whether Ranpo would lose her by holding Nanako.

...In short, let's call Dr. Yosano first.

He supported his forehead and sighed deeply. Just as he took out his mobile phone, he found that he had received an unread message. It was probably because he was busy looking for someone just now and the festival was too noisy, so he didn't hear the notification tone of the new message.

【Just finished fishing for goldfish~!I took Nanako and the kid to go shopping and eat, there are too many people on the street so I won't go to you guys, let's go shopping separately for now!The fireworks display begins to meet again. ——from: Senior Luanbu]

The pick-up time was 4 minutes ago. At that time, he and Xie Ye were still searching for food stalls on the roadside one by one.

Through words, I can feel Ranpo's style of doing things as he pleases, and it is probably difficult to find someone. There is no way, Kunikida can only reply a message, reminding Ranpo as a senior to be careful and take care of the child.

Before he closed the flip phone, he checked the time again. The detective agency was past the closing time, and there were 47 minutes before the fireworks display.

He was a little hesitant to go back to the detective agency to continue working. As a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder whose schedule was accurate to the second, Kunikida Doppo meticulously followed the plan he wrote in his notebook every day, striving to spend every day perfectly.

Unfinished work, just lying on his notebook, among a group of crossed-out items, it was as if a 20-year-old mess suddenly mixed into an amusement facility marked "children under six years old". step.

but,

Kunikida Doppo felt hesitant again.After all, it’s already here, and it’s impolite to leave his seniors and colleagues and go back on his own. Moreover, the president also said, “Summer festivals are an important part of regional customs exchanges.” As a detective agency It is also necessary for him to have a detailed understanding of local traditional activities.

He thought and thought, hesitated again and again, and finally decided to stay. After all, if he returned to the detective agency at this time, he would not be able to complete the work scheduled for today. Besides, he hadn't been to an event like the Summer Festival for a long time.

Thinking that the fireworks display would be held in less than an hour, Kunikida decided to explore the way for others to find a suitable place to watch the fireworks.

Watching fireworks is naturally in a place with a wide view. The open flat land and coastal trails have always been the places with the most people, and the crowds will be bustling at that time, so the best place to watch fireworks...

[Climb up to the mountain. 】

Kunikida made a decision quickly.

He walked along the street, against the flow of people towards the foot of the mountain, and gradually moved away from the noisy and lively festival venue.

The sound of people gradually faded away, Kunikida walked up the mountain along the stairway, the festival site was facing a low mountain, and on the mountain was a shrine, Kunikida remembered that there seemed to be a flat and open viewing platform halfway up the mountain.

In the summer festival, lanterns are hung along the winding mountain path, and the light and shadow are dim, illuminating the steps up and down the mountain.In order to avoid causing wildfires, all the hangings are electronic lanterns, which are brighter than candles.

Kunikida climbed up the mountain path alone, and occasionally met tourists going up or down the mountain, almost all young couples, holding hands and whispering in the forest.

Kunikida walked past them numbly alone, his heart remained unmoved, he just felt that there were so many mosquitoes in the woods in summer, and he had already been bitten by two big bumps on his arms.

"...Sure enough, you still need to prepare mosquito repellent water when you go out in this season. When you go out, you are too hasty and haven't made enough preparations. Maybe you should always have mosquito repellent equipment on your desk. You should write this down In the notebook... On Saturday, the detective agency went out to purchase, it was the scorching heat, and the mosquitoes proliferated, so remember to buy mosquito repellent products..."

He pushed his glasses, took advantage of the dim light of the lantern, and scribbled down the appointment items in his notebook, and walked up the mountain on the stone steps without stopping.

The full moon hung high in the night, and the surrounding woods became more and more quiet. Kunikida wrote two lines, put away his notebook, and climbed another step up the mountain, but suddenly felt something was wrong.

Although there are some forks in the mountain path, he is sure that he is walking all the way up the mountain along the diameter. However, the surrounding environment has gradually become remote, and even the occasional tourists are gone. Haven't met for a while.

Standing at a fork in the road, Kunikida raised his watch and glanced at it. Eighteen minutes had passed since he went up the mountain. Logically speaking, by this time, he should have reached the viewing platform halfway up the mountain.

But when he looked up, there was still a staircase with no end in sight, and when he looked back at the way he came, he couldn't see the bottom at a glance.

Kunikida: "..."

He lowered his hand stiffly and swallowed.

On the left and right sides are the trails extending around the mountain. The upward stairs are divided into two roads. The road from the back is winding, covered by dense forests in the dark night, and it is not clear.

There was dead silence all around, not even a gust of evening wind, and the sound of insects disappeared at some point, as if only his own breathing remained.

sand--

In the depths of the woods, a slight sound came from nowhere, it was fleeting, but it was still caught by Kunikida's sensitive ears.

[Wh, what voice...? ! 】

Kunikida stood on the spot with his back stiff, the hairs on his arms stood on end in fright.

Woods, darkness, summer festivals...strange sounds.

He suddenly remembered the rumors he had mentioned with Xie Ye when he went out. Every summer festival, the ghost who died tragically in the dry well would turn into a ghost because he wanted to participate in the festival. When tourists pass by, they let out miserable whimpers in the forest——

"No, no, how can ghosts exist? Such unscientific things are just unfounded rumors. In the end, no one can prove that they have met ghosts. This kind of nonsense that attracts people's attention How can you believe..."

He whispered to himself, trying to alleviate the wavering in his heart through self-persuasion, and walked towards the mountain at a faster speed.

The mountain road winds and winds, as if there is no end to it, and there seem to be more and more forks in the road. Kunikida even feels like he is spinning in circles, and the forks that he passed just now appear in front of him exactly the same. I don't know if it is too remote, and there is no signal on the mobile phone.

He stopped, trying to calm himself down.

【Take a deep breath... Calm down, take a deep breath... Exhale... Inhale... Exhale...】

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, he tried his best not to let himself fall because his legs were weak, barely calmed down a little restless heart, and reached out to take his notebook out of his arms.

It doesn't matter, he is a supernatural person, as long as he uses his supernatural power to create something like a signal flare, he can call for help, or something that can be used to guide the way...

His fingertips had just touched the edge of the notebook, but Kunikida suddenly felt a gaze from behind, falling on him, with some kind of strong emotion that made his hair stand on end.

Holding the notebook hard, Kunikida turned his head tremblingly.

Not far below the stone steps, among the dark woods, a black figure was hiding behind a certain thick tree, showing half of his face, looking in the direction of Kunikida silently.

The face was vaguely reflected in the light of the lantern.

Pale chin, bloodless lips, and long curly brown hair that covered his eyes.

"You, you...you..."

Kunikida's lips moved and trembled, but he couldn't utter a complete word.

In a short moment, his brain experienced a huge shock like a landslide and a volcano erupting.In a trance, he felt a flash of white light in his field of vision, and finally even his consciousness was kicked out of his body, leaving only a line of bright red, bold, and huge words, which were clearly engraved in his mind:

【Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" ! ! ! ! ! 】

He choked on his chest in one breath.

As if someone had pressed the switch of his life, Kunikida's consciousness was disconnected on the spot, and he fell backwards, fell straight on his back to the ground, and fainted from fright.

Poe just wanted to ask the way but didn't know how to ask, so he followed the other party all the way: "..."

He felt like he was about to faint.

*******

"Choo Choo Choo!"

The cry of small animals came from the alley.

Standing in a small corner of the road, Nanako, who was eating chocolate bananas, heard the familiar voice, raised her head, looked around, and soon found a gray dog ​​in the alley beside her. The little raccoon came out and stood at the back of the alley, tilting its fluffy head, staring at the chocolate banana in Nanako's hand.

"Huh? What is this?" Gogol followed Nanako's gaze and found this little animal standing in the alley. He had never seen a raccoon before, so he didn't know what it was.

Nanako thought about it, but couldn't think of what to say "raccoon", so she said nonsense to Guoguo: "It's a dog."

"It's not a dog, it's a raccoon! It's a raccoon!" Ranbu on the side also saw the raccoon, and corrected Nanako's wrong "cognition" with a prolonged tone.

"Raccoon, bear." Nanako dryly repeated the words, then took another bite of the banana in her hand, and stared at the raccoon.

"Raccoon ~ bear~" Gogol also imitated the chaotic tune, dragging the syllables to follow him.

After staring at the raccoon for a while, and biting a banana, Nanako suddenly said, "...I've seen this raccoon before."

Gogol tilted his head and asked, "Where is it?"

Nanako pointed at the raccoon with a finger, raised her head and said to Ranbu, "This dog snatched my schoolbag and broke it."

Luanbu gave a perfunctory "Oh" and corrected her: "It's not a dog, it's a raccoon."

"...this raccoon." Nanako repeated slowly.

The raccoon ran out of the alley and stopped at Nanako's feet, as if recognizing her, it rubbed against her short legs, then looked up at Ranbu with small black eyes, stretched out a With a small paw, he waved towards the chocolate banana in Nanako's hand.

"Does it want to eat this?"

Gogol poked his head over and tentatively stretched out the chocolate banana in his hand a little, only to see a gray shadow whizzing by, leaving only a thin stick of chocolate banana in his hand.

A few steps away, a raccoon wagging its tail was holding half a chocolate banana in its paws, gnawing on it, and finished eating Gogol's chocolate banana in a few mouthfuls, then ran back and stopped. In front of them, holding up little paws to eat.

But it couldn't ask for food again.

Gogol grabbed Destiny by the nape of his neck, and the innocent-eyed little raccoon hung in the air, "Chirp?"

"Can I sell it?" Gogol asked Luanbu in a naive tone with a smile on his face, his braid dangling behind his head.

"No, it was raised by someone else." Ranbu rejected his application.

While they were talking, three children ran out of the alley. They seemed to be chasing after the raccoon this time. They were three elementary school students who looked about the same age as Gogol, one boy, two girls in bathrobes, one of them The girl is holding a video camera in her hand, as if she is recording.

"Oops..." the girl holding the camera stopped, put her hand on her cheek, and asked softly with good etiquette, "Sorry to bother you. We met this raccoon on the road, and I want to give it Shooting, so I chased it all the way with my friends, is this your classmate’s pet?”

"Huh?" Gogol tilted his head, and as soon as he let go of his hand, the raccoon nimbly fell back to the ground, "No yo~"

The raccoon spun around in place, and finally grabbed the corner of the bathrobe that Ranbu was wearing, and climbed all the way to the shoulders of Ranbu, lying there motionless, with its hairy tail hanging down, swinging back and forth.

"It seems to be very close to you." Tomoyo said, "It took us a long time to catch up to it just now."

"Super energetic, I can't catch it at all—" Sakura also nodded, and after chasing all the way, she was a little ashamed, but her eyes were still bright and energetic when she looked at the raccoon, "It's the first time I saw a raccoon. Such a nimble little animal that can run! Very! Very—very good at running!"

She seemed to really want to touch the raccoon lying on Luanbu's shoulder, but Luanbu didn't bother to move at all, biting a banana and said, "After all, I'm a detective, I'm just a raccoon, it's only natural to obey me of!"

Raccoon: "Chirp!"

Sakura looked at Ranpo enviously, and then reluctantly looked away after a while: "My name is Kinomoto Sakura, and I'm a student of Tomoeda Elementary School. Hello."

"I am Tomoyo of Daidaiji Temple, and I am a classmate with Sakura, please give me your advice." Tomoyo also introduced himself.

"Da Dao Temple?" Luan Bu gave her an extra look.

"Yes, my mother is Daidoji Sonomi, who was helped by a detective agency. She once mentioned you to me, Mr. Ranpo." Tomoyo replied.

They said a few words, but Nanako didn't pay attention to them, and just ate chocolate bananas. Although many people seemed to buy this, Nanako still felt that eating chocolate and bananas tasted weird. She didn't like eating them very much, but After buying everything, she could only bite a piece and swallow it whole, trying not to taste the taste.

"My name is Li Xiaolang, and I'm in the same class as them... Please give me your advice."

Nanako, who was gnawing on a banana, heard a sentence in Japanese that was pronounced awkwardly. She raised her head and saw that the boy was speaking.

"Student Li is an international student from Hong Kong." Sakura said.

【honkon】

It sounds like the English pronunciation of "Hong Kong".

Nanako stared at the calm and taciturn boy for a while, and before she could figure out whether the pronunciation of [ホンコン] was actually [Hong Kong], she heard the mobile phone rang beside her.

It's a call from Yosano.

——"A tourist disappeared in the venue."

——"It seems that Kunikida can't be contacted either."