Everything around her felt surreal, the line between reality and illusion blurring to the point of being nearly indistinguishable.
Whatever this extra, stretched-out ti was, one thing was certain: if she did nothing, this temporal anomaly would likely continue.
After all, everyone, including Conan, had already accepted these shifting days as their new, unremarkable routine.
Her own situation was still manageable, though; she could still perceive the issue with ti. She didn't know if it was because she was a newcor here, or because she was an esper.
After a mont's thought, Natsu Sonoko pulled a small notebook from her suitcase and began recording her current thoughts and observations, a precaution against her own perception succumbing to the chaos.
She spent over ten minutes scribbling in her unique, cobbled-together cipher—a kind of 'Martian script.' It barely managed to convey her intended aning, just as she'd hoped.
As her personal code, its security was debatable, but it sufficed for ordinary situations—like recording things she felt shouldn't be written down plainly.
Even now, Sonoko still wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten tangled up in such troubleso affairs.
Was it because she'd gotten involved with Conan and his group?
Or was it a consequence of her previous ambush on that Black Organization?
Or perhaps… this was simply the world's true face all along?
This strange new world had its perks—like seemingly endless holidays—but Sonoko much preferred the original, properly functioning world.
The thought that her own perception could one day be altered made her feel deeply unsettled. It was far worse than having her mories tampered with.
Everything around her had suddenly beco utterly unscientific. She wondered if returning to Academy City would dispel this effect. According to what Shirai had said, the Academy City on her end didn't seem to be affected by this bizarre ti dilation.
Tucking the notebook away and hiding it back in the suitcase, she mused, 'I still don't understand what's happening, but Conan is definitely involved in this sohow.'
That afternoon, 'Uncle' Mori slumped onto the sofa in his detective agency, his face a picture of gloom. He cracked open a freshly chilled beer and downed it in one go.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"Don't ask," he grumbled. "Inspector gure suspects that cocktail bar is a front for so secret society. He kept pressing for any information I might have about them."
He trailed off there, falling silent and opting to just continue drowning his sorrows in beer.
Kogoro Mori's solved cases were always bizarre. He'd crack them in his sleep, only to wake up to everyone's awestruck and respectful gazes. It had him half-convinced he had multiple personalities.
In reality, he never rembered any of the process, let alone anything about so secret society behind the scenes.
"Darn it, another dead end," Conan muttered nearby, his expression a mix of deep frustration and resentnt. He looked utterly unwilling to let it go.
-- --
She had never felt a holiday pass so slowly, a single day stretching to feel like five or six, with the occasional random festival thrown in for good asure.
By strict count, only seven days had passed since leaving Academy City. But in lived experience, it had been over a month. And an even longer stretch of holiday still lay ahead.
Removing the 'Capacity Down' device from her head, the incessant buzzing in Natsu Sonoko's mind began to fade, her hearing returning to normal.
The growth of her computational power felt the sa as in normal ti. aning, these extra days were just as real for Sonoko.
"Even as an esper, my perception can still be altered."
This thought filled her with a fresh wave of worry. Espers weren't immune; they just had slightly stronger resistance. But over ti, even they would be gradually assimilated.
This alteration could be blocked, however. Writing things down or having constant reminders from others could temporarily restore normal cognition.
But Natsu-san seed to be a special case. Unlike the brain, her soul—which held mories of a past life—could rapidly recover from this assimilation.
So, Natsu Sonoko was temporarily safe from assimilation. But the feeling was profoundly unpleasant, as if her brain was being scribbled over and altered by sothing every single day.
"Two things are clear now. First, I can maintain normal communication with Academy City. Second, ti within Academy City seems to be normal; it's the ti here that's abnormal. But what exactly is the deal with these extra days?"
Sonoko felt a headache coming on. To gather more useful information, she'd been calling Academy City almost daily to verify things.
According to Shirai-san, her daily calls were received on Academy City's end as calls coming at different tis within a single day.
Take the first problematic day, July 25th. That single day had spawned four extra days. Including July 25th itself, she had made five phone calls over those five days.
But from Shirai's perspective, on July 25th, she received five calls from Sonoko at different tis throughout that one day, one even as late as 11 PM. The other, normal days proceeded as usual.
"So, in essence, only the ti here is being stretched? That's completely unscientific."
Standing by the window, she stared out blankly. She was alone in the Mori Detective Agency now.
During these stretched-out days, besides busying herself with investigations and training her ability, she'd also been savoring this hard-won leisure ti.
In the earlier part of this period, she had accompanied Uncle Mori and the others to various places—the botanical gardens, hot springs, holiday inns, a magic club gathering, and so on.
And every single ti, without fail, they'd stumble upon a murder. The thods were novel and bizarre, even including locked-room murders and impossible cris.
It was enough to make one question reality. Seeing the victims lying in pools of blood, listening to Conan reconstruct all sorts of outlandish cri scenes… it had shaken her to the core. Even now, the fear lingered.
The silver lining was that she was building up a resistance. She now knew that the first thing to do upon discovering a body was to secure the cri scene.
Finally, after nurous such experiences and lessons, Sonoko had chosen to go solo today. She planned to do so investigating on her own.
"Even though this world before my eyes looks real, I mustn't let it lull into a false sense of security. The world is vast, and I need to go see it for myself."
Today was March 18th—another day that shouldn't exist. The real date should be July 29th.
After careful consideration, even though it wasn't ti to return yet, Sonoko decided to focus her investigation on Academy City itself.
Since today was an 'extra' day, she wanted to see if the ti distortion on her end caused any corresponding changes within Academy City.
She sprouted her wings, soaring a dozen ters into the air, using natural winds to propel herself forward rapidly.
The streets below were bustling with people, looking no different from any normal day.
Office workers cramd into subways, housewives lined up at supermarket entrances clutching discount flyers… everyone seed perfectly normal. The traffic flowed, the city humd with life.
But as she flew further, the number of people didn't change, yet an odd, stiff quality began to perate the crowds. It was like watching an old machine that had forgotten its lubricant.
Reaching the farther outskirts, she could only see figures standing still like wooden mannequins. It was as if, beyond the boundaries of Beika Ward, the entire world had been replaced with puppets.
Finally, she arrived at the massive outer wall of Academy City. Everything here was the sa as outside: motionless mannequins stood everywhere.
During these anomalous stretches of ti, was Academy City also populated only by these static puppets? This wasn't the Academy City she knew at all.
A realization dawned on Natsu Sonoko: Shirai-san was seeing Academy City in its normal state, while she was seeing it within this anomalous ti. The two seed to be separated by so kind of barrier.
Just as Sonoko was feeling a sense of helplessness, distinct footsteps suddenly sounded from behind her.
She started, whipping her head around to look.
"Who's there?!"
From an unseen corner erged a girl with an exceptionally long ponytail that reached her waist. Her skin was pale and seed to glow, her figure slender and tall.
She wore a white T-shirt, tied up at the waist to expose her navel, and jeans with the entire left leg cut off from the upper thigh.
-- --
On a bench sowhere within Academy City, Natsu Sonoko looked up at the girl beside her. This girl had a sharp air about her, yet she also exuded a classical, Yamato Nadeshiko-like grace. Her manners were impeccable.
"We are not in our original world," the girl explained. "This is an incomplete magical circle—you can think of it as a structure summoned using a form of energy called magic."
-- --
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.
User Comments
0 comments from readers