Chapter 174: The Detective's Common Sense of Always Finding Clues Nearby (Destiny)
Conan snapped out of his daze and couldn't help asking:
"Do you have mind-reading powers? Can you tell exactly what I'm thinking?"
At this moment, Conan felt a strange sense of helplessness. Back in the previous world line, he had firmly believed the world was scientific, refusing to accept anything irrational. Now, faced with the incomprehensible, his first instinct was to lean toward supernatural explanations.
Ichigo Kurosaki's spherical body gave a very human-like shrug. "I just took a moment to chat with God. He gave me some revelations about you—said you plan to travel back to the past to change everything."
Sincerity is the ultimate finishing move. Ichigo's bluntness left Conan speechless. Even for supernatural means, having God drop revelations and spoil the future was a bit too much!
Conan couldn't help asking, "May I ask... aren't you an alien? What's the deal with 'God' in your world?"
Ichigo laughed. "I am an alien, that's true. But the God in our world and the God in yours should be the same existence. Even the titles are similar—the Omniscient and Omnipotent Lord."
In the Japan of this world, and indeed the whole world, the glory of God was still prominent. Hearing Ichigo say that his "God" was the same one from Conan's world made the boy freeze. "So... God really exists? But then why..."
Ichigo interjected, "I know what you want to ask. Why does God exist while the world remains chaotic and filled with sin, right? Actually, after learning of God's existence, our world had similar doubts. According to worldly concepts, an omnipotent Lord should make the world better—or at least stop it from decaying. Eventually, God gave us an answer."
Ichigo wasn't lying. When the Soul Kings who ruled those worlds returned from their audience with God, word spread through the small circles of the world-bubbles. The most notable change was that every Yhwach in every bubble issued a declaration: the Lord worshipped by the mortal Cross faiths had nothing to do with the Quincy race—the Quincies were merely lucky enough to be touched by His glory, leaving a few traces of Him in their world.
In the Bleach world, Yhwach—the resurrected King of Quincies—was the source of the mortal Cross faith. But now, even if you killed him, Yhwach wouldn't dare claim it! Ichigo wanted a rematch with the Fighting Soul King, but Yhwach had no desire to ever see that "insane old father" who could annihilate the three realms on a whim and met everyone with a merciless iron fist.
Since people knew God truly existed, many had expectations and questions. If He exists, why has the world become like this? This was an ancient question asked in many worlds. Conan asked it too:
"What did God say?"
"God extended His fist, gave us a heavy thrashing, and told us not to ask such boring questions. He said if we have a problem with the world, use our own fists and will to beat the world into the shape we want. If we have a problem with Him, then we're free to ascend to the highest peak, kick down the gates of Heaven, and charge right in. He's waiting in the deepest part of the Kingdom 24/7, standing in the stance of the Ultimate Spiritual Particle Blast Punch..."
Conan was left in a state of speechless stupor. The stereotype of God as a kind, white-bearded old man shattered instantly. Based on Ichigo's description, he hallucinated a white-robed, muscular giant wreathed in purgatory-like holy light, possessed by an unmatchable battle-will, who beat up Satan dozens of times a day just for fun. A "Big Guy" God who grabbed believers by the neck and barked: "You got a problem with Me? If you do, punch Me in the chest. Harder! Didn't you eat today?"
Conan shook his head to clear the absurd image. "Fine... your God sounds intense. Since He told you my plan, does He have an opinion on it? Or rather, can I seek His help and salvation?"
There was a sliver of hope in Conan's voice that even he didn't notice. Even for a man of reason, his resolve wavered at such a crossroads.
Ichigo smiled. "He has many views, but it boils down to one sentence: He always expects 'Humans' to carve their own path. When all causes and effects converge, He will naturally descend to do what He must. It was like that in our world, and it's the same here. For now, don't worry about His existence. Just do what you want to do!"
Ichigo didn't tell Conan that Moriarty was God's avatar. For Conan, knowing that wouldn't help.
Conan fell silent, then exhaled a long sigh. The wavering vanished, replaced by iron resolve. "That's fine. At least I don't have to worry about God descending and immediately casting a great sinner like me into Hell. I have enough time to solve the problems I've caused..."
Ichigo replied casually, "Don't sweat it. Being cast into Hell isn't that scary. I fought my way out and killed God's avatar anyway..."
Conan's gaze turned horrified. "You don't happen to have the name 'Lucifer,' do you?"
Ichigo shrugged. "The King of Hell in our world is someone else. Me? My formal title is Apocalypse Knight."
Conan was silenced again. He remembered the scriptures. The advent of an Apocalypse Knight was, in a sense, worse than a Demon King appearing in the mortal realm.
"Ah..." Conan smiled bitterly. "So the world is already in such a state that an Apocalypse Knight needs to descend and blow the trumpet? Fine... angels are aliens, and they invade Earth under a Knight's lead. God's miracles are quite sci-fi. But is this Fate's mockery? The one who summoned the Final Judgment is me—the great sinner who unknowingly ruined everyone's destiny..."
Conan's expression darkened visibly. Ichigo didn't want him spiraling into theology, so he changed the subject:
"Forget God and the Final Judgment for now. Back to you. Is your time-travel plan ready? Need a hand? Honestly, your plan interests me. If I had your brain back then, things might have turned out better..."
Ichigo meant it. Instead of creating a new world, traveling back a million years to the Bleach world's origin to rewrite it as the Soul King might have changed everything. As it stood, he could do anything, but bringing back those lost to the Void was difficult. He was still figuring out the exact "punching force" required to hit the River of Time correctly—last time he tried, he didn't bring back the people of Karakura Town, but he did punch out a few ancient apes. It was quite embarrassing.
Conan shook his head. "God is omniscient; He knows everything. I'm not. My plan is just a rough idea. If God hadn't told me through you that it's feasible, I'd think it was a joke. It'll take time to turn the idea into a plan. But before that... I need to do some preparation and... verification."
"Verify what?" Ichigo asked.
"Verify if I am truly... guilty," Conan replied with a bitter smile.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "And how do you plan to do that?"
"By walking around," Conan said. "According to common sense, clues to answer any mystery are always close by, aren't they?"
"What common sense is that? I've never heard of it."
"My friend, it's Detective Common Sense!"
With that, Ichigo accompanied Conan on a stroll. Conan looked under park benches and peeked into bushes. He seemed to have no destination, just looking for clues for the sake of looking.
This Nightmare Beika Park was a forbidden zone; no one but them could enter. Since it was newly born, Ichigo didn't think Conan would find a damn thing, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to overstep.
As they wandered, Conan's expression was a storm of complexity. He wanted to find something, yet desperately hoped he wouldn't—like a prisoner awaiting a sentence from Fate!
Ichigo wasn't just watching Conan's face; he was watching the unawakened "Protagonist's True Form" hidden behind the boy. That towering giant, eyes half-closed by Conan's will, was stirring. It lifted a hand, finger pointing toward the earth. Threads of darkness seeped from the fingertip as if trying to manifest a destiny. But the giant hesitated; the finger never touched the ground.
In the physical world, the detective searching for his sins and the hidden god holding infinite power began to overlap in their hesitation. Ichigo watched, sensing the fundamental trend of this world.
It was a world of Reason.
Neither confusion nor hesitation, despair nor pain, could stop the implementation of reason. An answer would appear.
In that heartbeat, the towering giant lowered its finger to the earth. Simultaneously, Conan felt something. His gaze landed on a trash can.
In this nightmare park, everything was distorted. The trash can was a monster with rows of fangs, writhing like a living thing. Conan ignored the horror. He walked over with shaky but determined steps. Ignoring the fangs, he reached out to pry open the "skull"—the lid.
It didn't open at first. The monster struggled and roared, as if resisting, or perhaps Fate was using it to offer Conan a final mercy. Conan didn't care. His eyes were bloodshot. With a violent tug, he ripped the lid open!
Fangs met palm; blood sprayed. Conan didn't flinch. He thrust his hand into the monster's rotting flesh, rummaging through the decay until he pulled out a notebook.
The monster collapsed. Conan stared at the notebook and slowly began to smile. It was the first time in Ichigo's life he had seen a smile more tragic than weeping.
Ichigo walked over. On the cover, in neat handwriting, were the words: [The Diary of Shinichi Kudo].
"I have to admit," Ichigo said, "Detective Common Sense is interesting. Finding a clue where there should be nothing... your protagonist-power is stronger than I thought. Are you sure you want to read that?"
Conan smiled deeply but didn't speak. He opened the diary with unyielding resolve. Ichigo leaned in to read over his shoulder.
The first page read:
[For some reason, I keep forgetting the time. Ai reminded me to use landmark events to track it. So, I'll use solved cases to represent the flow of time. For a future Sherlock Holmes, time spent on cases is more valuable than natural time...]
[Today is my 100th case. A major step toward becoming Holmes. Damn Black Organization. If they hadn't fed me that drug and turned me into a kid, I wouldn't have to celebrate in secret.]
[My 1,000th case. A rare sunny day. A day of celebration. Ran and Uncle Mouri are going on a trip; I'll tag along as my reward...]
[Unknowingly, 10,000 cases are done. Am I closer to being the Holmes of the Heisei era?]
[The 100,000th case achievement is unlocked. Keep it up, Shinichi. You can do it...]
[The 1,000,000th case. Wait... something feels wrong...]
[Today is case number 1,809,732. I feel like I haven't seen Ran or Ai in a long time...]
[Case 3,867,056. I went to see Ran and Ai. They were laughing happily. Are-re? Wait... are they laughing? Why can't I see clearly?]
[WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG...]
[Ran and Ai's behavior, expressions, and words are suspicious. Yet to me, they seem normal. There's a deep sense of dissonance. Wait—Professor Agasa and my parents? I haven't seen them in forever. Where are they? Shinichi, you're a detective. FIND THE TRUTH!!!]
[Kogoro Mouri became the culprit of a case. He killed his ex-wife out of a love-hate obsession after years of separation. He was also a member of the Black Organization. Then Gin killed him to silence him. Right in front of my eyes. It just happened... This is impossible. This shouldn't be. This is WRONG!!!!]
[Shinichi Kudo, you are a detective. You must remember: you aspire to be Sherlock Holmes. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth...]
[And now, after deduction, there is only one truth that answers everything. The problem isn't Ran, or Ai, or Uncle Mouri. The problem is... SHINICHI KUDO!!!]
[I don't want to admit it, but according to my deduction, Shinichi Kudo has gone insane. He is imprisoned beneath the body of Edogawa Conan. His eyes see hallucinations; his ears hear phantoms. Everything he perceives is different from reality. Perhaps in the eyes of Ran and Ai, the being named Edogawa Conan is a total lunatic. Or worse—an abominable, terrifying evil...]
[But fortunately, the Shinichi imprisoned in Conan still has one last weapon: Deduction. It will pierce this falsehood...]
[Fake. It's all fake... Hallucinations. Phantoms. I must find the truth...]
[I found that 'Reason' and 'Truth' are a curse. The more I deduce, the more I feel how terrifying this all is...]
Ichigo finished the first page and couldn't help but exhale. "Whoa. This diary is... intense. Little Detective, are you still lucid? Are you about to go mad, or are you already there?"
End of Chapter
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