Chapter 4: Eyewitness
handling the bustling theme park crowds took a fair bit of maneuvering, but Natsume finally arrived near the entrance of the Mystery Coaster. She paused, catching her breath, and immediately spotted a familiar trio of pint-sized troublemakers. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta were huddled near the base of the tracks, attempting to squeeze through a rusted maintenance hole to score a free ride.
Before Natsume could even call out a warning, the three children vanished into the dark gap like slippery little mice. She sighed. If the Detective Boys were already sneaking into the tunnel, that meant the main cast—Kudo Shinichi and Mouri Ran—had to be nearby.
Sweeping her gaze toward the queue, her eyes locked onto a pair of high schoolers. The boy, clad in casual clothes, was gesturing wildly, his mouth moving a mile a minute as he rambled about Sherlock Holmes. Mid-sentence, he abruptly grabbed the hand of a young woman standing ahead of him in line—the soon-to-be culprit of this gruesome case. Beside the boy, a teenage girl with a distinctive, horn-like hairstyle crossed her arms, her expression souring with clear annoyance.
Natsume chewed her lower lip, her mind racing. Her original plan had been simple: buy a ticket, board the same coaster as the protagonists, and improvise a way to disrupt the murder. Even if she failed to prevent the tragedy, observing the crime up close would give her the perfect alibi for a flawless deduction later.
She took a step toward the ticket booth, only to freeze. A glaring flaw in her plan suddenly surfaced.
The coaster car only held eight seats. Shinichi and Ran occupied two. The victim and his three friends took up four. That left exactly two seats remaining—which were currently claimed by two towering men dressed entirely in black. Gin and Vodka.
There was literally no room for her.
Her gaze drifted back to the maintenance gap the children had used. A new, slightly reckless idea sparked in her mind. Checking over her shoulder to ensure no park staff were watching, Natsume slipped away from the main path and approached the rusted opening.
Earlier, while washing her hands in the restroom, she had taken a good look at her new reflection. She was a near-perfect mirror of Lumine, the Traveler from Teyvat, though perhaps a few years older—just mature enough to pass as a young adult rather than a teenager. Along with the Traveler's appearance came a distinct physical lightness. Her muscles felt coiled with quiet strength. Slipping through the narrow, jagged gap proved effortless. She ducked her head, shifted her shoulders, and slid into the darkness without a single snag.
The interior of the tunnel was swallowed in gloom, the air thick with the smell of grease and damp earth. Yet, Natsume blinked, realizing her vision adjusted almost instantly. The pitch-black environment resolved into clear, grayscale contours. She could see the metal struts of the tracks, the uneven ground, and the faint dust motes dancing in the stale air.
She padded forward silently. It did not take long before the hushed, excited whispers of children echoed off the curved walls ahead.
"Ayumi, is that you?" Natsume called out, keeping her voice low and gentle.
Up ahead, three small silhouettes flinched. They had clearly heard her approaching footsteps and were bracing to bolt. At the sound of her voice, they froze, turning around.
"Ah! It is the big sister from before," Ayumi gasped, her shoulders dropping in relief. She trotted a few steps closer, tilting her head. "Big sister, why are you in here?"
Natsume could hardly admit she was here to witness a decapitation. She offered a warm, slightly chiding smile. "I saw you three squeezing through that gap outside. It looked dangerous, and I was worried you might get hurt, so I followed you."
She needed to stall. The coaster would be entering the tunnel any minute now. Besides, these kids desperately needed a lesson in basic survival. In the anime, their reckless bravery was a running gag, but standing inside an active coaster tunnel in reality was a death wish.
Crouching down to their eye level, Natsume adopted a serious expression. "Do you realize how dangerous this is? Look right next to you." She pointed to the massive steel rails gleaming faintly in the dark. "Those are the coaster tracks. These cars move incredibly fast. If one comes through and you do not have time to dodge, you could be seriously hurt. Or worse."
Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta exchanged guilty glances. The thrill of their secret adventure vanished, replaced by the sobering reality of her words. They shuffled their feet, lowering their heads in a synchronized display of contrition.
Natsume sighed inwardly. They looked sorry now, but she knew their adventurous streak was practically hardwired into their DNA. Still, she was a stranger to them; lecturing them further would only make her seem like a nagging adult.
She reached out, gently patting Ayumi's hair. "Alright. It is too dark and dusty in here anyway. Grab onto my hands, and I will lead you back outside."
A low, mechanical rumble vibrated through the soles of her shoes. The sound of heavy metal grinding against steel echoed from the tunnel entrance, growing louder by the second.
[Traveler, the coaster is almost here!] Paimon's voice chimed urgently in her mind.
Natsume's reflexes kicked in. She tightened her grip on Ayumi's small hand, yanking the girl flush against the curved concrete wall. Throwing her other arm out, she corralled Mitsuhiko and Genta, pressing them flat against the damp stone. "Press your backs to the wall! Do not move!"
A roaring gust of wind slammed into them as the coaster train tore through the darkness. The deafening clatter of wheels on steel drowned out everything else. Shadows flickered wildly overhead.
As the final car whipped past and the roar began to fade, a sudden, sharp metallic scent hit Natsume's nose. The unmistakable copper tang of fresh blood.
In the sudden quiet that followed, a tiny, rhythmic sound echoed near their feet.
Clink... clatter... clink.
Something small and hard bounced off the concrete. Ayumi gasped, feeling something brush against her sneaker. She crouched down, her small fingers feeling around in the dark until she grasped a smooth, round object.
"A pearl?" Ayumi murmured, holding it up.
Natsume's enhanced vision locked onto the pale sphere resting in the little girl's palm. Just as she expected. It was a piece of the necklace Hitomi used to anchor the piano wire. The murder was complete.
There was no reason to linger in the dark any longer. The trap had been sprung, the victim was dead, and the only thing left was the deduction show.
"Let us go," Natsume urged, guiding the children back toward the maintenance gap.
They squeezed out into the blinding afternoon sun, only to be met with a scene of absolute chaos. A massive crowd had formed near the coaster's exit platform. Park patrons were screaming, covering their mouths, and pointing in horror.
"How terrifying..." a woman sobbed nearby.
"His head... it is just gone!" a man stammered, his face pale green.
Before Natsume could steer the kids away from the gruesome sight, a figure broke away from the platform and jogged toward them.
Ayumi's eyes lit up with recognition. She broke free from Natsume's grip and ran toward him. "Ah! Are you that famous high school detective?"
The teenager paused, crouching down to offer the little girl a practiced, charming smile. "That is right. I am Kudo Shinichi."
Natsume hung back, taking this rare opportunity to study the legendary Detective of the East before his impending transformation. He carried himself with an effortless swagger. His smile was sharp, his posture relaxed, entirely accustomed to being the center of attention. There was a distinct lack of caution in his eyes—the look of a genius who had never truly tasted defeat. He was brilliant, yes, but also dangerously arrogant. It was easy to see how this overconfidence would lead him straight into Gin's trap later tonight.
Shinichi began questioning the children about their presence in the tunnel. Deciding it was time to intervene, Natsume stepped forward, her expression carefully arranged into a mask of polite concern.
"Excuse me," she interrupted gently. "What exactly happened up there? We heard people screaming about a... case?"
Shinichi glanced up, his words dying in his throat for a fraction of a second. He blinked, clearly caught off guard by the striking blonde woman standing before him. Recovering his composure quickly, he stood up and gave a brief, clinical summary of the decapitation that had just occurred on the coaster.
He opened his mouth to resume interrogating the children, but Natsume cut him off smoothly.
"If the seating arrangement you just described is accurate," she said, her voice calm and steady, "then I believe I know exactly who the culprit is."
Shinichi froze. His confident smirk slipped, replaced by genuine shock. "Eh? You know who did it? How could you possibly know that? Who is it?"
"You mentioned you were sitting directly in front of the victim," Natsume explained, crossing her arms. "Therefore, the killer has to be the woman sitting in the very first row. Right in front of you."
Shinichi's eyes narrowed, his detective instincts flaring. "And your proof?"
Natsume offered a modest, almost sheepish smile. "When the murder took place, the children and I were standing inside the tunnel. My night vision is exceptionally good. When the coaster train rushed past, I distinctly saw the passenger in the first row stretch backward, reaching completely over the second row to do something to the person in the third row." She gestured to Ayumi, who proudly held up the small white sphere. "Combine that with the loose pearl Ayumi just found on the tunnel floor... it is fairly obvious how the culprit set up the trap."
Before Shinichi could process this revelation, the wail of police sirens pierced the air. A squad of uniformed officers pushed through the crowd, led by a stout, familiar man in a brown trench coat and matching fedora.
"Inspector Megure!" one of the patrol officers called out, securing the perimeter.
Shinichi turned toward the approaching inspector, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Inspector Megure. You are going to want to hear this. This young lady claims she was an eyewitness to the murder."
Shinichi shoved his hands into his pockets, a dark cloud of depression practically hovering over his head. Natsume's casual explanation had instantly connected all the dots in his mind. He completely understood the piano wire trick now. But having the answer handed to him on a silver platter felt awful. The thrill of the chase, the slow, methodical peeling back of layers to reveal the truth—it had all been snatched away. Robbed of his grand deduction show, the teenage detective felt utterly deflated, lacking even the energy to explain the trick to the police himself.
Inspector Megure, on the other hand, beamed with relief. An actual eyewitness made his job infinitely easier.
Natsume patiently repeated her statement for the police. Since Megure had already reviewed the coaster's seating chart, he immediately locked his stern gaze onto the woman from the first row.
Seeing the case wrapping up without him, Shinichi finally managed to scrape together a fraction of his usual enthusiasm. He stepped forward to explain the mechanics of the piano wire and the pearl necklace, delivering the final blow.
He stopped in front of Hitomi, his gaze piercing. "So, care to explain what exactly you were reaching back to do in that tunnel? And what happened to the rest of the pearl necklace you were wearing earlier?"
Hitomi opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her knees buckled. She buried her face in her hands and broke down into loud, agonizing sobs, confessing her motive between gasps for air.
As the police, Shinichi, and the crowd focused entirely on the weeping culprit, Natsume took a slow step backward. Then another.
She had no desire to spend the rest of her evening sitting in a stuffy interrogation room filling out witness statements. Using the commotion as her cover, she turned on her heel and melted quietly into the bustling theme park crowd, leaving the great Detective of the East to his hollow victory.
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