Okamoto Peach Blossom 0.01

"That's right, it was me!"

But just as Fujino was about to make a move, Akio Yamada, who was locked in the cage, shouted, "I was the one who killed Dad! Please, don't hurt Mom anymore!"

"Akio! Do you even know what you're saying?!"

Mrs. Yamada stopped in her tracks and turned toward Akio Yamada, screaming hysterically, "Don't say such stupid things, Akio! Just hold on a little longer, and the statute of limitations will pass!"

"I don't want this anymore!"

Akio Yamada knelt on the ground, bracing his hands against his knees as he sobbed. "I don't want to see you getting hurt because of me ever again, Mom!"

"Akio!"

Mrs. Yamada seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, and the knife slipped from her hand onto the floor.

Fujino let out a sigh of relief.

For a moment, he had the illusion that he had become the big bad villain.

After clearing his throat to ease the damned awkwardness, he continued in a deep voice, "Don't you understand your son's feelings?"

"Shut up!"

Mrs. Yamada whipped around. "I just wanted to protect him! I can't just watch him go to prison and ruin the rest of his life!"

Fujino sighed.

My verbal sparring skills still weren't up to par, he thought before raising his voice.

"Locking him in a dark, damp cage and making him suffer the torment of his conscience every day—is that protecting him?! Don't you think your so-called protection is even crueler than sending him to prison?!"

"That's not it! That's not it!!"

Mrs. Yamada clutched her head and, after a fit of hysterical screaming, covered her face and burst into tears.

"Maybe this was what twisted motherly love looked like..."

Fujino lowered his head slightly and sighed.

The sun had set. Though night had already fallen, the mother and son, who had hidden away for five years, finally returned to the light that day.

After taking the two of them to the police station, Fujino returned home to Beika Town, 5-chome.

He pushed open the door, and a hundred-square-meter room came into view.

Moonlight streamed in. The spacious room was fully furnished, and there was even a nearly one-hundred-inch plasma television hanging on the wall, yet it felt exceptionally lonely.

"I'm back."

Fujino muttered the words out of habit, then dragged his exhausted body onto the bed and embraced the solitude that belonged to him alone.

Congratulations, Host, for completing the Haunted House Murder Case mission. You have obtained 50 Detective Reputation.

System rewards have been issued. Bounty rewards have been issued.

The System Equipment Gift Pack has been placed in the warehouse. Please check it.

A notification sounded beside his ear, and Fujino slowly sat up.

With a thought, a transparent screen appeared before him.

The screen was filled with grids, each containing a different item.

The system warehouse was not some system space that could freely store and retrieve items. It was a one-way logistics warehouse that could only take items out... Once an item was removed, it could not be put back.

Fujino examined the system warehouse, his attention drawn to an icon shaped like a gift box.

System Initial Equipment Gift Pack: Randomly draws one initial piece of equipment. Quality guaranteed to be blue.

After reading the item description, Fujino opened the gift pack.

Suddenly, a streak of light shot out of it.

After a brief yet realistic cutscene, a Wooden Sword glowing blue appeared before him.

"A Wooden Sword?"

Fujino murmured in surprise. When his fingertip touched it, the details of the Wooden Sword appeared.

Okamoto Peach Blossom 0.01: A Wooden Sword made from ebony. It had been consecrated by a certain master, so although it was made of wood, it was indestructible.

Form: A black wooden sword measuring 1.2 meters long. It normally took the form of a shrunken pendant, but returned to its original form when used.

Ability: Indestructible, though its damaging power is limited. While it cannot physically injure people, it can make them feel physical pain and inflict some of the negative effects of injuries for a period of time. If the user's swordsmanship is good enough, it could very likely knock someone unconscious with a single strike.

Fujino took out the Wooden Sword and swung it twice. His first impression was that it was very light. Even with his unenhanced physique, it was easy to wield.

And judging from the feel of it, it did not resemble a Wooden Sword at all. It felt more like a steel blade forged entirely from pure steel...

After swinging it a few more times and nearly smashing the plasma television, Fujino finally put it away.

Once stored away, Okamoto Peach Blossom 0.01 shrank into a thumb-sized pendant and fell from midair into Fujino's palm.

There was even a braided red cord thoughtfully tied around the hilt.

It was pretty convenient.

"Why does this make me feel like it's my zodiac year?"

Fujino sighed and slipped the pendant around his neck.

Grrr...

Just then, his uncooperative stomach growled, interrupting his thoughts.

He had almost forgotten that he had not eaten anything since getting up that morning.

People were iron and food was steel. Food came first; everything else could wait.

Fujino pulled out a pack of instant noodles from who knew where, lit the gas stove, and began boiling water.

Before long, a bowl of plain instant noodles, which the system claimed could fill him up after he finished it, was placed on the table.

"Can this stuff really fill me up?"

Fujino asked doubtfully, but after he wolfed down the entire bowl of noodles... he no longer thought that way.

The flavor was nothing special, comparable to cheap rations, but it was genuinely filling.

Just one bowl left him feeling fuller than ever before.

"How did the system even get something like this... This isn't scientific..."

Fujino muttered, but then he thought again. He already had a system, so what the hell was scientific about any of this? This wasn't science, and it wasn't Conan science either. This was fucking mysticism.

Full and satisfied, Fujino stretched lazily and gazed toward the street, his mind wandering.

Yeah, he had more or less adapted to life in this world... and to this Conan-style timeline where today might be the fifth and tomorrow might somehow be the twentieth.

Perhaps the only flaw was that this body had been overworked to the point of being somewhat weak.

Earlier that day, because he had not adapted yet, his vision had gone black after intense exercise, and he had ended up in the infirmary.

After waking up, he had even been called over by that violent beauty of a Japanese teacher and asked a whole bunch of baffling questions... Fortunately, Fujino had brushed her off with a few vague answers, and that was that.

"Dad! Why did you go out drinking again?!"

At that moment, a girl's angry scolding suddenly rang out. Her tone gradually turned aggrieved as she continued, "If you weren't like this, why would no jobs come your way? And why would Mom have been driven off in anger..."

"Wait, Ran, listen to my explanation... Oh!"

That day, the screams of a certain drunken fool echoed throughout Beika Town, 5-chome.

Once the storm had passed, Fujino stood on his balcony and looked toward the Mori Detective Agency across the street. He sighed. "Another day of the Mori family being full of martial virtue..."