Outlaw in Conan's World, Tokisaki Kurumi

From the room environment to the food provided, the owner divided his treatment of different guests into distinct tiers.

Looking at the smiling owner, Kurumi said, "Yes. Do you still have any vacant rooms?"

"Of course." Due to the season, Moon Shadow Island was currently in its tourism off-season. Although some tourists still came here from other places during this time, compared to the previous peak season, most of the rooms here had been vacant for a long time.

After hearing the price for one day's stay, including meals, Kurumi considered it. Aside from being a little expensive, it was still within her acceptable range.

Seeing Kurumi agree, the owner's smile became even more enthusiastic.

After proactively handling Kurumi's check-in, he kindly told her that they also had hot springs available.

"By the way, miss, your room is on the third floor. Would you like me to carry your luggage up?" Seeing Kurumi's delicate appearance as she carried a suitcase, the owner came closer and asked.

"No need. I can go up by myself." The weight of a suitcase was nothing to Kurumi.

Declining the owner's attentive service, Kurumi took her luggage to the third floor.

After finding her room, Kurumi pushed open the door and entered.

Just as she had imagined, the room's style was more like a private inn than a hotel.

The fully Japanese-style layout looked rather simple at first glance, but the furniture and decorations gave it a strong rustic charm.

The room had been carefully cleaned and tidied by the owner. It was clean and orderly, making it feel refreshing and comfortable at a glance.

At the entrance, Kurumi placed her removed shoes on the shoe rack and set her suitcase in a corner of the room.

"Not bad~" Standing in the middle of the room, Kurumi gave it an approving assessment.

She walked to the window and opened it to admire the scenery outside. As a place for sightseeing and relaxation, Moon Shadow Island gave Kurumi quite a good impression.

After summoning King Crimson and thoroughly inspecting the room inside and out, Kurumi confirmed there was nothing that should not have been there. She decided to take a walk outside first and familiarize herself with the island for her upcoming plans.

After resting for a few minutes, Kurumi left the room.

Before leaving, however, to prevent anyone from entering her room and doing anything shady, Kurumi used a few small tools to leave some inconspicuous marks around the room.

Leisurely Strolling

Although Moon Shadow Island was surrounded by the sea, and its only connection to the outside world was by boat, the residents' living conditions were naturally incomparable to those in a bustling metropolis.

However, in contrast to that,

Moon Shadow Island's uniquely favorable natural environment made up for its economic shortcomings. Relying on its scenery, the tourists who came here each year brought considerable popularity to the island. The residents of Moon Shadow Island had gradually found another way to make money besides fishing by catering to those visitors.

Kurumi had learned all this before coming here.

Originally, Kurumi had wanted to wander around town and properly experience the rural life here.

However, since Moon Shadow Island was currently facing its next village chief election, Kurumi kept seeing posters pasted all around town. Without exception, they were colorful papers printed with candidates soliciting votes and support, which really soured her mood.

The sun hanging high in the sky gradually sank toward the horizon as Kurumi aimlessly wandered around.

Orange-red light reflected across the sky and sea. With the sea breeze gently blowing, Kurumi stood on a hillside and looked out at the sunset in the distance, feeling that this trip to Moon Shadow Island had truly been worthwhile.

Night gradually fell, and bright moonlight shone over the peaceful countryside.

On the dim path, Kurumi, having already familiarized herself with the area during the afternoon, prepared to return to the inn for a good rest. She also wanted to see how the hot springs the innkeeper had mentioned were.

Ideally, she would soak in the hot spring while having some sweet sake.

Listening to the insects chirping in the roadside greenery and the cries of unknown birds, Kurumi returned to the inn where she was staying.

The owner was still sitting behind the counter in the lobby.

When Kurumi pushed open the door and entered, the owner, who had been boredly reading a magazine, immediately put on an enthusiastic smile and greeted her. "Miss, what do you think of our environment here?"

"It's very nice." Kurumi did not particularly want to deal with him, but since he had come over so eagerly, she could not exactly ignore him coldly.

That would not fit the persona Kurumi had created for herself.

So, as a tourist, Kurumi gave her honest evaluation of the island's scenery.

"That's wonderful." It was obvious from the owner's even brighter smile that he was very proud of Kurumi's answer.

"By the way, miss, we'll bring your dinner up to your room shortly." From Kurumi's expensive clothes and the young-lady-like aura she exuded, the owner had decided from the moment he met her to serve her with the best treatment and the most expensive options.

"Then I'll trouble you." Somewhat looking forward to the dinner here, Kurumi nodded and headed toward her room.

To give the pressure from her "work" an outlet, Kurumi had cultivated quite a few additional hobbies over the years.

Manga, good food, masturbation, and various other things were all ways for Kurumi to relieve stress.

Incidentally, there was surprisingly no Ultraman in Conan's world. Instead, there was only that children's-oriented Masked Superman stuff, which had made Kurumi give up on this world's tokusatsu shows from the very beginning.

When she reached her room, Kurumi immediately noticed that the small mark she had made on the door had been moved.

Did an inn employee come in? Kurumi narrowed her eyes slightly and swiftly summoned King Crimson.

As King Crimson's muscular body stood in front of her, Kurumi activated another of her abilities.

As the ability known as Epitaph activated, the bangs covering her left eye shifted, allowing Kurumi to see the "future" projected onto them through her left eye.

In the more than ten seconds of "future," Kurumi did not notice anything unusual in the room.

Other than a lavish plate of fruit and snacks that had appeared on the kotatsu in the room.

After seeing the future scene, Kurumi felt that she had been overthinking things.

Still, considering that she was a high-ranking member of the Black Organization and had many enemies, Kurumi felt there was nothing wrong with being a little cautious.

After pushing open the door, Kurumi first used King Crimson to inspect the other marks she had left in the room. Once she confirmed that none of them had been touched, she determined that only a server delivering fruit had entered her room and no one else had intruded.

Taking off her shoes, the now-relaxed Kurumi took a manga from her suitcase. The autumn island became somewhat chilly after the sun set, and with the window open for ventilation, the sea breeze carried cold air into the room. Without hesitation, she slipped beneath the kotatsu.

"Warm!" Happily peeling an orange from the fruit plate, Kurumi lay down to make herself more comfortable. Then she turned over, lay on her stomach, and tucked most of her body beneath the kotatsu as she happily began reading her manga.

The only sound in the quiet room was the rustling of paper as Kurumi turned the pages.

About ten minutes later, someone knocked on the guest room door.

"Miss, your dinner is ready." A mature woman's voice came from outside.

Hearing that her dinner had arrived, Kurumi stuffed the last two orange segments into her mouth and said indistinctly, "I know. Come in."

"Very well. Excuse me."

The room door opened, and Kurumi saw a middle-aged woman in a light blue kimono kneeling at the entrance.

In front of her was a tray carrying what looked like a sumptuous dinner.

Besides the dinner, Kurumi also saw a large bottle of freshly squeezed juice.

"Thank you." Changing from lying on her stomach to sitting up, Kurumi gestured for the woman, who looked like the owner's wife, to place the dinner directly on the kotatsu table before her.

Carefully setting the dinner on the table, the woman knelt beside Kurumi and said, "Miss, if there is anything else you need, please tell me directly."

"Are you a server here?" Kurumi asked, looking at the woman.

"You could say that. This inn is only run by my husband, my son, and me."

Hearing this, Kurumi understood.

"Then you're the owner's wife?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "I'm Yamana Maki, the owner's wife of this inn. The man downstairs is my husband, Yamana Yota."

"Then where is your son?" Based on Yamana Maki's explanation and her own observations, Kurumi had concluded that the owner downstairs was responsible for watching the front, while Mrs. Yamana, being more meticulous as a woman, handled the inn's cleaning and housekeeping.

With that thought, Kurumi looked at the appetizing food laid out on her table.

"If I'm not mistaken, then the two of you have a son who is the chef here, right?"

Enjoying the Hot Spring

Perhaps it was praise, or perhaps merely politeness.

After hearing Kurumi correctly guess that the inn was indeed run by only the three of them, and that she had immediately recognized their son as the inn's chef, Yamana Maki's smile became even warmer.

With a proud tone, the innkeeper's wife began introducing her son to Kurumi.

"Yusuke is the finest chef on our island."

Listening to the innkeeper's wife, Kurumi looked at the dinner before her.

Moon Shadow Island was surrounded by the sea, so most of the ingredients used by its residents came from the surrounding blue waters.

In this life, Kurumi had already eaten all kinds of seafood in Japan.

Whether it was the finest restaurants in Tokyo or hidden culinary gems in back alleys, Kurumi could say that she had sampled nearly all the seafood Japan had to offer.

It could be said that Kurumi had already grown tired of ordinary seafood dishes.

However, when Kurumi saw the abundant seafood platter before her, whether it was the color of the ingredients or the clearly masterful knife work, she felt that the Yusuke mentioned by the innkeeper's wife, this inn's chef, was fully comparable to chefs at high-end restaurants.

The only question was how it tasted.

"Indeed."

Kurumi was not a professional gourmet, so she did not possess the godlike ability to judge a chef's state of mind just by looking at a dish.

Still, judging by the arrangement of the various seafood on the platter, Kurumi could tell that it had all been carefully arranged by Yusuke.

Clearly, Kurumi's answer made the innkeeper's wife very happy.

Although she wanted to recommend her outstanding son to the beautiful girl before her, out of professionalism and a desire not to disturb the guest's meal, the innkeeper's wife thanked Kurumi for the compliment and respectfully left the room.

"Honestly, I'm terrible at dealing with people this enthusiastic!" With Kurumi's sharp eyes, how could she possibly fail to notice that when the innkeeper's wife looked at her, it was practically as if she had written, My son is excellent and single, across her face?

That burning gaze, as though she could not wait to have her son meet Kurumi, made Kurumi feel rather uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the woman still understood a bit of restraint and had not continued chatting about household matters.

Otherwise, Kurumi might have turned hostile on the spot.

Was I acting too gentle and giving them the impression that I'm easy to talk to? Kurumi was somewhat suspicious.

Putting those unpleasant matters out of her mind, Kurumi decided to first taste the dinner here and fill the stomach that had grown hungry after an afternoon of wandering.

This wasn't a food show...

About half an hour later, after finishing dinner with slow, careful bites, Kurumi elegantly picked up a tissue from the table and wiped her mouth.

The dinner tasted just as she had expected. Although the ingredients were somewhat ordinary for a foodie like Kurumi, the chef's excellent skills gave those familiar ingredients a distinct flavor.

Drinking juice, Kurumi turned on the television in her room, hoping to find an interesting program to pass the time and help her digest.

After skipping boring news and the childish Masked Superman programs, Kurumi flipped through every television channel and sighed.

"Entertainment in this era is really lacking..."

Kurumi no longer knew how many times in her life she had lamented the tragedy of this era.

With no particularly interesting programs no matter how much she looked, Kurumi skipped a show hosted by a female television host she knew and began idly watching a drama starring Ono Yoko, a major celebrity of this era.

For Kurumi, who had transmigrated from the modern era, television dramas from this time were truly rather cliché.

She could practically guess what would happen next in the drama's plot just by watching the beginning.

Still, Ono Yoko was beautiful and could act well. Kurumi felt that occasionally watching this sort of nostalgic drama had its own period charm.

"Nice figure~" Rather than watching the drama, Kurumi was more or less admiring the figure of the beautiful celebrity Ono Yoko. With her eyes alone, she could basically analyze Ono Yoko's physical measurements.

That was probably the spirit of a pervy old man.

As she drank juice and watched television, Kurumi saw that it was nearly nine o'clock and felt it was about time to enjoy this inn's hot spring service.

Picking up the white towel and yukata provided by the inn, Kurumi turned off the television, put on her slippers, and left her room.

Following the signs hanging on the inn's walls, Kurumi arrived at the bath marked by the women's curtain.

Someone's here?

As she lifted the curtain and entered, Kurumi heard the sound of someone showering inside.

Probably another guest like me.

Without thinking much about it, Kurumi walked to the lockers and found hers according to the number tag.

Slowly taking off her clothes and hanging them up, Kurumi's snow-white, jade-like skin and proud figure were immediately exposed to the slightly chilly air.

Knowing the rules before entering a hot spring, Kurumi carried her towel to the shower area, preparing to rinse away the dust of the day with warm water.

Just as she had heard in the changing room, when Kurumi walked inside, she saw a woman who had just finished washing herself heading toward the open-air hot spring.