Half a month had passed since the Himuro Mansion incident ended.
Fuyuki Hinase had been reported missing. After all, he had run off to Yomi. Unless the police in Japan had the ability to enter the underworld and check household registries, all they could do was list him as missing.
As for Mayu Hinase, she moved into the office Shizuku ran. Like Kogoro Mouri's office, Shizuku's place itself was not very large. Half of the second floor was office space, while the other half contained a lounge and study. The entire third floor was made up of guest rooms, enough to accommodate three to five people without any problem.
At first, Mayu Hinase had been unwilling to trouble Shizuku. After all, they had not known each other before, and honestly, Mayu had been the one to hire Shizuku to exorcise the evil spirits. Yet in the end, not only had Mayu not paid a single yen, Shizuku had even gone out of her way to take care of everything for her. That left Mayu feeling deeply indebted.
In fact, Shizuku had handled practically everything herself, from matters involving Mayu's brother to moving and various miscellaneous affairs. Mayu Hinase was only a sixteen-year-old high school student, after all, and she simply had no idea how to deal with many things. For example, if the police asked where her brother had gone, Mayu would not even know what to say.
Shizuku, on the other hand, had casually made a few phone calls and solved the problem.
Only after asking about it did Mayu learn that there was a government department specifically responsible for handling "mysterious disappearance" cases like her brother's. Although, in Shizuku's eyes, Fuyuki Hinase was the sort of guy who forgot his sister the moment he got a girlfriend, in