It's Already Over!

"Already merged? What did that mean?" Tang Ze Zhao tightened his grip on the wineglass.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Lavenza took another glass and poured himself a drink as well. "You know the plot too. You already know what happens once the Cognitive World fully enters reality. And this detective world—"

"Time is distorted, high school students investigate murder cases, crime scene photos get plastered across the front page, people smash through concrete with their bare fists, and any ordinary person can go from murderous intent to bringing down a knife in an instant... Can that really be called the real world?"

Tang Ze Zhao swirled his glass and thought it over.

P5 carried on the series' fine tradition of having branching endings. Besides the proper, conventional happy ending, this installment also offered a conspirator ending where the protagonist joined forces with the final boss.

In that ending, the world was not truly destroyed. It merely became a chessboard completely under someone's control, while the protagonist immersed himself in the rules of playing a secret vigilante, becoming a false hero of justice praised by everyone.

From that angle, it really did have that flavor.

The strange detective rules of Conan's world, the timeline forever frozen within a single year, all kinds of physical laws that defied reality... It had always been a manga world that was not truly real.

"So you meant Conan's world was inherently a highly idealistic one. Does that mean the Cognitive World no longer exists?" Tang Ze Zhao asked uncertainly.

Good grief. It was like he had just finished the opening sequence, happily preparing to become a Phantom Thief, only for the world to tell him: it was already over!

"Not quite, but the boundary is extremely blurred. The abilities of the two worlds may even overlap. After all, if someone can shatter a load-bearing pillar with one punch, there is no reason you cannot have something special about you. If you ask me, they cannot be separated, nor is there any need to distinguish them. This is simply part of the world." Lavenza lifted his glass as well and took a sip.

That was seriously something...

It seemed the Cognitive World still existed, and its basic rules still worked, but it was probably vastly different from the setting he remembered.

And in the real world, as long as it did not violate the worldview of Conan's world, he might possess some abilities normally only usable in the Cognitive World—like climbing towers barehanded, the Third Eye, or doing a flip onto someone's shoulders and gouging out their eyeballs?

...Forget it. That was a little too brutal. A hand chop would do instead. The Conan-style hand chop could break through all laws.

"Got it. So this was how Conan's world worked. Now I completely understand." Tang Ze Zhao nodded repeatedly. "So what now? What should my goal be?"

"If you do not know the answer, then I cannot possibly know it either." Lavenza no longer answered so directly, speaking in riddles for the first time. "Fate leaves its cradle because of your turbulent existence. Will you follow it and preserve it, or change it and destroy it? This is no longer a game or manga. This is your new life. You can only find the answer yourself."

Tang Ze Zhao set down his empty glass and fell silent.

Honestly, with two scripts pulling in entirely different directions, could he really find a unified ultimate goal? Tang Ze Zhao was lost.

But Lavenza was right. With supernatural power in his left hand and two sets of scripts in his right, he now held the initiative, whether he chose to plunge into the vortex or flee from it.

Lavenza did not disturb his thoughts. He merely picked up the bottle and poured him another glass of Bourbon.

Once the glass was full, Tang Ze Zhao slowly began to form an idea. He broke into a wide grin, his eyes curving with it, looking especially like a villain.

Having watched his expression change, Lavenza leaned subtly backward, temporarily wanting to stay farther away from this person whose face practically said, "I want to stir up trouble."

"I understand. I just have to get through this lousy protection and observation period and lie low until it ends, right? But Lavenza," Tang Ze Zhao raised his glass and looked at Lavenza accusingly, "didn't we agree not to speak in riddles?"

Lavenza picked up the glass before him as well and asked in return, "Then what did you think of that line just now?"

"Fine, it was kind of cool."

"Thank you for the compliment. Cheers."

The two glasses clinked crisply together.

Tang Ze Zhao drained the whiskey in his glass, then fell back into a pitch-black dream before he could even taste it.

"Hey, Ran! Ran!"

After calling out several times and seeing her friend still lost in thought, Sonoko Suzuki waved a hand in front of her face.

"Ah! Sonoko, what is it?" Ran Mouri jolted awake, blinking as she looked up.

"Seriously, why have you been zoning out all day?" Sonoko Suzuki turned around and patted her desk. "You were not even listening in class this morning."

"Shinichi has not shown up again since we left the amusement park yesterday. He did not come to school this morning either."

Sonoko Suzuki waved dismissively. "Oh, he probably ran into another case."

"But he is not answering his phone, and there has been no word from him at all..."

"Kudo is a busy man. He is the 'Savior of the Japanese Police,' after all. When he gets caught up in a really complicated case, he forgets everything else. Maybe he forgot to check his phone? Just leave him alone." Sonoko Suzuki waved the topic away, then eagerly launched into the news she had just heard. "I heard we are getting a new transfer student today. And he is a total hottie!"

"A transfer student?" Ran Mouri had no particular thoughts about handsome guys, so she focused on the first half. "It is pretty rare for someone to transfer in during the middle of a term..."

Sonoko Suzuki clasped her hands together, wearing a dreamy expression as she continued fantasizing about the handsome boy. "My youth would be incomplete if I never had a chance encounter with a handsome, gentle school prince on a campus path covered in cherry blossoms. I never thought I could still fulfill my girlish dream in my second year. Just thinking about it feels wonderful!"

Used to her friend's lovestruck state, Ran Mouri did not interrupt her happy fantasy and lowered her head to take out her phone again.

There was still no reply from Shinichi.

The unease that had been hanging over her heart since yesterday afternoon rose again, and she sent Shinichi another email, urging him to call her back as soon as possible.

"Ding~ ding~ ding-ding~"

With the sound of the class bell, Tang Ze Zhao, bag slung over his shoulder, followed the teacher step by step into Class 2-B.

Turning to face the students, Tang Ze Zhao immediately picked out Sonoko Suzuki with her sparkling eyes and Ran Mouri sitting behind her.

Their features were far too distinctive.

The teacher beside him wrote his name in kanji on the blackboard and introduced him. "This is Tang Ze Zhao. He will be joining our class starting today. I hope everyone gets along well with him."

"My name is Tang Ze Zhao. I am from Kyoto. Please take care of me." Tang Ze Zhao lowered his eyes and gave a slight bow.

"Wow... Is he mixed-race?" Sonoko Suzuki clutched at her collar. "He has blue eyes too!"

"Keep your voice down, Sonoko." Seeing Tang Ze Zhao look toward Sonoko Suzuki, clearly having heard her excited outburst, Ran Mouri awkwardly poked her friend's back.

Tang Ze Zhao smiled at Sonoko Suzuki, looking not the least bit bothered, and Ran Mouri immediately felt that he was a very easygoing person.

Of course Tang Ze Zhao would not mind.

Rather, these two innocent high school girls, whose first impressions could be easily improved with a few smiles, had appeared at exactly the right time.

His most perfect entry points into the main storyline had arrived!