Interested in Moonlighting as a Savior? / We Good Guys Have to Be More Cunning Than the Villains

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Conan struggled to his feet from the ground, finally able to meet the seated other him at eye level.

Miyauchi Hiyage shrugged.

"So, you still haven't given me your answer, former classmate Shinichi Kudo."

Conan could only grit his teeth and state the more plausible possibility, then wait for the "truth" to come from the other man's mouth.

"So, in your mind, this world ought to be a bit more scientific, right?" Miyauchi Hiyage smiled at Conan before him.

"That's why, after I proposed a possibility that sounded more logical, you changed your original opinion. Am I wrong?"

Conan vaguely sensed that something was off.

Miyauchi Hiyage raised a hand and pointed at the ropes around Conan.

"But unfortunately, this world isn't as scientific as you think."

As Miyauchi Hiyage spoke, Conan felt the ropes around him suddenly loosen.

Conan instinctively looked at the ropes that had fallen to the ground, then discovered the issue at the break in them in surprise.

The ropes around him seemed to have been corroded by something, but when had the other man done it, and how?

He tried to reason it out his own way, but the window behind him was closed, there were no mechanisms in the room, and this "other self" had been sitting before him from the start without moving at all.

Could there have been some mechanism inside the ropes?

But thinking of what this man had just said, Conan gritted his teeth and asked, "So what exactly is the truth behind me becoming like this?"

Now that he had regained his freedom of movement, Conan had already reached for the Stun-Gun Wristwatch on his wrist. If the other man made any dangerous move, he would put him to sleep with it.

"Your Stun-Gun Wristwatch should have already been destroyed by them. Why not try it on me now?" Miyauchi Hiyage's words startled Conan again, and he could only awkwardly withdraw his hand.

Watching the somewhat at-loss Conan, Miyauchi Hiyage continued, "Over the years, have you ever wondered why Beika Town's crime rate is so much higher than elsewhere?"

Conan had intended to seriously cite statistics to this "other self," explaining that Beika Town's crime rate was still within the normal range, just with somewhat more criminal cases, but Miyauchi Hiyage gave him no chance to speak. He merely called softly, "Jerry."

A palm-sized brown rat crawled out of his jacket pocket.

Conan stared at this rat that seemed somewhat different from ordinary rats, while Jerry also sized up Conan.

So this was the guy who had eaten one pill and gone from a grown boy to this little runt?

This stuff was fun. It would be great if it could get a few.

If it could go back someday and that Tom cat came looking for trouble again, it could give that guy one of these.

Thinking that, Jerry amicably extended a hand and greeted Conan.

Conan felt that he must have been seeing things. He could actually make out a friendly expression on a rat's face, and it had even waved at him.

Miyauchi Hiyage's voice continued beside his ear.

"This is Jerry. As for where it came from... if you were to analyze it scientifically, would you think it was more likely to be a modified rat that had undergone special alterations and thus possessed intelligence no less than a human's, or a legendary yokai familiar?"

Conan's mind was a mess. Neither possibility seemed particularly scientific. Then he saw the other man take another lens from his clothes and hand it to him.

"Want to know what this world is really like? Then put it on and follow Jerry outside for a look."

Would You Like to Work Part-Time as a Savior?

Looking at the lens before him, Conan hesitated, unsure whether he should take it.

Jerry, on the other hand, grew a little anxious. It ran over and pushed Conan, urging him to take it already.

Its Rat Breathing had achieved modest success, and it was just waiting to teach those blind, resentful Evil Spirits a lesson.

Miyauchi Hiyage's Pure Yang Body was simply too effective. Those things could not be seen at all around him, so how could Jerry miss this opportunity now that it had one?

Conan looked at the "other self" before him, then wrestled with it for a while longer before taking the lens.

He was going to become the Heisei Era's Sherlock Holmes, a great detective who solved every mystery.

No matter what tricks this man before him wanted to play, he could not back down here.

Seeing Conan accept the lens, Miyauchi Hiyage nodded approvingly.

"Then let me give you one reminder first. No matter what you see, don't let it show that you can see it."

Jerry was impatient. Before Miyauchi Hiyage had even finished speaking, it grabbed Conan's shoe and signaled that it was time to go.

Conan followed behind the overly intelligent rat with complicated feelings.

Even when they passed those two Black Organization "members," he did not immediately realize that this was the perfect chance to uncover their identities.

Compared with the Black Organization, however, this "other self" who had suddenly appeared before him, as well as the "truth" of this world, concerned him more.

It was already close to midnight. As he walked down the deserted street and hurried roughly one or two hundred meters away, Conan suddenly realized that perhaps he could escape now.

The two Black Organization members were asleep, that "other self" had stayed behind instead of following, and the only thing ahead of him now was a rat.

If he wanted to run, this seemed like the best possible opportunity.

But the moment that thought occurred to him, before he could put it into action, Jerry ahead of him suddenly cried out excitedly, drawing his attention forward.

Conan looked ahead. There was nothing there.

But judging by Jerry's reaction, it seemed to have already "seen" something.

Conan instinctively clenched the lens in his hand, hesitating over whether to hold it before his eye.

But when he saw Jerry turn back and wave to him before charging ahead at full speed, Conan finally raised that suspicious lens to his left eye.

The next instant, through the lens, Conan's left eye saw a "mysterious presence" dressed in tattered clothes, with a hunched body and faint black Aura emanating from all over it.

Even though Conan had been somewhat prepared, his heartbeat still accelerated violently at the sight of that huge, hideous thing before him!

He trembled slightly as he took a deep breath, then removed the lens.

The space ahead was still completely empty. All he could see was Jerry excitedly greeting the air.

Could this lens be equipped with some cutting-edge augmented reality technology?

Conan turned the ordinary-looking lens over and over in his hand, only noticing some characters he did not recognize engraved along its edge.

They seemed to be Sanskrit.

But before he could begin studying them, an even more unbelievable scene unfolded before him.

Even without looking through the lens, lightning-like arcs still flashed around Jerry's body.

Then Jerry, transformed into an electric rat, launched an attack on the air before Conan's eyes at astonishing speed.

Watching this live scene with no special effects whatsoever, Conan's worldview—built over more than a decade since childhood and shaken only once when he discovered that his body had shrunk—completely collapsed at that moment.

This... was the truth of the world?

Could this rat really be one of those familiars from ghost stories?

Conan hurriedly pressed the lens back to his eye.

That terrifying giant appeared before him again.

Only now, faced with Jerry's attack, the huge creature seemed to be growing furious from humiliation.

But whenever it touched the electric arcs radiating from Jerry's body, it was like a snail touching salt. It could only let out a miserable howl and retreat in embarrassment.

Until it suddenly noticed Conan in the distance looking this way through the lens, its pitch-black eyes became vicious once more.

"You can see me, can't you? You can see me too, can't you?!"

At that moment, Conan could vaguely hear such a voice beside his ear.

He remembered the warning from that "other self": no matter what he saw, he had to pretend he could not see it.

Did these things only attack people who could see them?

Conan immediately reached that conclusion.

Then he removed the lens, and the view before him became utterly clean once more. All he could see was a superpowered rat mauling the air in front of him.

Jerry even had time to wave at him, signaling for him to come closer and get a better look.

Its expression seemed to say that with it here, these were nothing but minor troubles.

Although Conan had suffered several major shocks in succession today, as the protagonist, his mental fortitude was truly strong enough.

Even with a terrifying existence beyond reality appearing before him, he could adjust his mindset in a short time and barely remain calm.

Therefore, Conan ignored Jerry's gesture.

That "other self" had told him to pretend he could not see it, but it seemed the creature had already noticed his gaze just now.

After all, when seeing something like this for the first time, there probably was no one who could control where they looked.

Thinking this, Conan deliberately stepped a few paces farther away before taking out the lens again.

After Jerry's repeated attacks, much of the black Aura around the thing had dissipated, and it looked considerably weaker.

Yet it still kept repeating, in that unpleasant voice, those heart-pounding words: "You can see me, can't you?" Conan even felt that if he had nightmares in the future, those words would definitely appear in them.

After teasing it for several minutes and discovering that it still could not come up with any new tricks, Jerry no longer had any interest in tangling with this brainless thing.

It dove straight into the creature's "body" and used its powerful life energy to burn the Vengeful Spirit to ashes from the inside out.

After finishing everything, as the black Aura completely dispersed, Jerry pretended to wipe its forehead before eagerly wanting to find its next ghost victim.

Conan hurriedly called it back.

"Now that I've seen what you wanted me to see, shouldn't you tell me what your purpose is next?"

Hearing Conan's words, Jerry could not help feeling a little bored.

It had not even started trying, and this little human already did not want to play anymore.

Oh well, there would be plenty of chances later. According to Miyauchi Hiyage, wasn't it going to visit a Black Cat's home in a few days? It could bring a few Vengeful Spirits along as gifts when the time came.

Thus, several minutes later, Conan returned to the man wearing his face and handed back the lens that had allowed him to see the truth of the world.

Only this time, he was far more cautious than before.

These people truly possessed supernatural powers. He had to find out what this man wanted to do.

After putting away the lens, Miyauchi Hiyage stopped being evasive.

"Have you ever heard of spiritual Aura revival?"

"You don't have anything else to do besides dealing with that Black Organization right now, do you?"

"Would you be interested in working part-time as a savior?"

We Good Guys Need to Be More Cunning Than the Villains

Conan felt that he had already received enough shocks tonight.

He had been kidnapped, then his worldview had collapsed, and now it was time for the savior part?

After this series of upheavals, Conan's heart had instead become calm.

After a brief pause, he could even ask the "other self" sitting across from him in all seriousness who the enemies of a savior were.

"As for enemies... Evil Spirits, cursed spirits, Vampires, Aliens, Espers, or perhaps people from other worlds barging in someday?" Miyauchi Hiyage rested his hands on his knees as he spoke of what he knew about this world. "Among those people, there will always be some who want to rewrite or even destroy the world according to their own wishes. Do you think that counts as an enemy?"

Conan committed everything his "other self" had said to memory, while seriously considering that this "other self" might be exactly the kind of person he had just described.

"Don't look at me like that. I haven't used any threatening measures against you so far. Honestly, even if you refused me, I wouldn't do anything to you. Do you know why?"

Miyauchi Hiyage pointed at Conan. "Because you're that kind of detective. When a mystery is placed before you, no matter how dangerous it is, you'll throw yourself at it without hesitation to uncover the truth."