Kogoro Mori panicked and tossed his fishing rod aside.
He had never been this angry even when he caught nothing.
The famous detective cursed under his breath. "I was doing just fine at the agency, smoking cigarettes and having a little drink."
"Then I suddenly received a commission letter from ten years ago, asking me to protect a little girl in the Holy Grail War."
"The client was already dead, so I softened up and accepted it."
"I thought it was just an ordinary job. Some country magi had gotten fanciful and set up a half-baked magic ritual. I'd seen plenty of those... Who knew this all-powerful Grail was actually real?!"
"The winner could make a wish and reach the Root!"
"That was practically the ultimate goal of every magus in the world!"
"To make that final leap, every magus went mad researching magecraft. If anyone leaked the situation with the Fuyuki Holy Grail, it would be perfectly normal for everyone in Fuyuki City to be dead by the next day!"
"This place is like a swamp. Just when I wanted to get out, Command Spells appeared out of nowhere..."
"I can't leave even if I want to!"
Kogoro Mori launched into a fierce tirade, as though his words were blades.
Cú Chulainn dropped his flippant expression and turned solemn. "All right, all right. I'll protect you and make sure you survive... I'm the Hound of Ulster!"
"Whatever. I'll figure something out myself."
Kogoro Mori waved him off, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a melancholy smoke ring.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out on the distant beach!
"—Aaaaaahhh!!"
A woman's ear-piercing scream instantly drew everyone's attention.
Cú Chulainn instinctively raised his spear and stood guard in front of his Master. "Master, don't run around. If something happens to you, what I just said will become a joke."
"There's a smell of blood..."
"Lancer, let's go. There's a case to solve."
Kogoro Mori frowned slightly and suddenly turned around. For an instant, his gaze became serious, completely unlike his usual carefree demeanor.
People all over the world: ?
Watching the Mustache Detective act like that, everyone was briefly dazed.
What was going on? That serious look just now was kind of cool.
"Kogoro Mori is serious for the first time in ages..."
In the real world, Inspector Megure hesitated for a moment before his expression gradually turned stern.
He could not stand seeing others casually look down on or slander his Mouri.
Amid a clattering of keystrokes, he typed out line after line and posted them as the headline of the police department newspaper.
"At our Metropolitan Police Department, there was once a genius who got a perfect score the first time he fired a gun."
"On every dispatch, he made the best possible choices and saved countless people."
"Though he was afraid of heights, he could climb to the fourth floor barehanded to save someone."
"To this day, he still ranks first at the police academy, with no one having surpassed him, including Zero."
"He is no longer a police officer. He now runs a detective agency in Beika Town."
Attached image: Kogoro Mori, sharp-eyed version.
Before long, the post caused a sensation.
Countless people marveled and praised him as they reposted it like mad!
Beika Town, Mori Agency.
Inside, a girl with flowing loose hair stared at the news and covered her mouth in disbelief.
Tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she looked at the drunken man. Thinking of how her father had once been in the prime of his life, and wondering what sort of blow had reduced him to such decadent ruin, she choked out in a trembling voice:
"Dad..."
"Hm? What is it, Ran...?"
The drunken man replied groggily, but the moment he heard his daughter's tearful voice, he flew into a rage. "Did some punk bully you? I'll teach him a lesson! I'll show him the power of Kogoro, the Judo Champion!"
A Mysterious Commission from Ten Years Ago, Haruno Yukino from the Past!
The Heavenly Curtain flickered with light, and the story of Fate/stay night continued.
One thrilling scene after another flashed past. At a murder scene, inside the police cordon, the Mustache Detective's gaze was razor-sharp as he easily deduced the young culprit using the "Psychological Detective Method."
At Iwai Beach, surrounded by numerous police officers, the female criminal knelt on the ground and wept in repentance.
"I killed her, but I had no choice!"
"Every night, she tap-danced upstairs. I tried to reason with her, but she refused to listen!"
"Whenever night came, I got so anxious I couldn't sleep. I could only kill her!"
"I'm miserable too!"
The officers exchanged looks. The superintendent in the brown hat at the front cleared his throat softly. "Take her back to the station. Wrap it up...!"
Before leaving, the superintendent smiled and patted Kogoro Mori on the shoulder. "Mouri, we owe this one to you again."
"Ahahahaha! What can I say? I'm the famous detective Kogoro Mori!"
The Mustache Detective burst into laughter, reverting to his greasy old self after solving the case.
Feeling the admiring stares of the bikini-clad beauties around him, he laughed until tears sprang from the corners of his eyes. His tongue curled up again, and his laughter sounded downright bizarre.
Cú Chulainn covered his face and unconsciously moved a little farther away, feeling rather embarrassed.
As people around the world recovered from their shock, they began complaining one after another.
"Uncle Mori can't stay cool for more than three seconds..."
"But when a murder happens, he's unexpectedly cool."
"Agreed. A man is handsome as long as he turns the tide at the critical moment."
"Why does this Inspector Megure guy love calling people little brother so much?"
"Maybe he ate the Little Brother Fruit. whispers"
"Did anyone notice Dog Bro's helpless little look? Hahaha."
"Dog Bro is pretty good."
"Calling him Woofie isn't bad either."
"Hey, hey, hey, he's the Hound of Ulster. Calling him Woofie has no presence at all."
"I'm wondering whether Cú Chulainn likes eating dog meat."
"Bro, where did you get such a terrifying idea?"
"Dogs are so cute, why eat dog meat?!"
At the same time, reporters from major Japanese media outlets rushed toward the Mori Agency.
They were determined to get the first scoop on this muddleheaded detective!
What?
You were saying the Kogoro Mori from the Parallel World had nothing to do with the one in this world?
So what? As long as it was a good hook, it would sell!
However, the clever Ran had already shut the doors to visitors and hidden away in the little building.
The commotion outside no longer had anything to do with the Mori Agency.
Shinjuku 3-chome, Kiyomura Sushi Restaurant. The Lancer pair were stuffing themselves.
Cú Chulainn swallowed a rice ball heartily, glanced at his Master, and said seemingly casually, "Hey, Master, if you could keep that serious attitude you have when solving cases, you wouldn't have trouble with women."
The Mustache Detective immediately burst out laughing. "I can't do that. After all, Kogoro Mori has never been a serious man."
"...Honestly, I don't know what to say about you."
Cú Chulainn complained, "Still, you really are qualified to be my Master. I was wrong to look down on you before."
Kogoro Mori waved his hand. "It's fine. It's nothing."
Cú Chulainn grew interested and asked curiously, "Oh? Then what counts as something serious to you?"
The Mustache Detective thought for a moment before answering calmly, "There are no major events in life. Just cherish each step as it comes~."
The blue-clad lancer nodded in agreement. "Makes sense. Come on, Master, let's have a drink!"
As he spoke, he raised his glass. Kogoro smiled and raised his as well.
Their cups clinked amid toasts and drinks, and both men drained them in one bold gulp with hearty smiles.
The mood was perfect. With a touch of drunkenness, Cú Chulainn asked, "The little girl you're supposed to protect in that commission—have you found her?"
Kogoro nodded. "I have a lead. I even asked Inspector Megure to use the police department's resources to keep an eye out. But ten years have passed since the commission. She should be a graceful young woman by now."
Then the Mustache Detective picked up the old commission letter with a sigh.
Lines of elegant handwriting flowed across the paper like wandering dragons, graceful and deeply moving.
At the bottom was a photograph of a little black-haired girl. She looked bewildered, as though she had no idea what was about to happen...
—Signed, Haruno Yukino.
The sheer amount of information left everyone collectively stunned.
"Haruno Yukino? Who's that?"
"No idea. Does anyone in reality know her?"
"Could she be from that... Yukinoshita Family in Chiba Prefecture?"
"Seems so. The eldest daughter of the Yukinoshita Family in Chiba is named Haruno."
"Come on, stop speaking in riddles. Can someone explain in detail?"
"From the description, they're just some small local landowners in the prefecture. Nothing special."
"Got it. I'll just throw a few hundred million at them and acquire the Yukinoshita Family."
"Acquire my ass. Chiba Prefecture is bigger than Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture combined."
"Chiba's total output is higher than the GDP of provinces like Jilin in that big country. The Yukinoshita Family is basically a provincial-level powerhouse."
"Do you even understand the weight of a Chiba tycoon family? They have tens of billions of dollars in assets, and the companies under their control add up to around sixty or seventy billion dollars..."
"Converted into Yen, that's trillions of Yen. Not to mention Haruno Yukino's mother is a prefectural assembly member. One more step and she enters the national legislature, becoming one of the people who truly holds a nation's power of life and death!"
"99.99% of people will never have the chance to meet anyone from that social class in their entire lives!"
"You call that a small landowner? If someone could marry into the Yukinoshita Family, that would be insanely amazing!"
"So no matter which world she's in, Haruno Yukino is extraordinary, right..."
"Too bad she died so young. I wonder how she died?"
"Big sister... is dead?"
In the Heavenly Curtain World, Shimo Yukino felt a little sad.
The instant she saw that little girl's photograph, she recognized herself as a child.
Thinking that Haruno had still been thinking of her even after her death, Yukino felt like crying.
Before you continue