stand-in creed

Kishibe Rohan couldn't move his neck very much, so he could only use his peripheral vision to look at the foreigner who was seriously peeling fruit by the bedside.

It is apples that are being peeled.

The portable Swiss Army Knife went round and round the apples carefully, peeling the apples.

The width of the apple peel is exactly seven millimeters, no more than one point, no less. The saber in his hand cuts at a fairly uniform speed after the knife is cut, not too fast or too slow, and cuts an apple completely. Peeled off.

"Look, Teacher Luhan, does this "complete" apple peel look like the bandages on your body? "

"..."

Kishibe Rohan rolled his eyes.

Do you know how to call me Teacher Luban at this time?

And that apple, if nothing else, should be...

Click.

The sliced ​​apple was swallowed by Nero himself, making a crisp sound, which made Kishibe Rohan sigh helplessly.

Knew it.

"Don't look at me so innocently, Teacher Luhan.

"You were the one who used your stand-in ability first? I'm just defending myself, and I don't feel any guilt in my heart! So--although you are a widowed old man and no one will help you register and pay for the medical bills. I put it on for you first so that you can see a doctor earlier, but you are actually very rich, right?

"If you live in that kind of luxury house at the age of 20, you must not be short of money, so remember to return the medical expenses to me later, and the interest rate will be calculated according to the fixed deposit in the bank."

"..."

Kishibe Rohan's face froze a bit.

Finally, Kishibe Rohan could not help but speak.

"So Mr. Detective, what are you trying to do by staying at my hospital bed?"

"Of course it's an investigation."

"investigation?"

Kishibe Rohan was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that he and Nero had indeed mentioned this before——

The Sugimoto family murder case.

Nero's expression gradually returned to normal: "Kishbe Rohan, you are the only survivor of that incident, how much do you remember about that night?"

Kishibe Rohan sighed: "To be honest, my memory of that night is only a few hazy fragments, after all, it was a four-year-old thing—to be straightforward, I don't know the prisoner's appearance."

Nero asked back: "Can you use your substitute ability to give yourself a shot? I noticed when you turned me into a paper tape man, the information displayed by your substitute is very "detailed", even accurate A lot of "data" that I can't think of for a while can be displayed, in other words——

"—Your gate of heaven can even unearth the deepest buried memory."

Kishibe Rohan's eyes lit up: "I haven't tried it, what should I do?"

Nero froze for a moment: "Do it directly? Just activate the substitute ability on yourself?"

Kishibe Rohan took a deep breath: "So I'm asking you again "how" to activate the ability on yourself! "

Nero also took a deep breath: "Just... thinking that the target of the activation ability is myself, and then activate the ability?"

Kishibe Rohan was speechless.

He tried hard, and then—

"puff--"

The cartoonist farted.

A strange voice came to the ears of the two of them leisurely, making the two of them silent for a while.

"..." Kishibe Rohan.

"..." Nero.

The two stared at each other in silence for a full minute before Nero sighed.

"It seems that you are the kind of stand-in messenger whose ability can't take effect on yourself, just like Jousuke-then change the direction, can you read the memory of the "object"?If you are taken to the scene of a murder, can you restore what happened at that time by reading the memory of the floor or the room? "

"Sorry, big detective, my ability is to use other people's resonance with my comics to activate my abilities, and inanimate objects can understand my comics."

"...you are so weak."

"Crap!"

Kishibe Rohan closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Seeing this, Nero simply put on his hat and rested without disturbing the cartoonist who was hospitalized for some reason, ready to leave.

But as soon as Nero put on his coat and walked to the window of the ward, Kishibe Rohan called out to Nero.

"A young male."

"About how old are you?"

"I don't know, I'm not even sure about being 'young'. "

"...That's it, thank you."

congratulations.

The 6 people were reduced to 3.

And Nero looked at Kishibe Rohan.

"By the way, Kishibe Rohan, what's your substitute name?"

"—the gates of heaven."

"...?"

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't intend to collide with you on purpose, but..."

"I know, the episode "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" in the 1973 movie "Billy the Kid", I still know a thing or two about music-heal your wounds, cartoonist, and restrain yourself a little in the future. When it comes to me, I won’t be so lucky next time I meet someone else with a bad temper.”

Are you still grumpy?

Kishibe Rohan, who was motionless, wanted to complain, but Nero opened the window first and jumped down.

In the end, Kishibe Rohan could only mutter helplessly.

"...At least let's go out."

As for Nero, he left the hospital to continue his detective career.

At this moment, he was a little envious of Dior's remnants, as well as Dior himself. Most of them were enemies who appeared in front of him without evasion or evasion. Why did he need to go through the streets to find clues?

Can't you just draw a gun to a duel like a cowboy?

so tired.

And what's even more frustrating is--

"What the hell is this map ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Nero, who returned to the Kodotai and was about to find the haunted house of the Sugimoto family on the map, encountered a little trouble.

The map doesn't match the street.

Neither the map bought by the Duo Town Library nor the road sign map on the street can match.

Looking at the map, the shops on the opposite side of the street from right to left are tailor shop "Tanaka", soba restaurant "Arisugawa", pharmacy "Ryoyo Pharmacy", convenience store "Olson" and the leftmost residential house "Kato".However, in Nero's vision, there is an extra alley entrance between the pharmacy and the convenience store that fit perfectly on the map.

"...The map is made like this, but I'm sorry for the tax."

Thinking of this, Nero stepped into the alley.

There is a postbox full of dog shit in front, four or five empty houses that no one lives in, and the names of Misson, Honma, Numakura, and Onodera on the nameplates beside the door can’t be matched with the people on the map at all. The vending machine was also cut off.

And when Nero turned and walked in the order of "right, left and right", after passing a corner, he saw a strange thing——

shit.

A piece of shit in front of the mailbox.

The interruption of the shit was crushed, leaving the shoe prints with clearly visible lines.

Nero sighed.

"... Another double attack?"

Chapter 40 The Alley of No Turning Part II

Although the scene in front of him is somewhat similar to the "ghost hitting the wall" in the ghost story, but compared to folk ghost stories, after seeing a considerable number of substitute messengers in Duwang Town, Nero took it for granted that this is also some kind of substitute ability.

Without the slightest hesitation, Nero flew towards the sky.

However, after only flying three or four meters high, a terrible ominous aura enveloped Nero's whole body in an instant, and when Nero rose to about five meters, this terrible aura was as cold as the cold wind at an altitude of ten thousand meters Biting to the bone, it even made Nero's brain almost shut down.

Vaguely, Nero even felt a feeling that his soul was about to leave his body.

"...What, what is this!!!"

Nero flew back to the ground suddenly, panting heavily with lingering fear.

The sense of oppression brought by this lingering chill is far more than that of Dior.

Although Nero didn't know what was hanging over this seemingly invisible alley, Nero had a premonition that if he was still hovering in the sky just now, he might be on the road to hell before he could figure out the real identity of the enemy.

"Is there a "rule" for some kind of space substitute ability?No wonder it's not on the map.

"It's okay to stay below a certain height honestly. Once it exceeds the height limit, it will be regarded as a violation of the rules like a super-high truck crossing an intersection, and you will die? Plus this kind of ghost hitting the wall The ability... Does that mean that you can only leave this alley if you have cracked the ability of the ghost to hit the wall?"

Although it differed from the actual situation, Nero still roughly understood his own situation.

But at this moment, a voice came from behind Nero.

"Sir, are you lost?"

"The enemy... hmm?"

Just as Nero was about to drive the corrugated cutter to the neck of the owner of the voice, the scene that greeted his eyes stunned Nero.

This is a girl.

pink hair.

Pink eyes.

A pink collar is tied around the neck.

The light pink dress is decorated with pink sleeves, pink buttons, and pink ribbons.

She wore pink shoes on her feet and light pink nail polish on her fingers.

"You are... Suzumi Sugimoto?!"

"Hey?"

Suzumi Suzumi Sugimoto, a pink girl wandering in the alley of Ghost Wall, froze for a moment.

The girl who was a wandering spirit never thought that she would be recognized—she had been dead for more than 15 years.It would be fine if some familiar person strayed into this alley and recognized him, but who is this super handsome foreigner?

If I knew this tall and handsome foreigner before my death, I would never forget it!

However, at the next moment, Sugimoto Suzumi saw the foreigner coming to her step by step, looking down at her with a height nearly two heads higher than her.

"There is no breathing sound... so what about the beating sound of the heart?"

Under the bewildered eyes of Sugimoto Suzumi, Nero lowered his head slightly, and put his right ear close to the girl's left chest, and didn't stop until he was about to touch it.

Nero listened carefully for a moment.

"There's no sound of the beating heart?"

"Wow woof woof! woof——!!!"

A big dog appeared from nowhere and rushed towards Nero.

Nero dodged to the side without looking, avoiding the dog's pounce, and at the same time saw the cut mark on the dog's neck that almost separated its head and head.

Nero took a few steps back.

Seeing the big dog with blood dripping from its throat guarding the confused and frightened girl, Nero made a gesture of surrender: "Sorry, sorry, Ms. Sugimoto, this is the first time I've seen a ghost in my life, so I'm a little curious. Yes. Alright, let me introduce myself, my name is Nero Zeppelin-

"A detective."