Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

After finishing breakfast the next day, we moved toward the shipwreck that I had confirmed with my [Sixth Sense] the day before, lying beneath the sea.

I lowered the Nemo submarine into the water and began taking everyone down one by one, alternating who went.

Since the water temperature was low in the morning, swimming was difficult, so the others decided to spend their time chatting or enjoying the jacuzzi on the yacht.

We drew lots to decide the order for the dives, and as expected, Ran—who was especially lucky with this sort of thing—drew the first spot.

"Wow, this is my first time on a submarine. Look, a school of fish!"

"They said there’s a shipwreck a bit further down, so let’s go see that and head back. I don’t have much time since I need to take the others down too."

"Got it."

Ran kept exclaiming in awe at the schools of fish.

"I can see a ship! So there really was a shipwreck?"

"Right? I looked it up on the internet yesterday and found it. I’m glad it was nearby."

We circled the shipwreck once and then came back up to the surface.

"That was so much fun. There really was a shipwreck down there."

"Really? I can’t wait to go."

I continued taking everyone down one by one.

Most of them had reactions similar to Ran’s, but Shizuka was a little scared, unlike her usual image.

"J-Jin, is this really safe?"

"It’s safe, so please don’t worry too much. Besides, we’re not going that deep."

"I-is that so..."

After taking everyone down, I pulled the submarine back up, recharged the battery and oxygen, and this time Morgan piloted the submarine and started taking people down again, starting with Sonoko.

"That was so much fun! I never thought I’d get to ride in a submarine."

"Right? It’s amazing!"

"It would be really fun to ride one near an island with lots of coral, wouldn’t it?"

"Yeah, I can’t wait."

It seemed Sonoko and Ran were already looking forward to the world trip they planned to take after graduation.

Anyway, since we managed the time well, we were able to take everyone down at least once in the morning.

It was a short time, but I’m glad everyone enjoyed it.

After lunch, we piloted the yacht again to Sumoto Port, docked it, and went to the nearby Ohama Beach to start swimming.

Since it was starting to get warm, there were quite a few people around.

Plip, plip...

"Oh, it’s raining? Come on... I was having so much fun, but the weather isn’t cooperating."

While we were enjoying swimming at the beach, it suddenly started pouring.

So we had no choice but to go back to the yacht, but we still had a great time swimming and playing for a full two hours.

But at that moment, Heizō received an urgent phone call.

"What?! A person died at Osaka Castle? Got it. I’ll head over right away."

"What happened?"

When I asked, Heizō explained.

"Someone apparently committed suicide by self-immolation at Osaka Castle. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to head back now."

"Don’t do that. Take the yacht. Unfortunately, since it’s raining, it looks like we won’t be able to enjoy swimming any longer, so we were planning to head back to Osaka anyway. You can shower and get ready on the yacht on the way."

"That’s a relief. I didn’t like the idea of going back like this. I’ll take you up on that."

I piloted the yacht toward Okinawa Marina.

In the meantime, everyone showered and changed clothes.

"Thank you. I was able to have a relaxing time thanks to you."

As soon as the yacht arrived at the marina, Heizō and Ginshiro hurriedly said their goodbyes and headed to the crime scene.

Originally, as section chiefs, they didn’t necessarily have to go, but since the incident happened at Osaka Castle, an important cultural property, they apparently had no choice.

Because of that, the group started murmuring.

"It must be a huge case, huh?"

"It happened at Osaka Castle, so it’s definitely a big case."

Heiji rested his chin on his hand and muttered thoughtfully.

"Self-immolation, huh... Something smells fishy. Should I go too?"

At those words, Conan also had an expression that said he found it interesting.

Seeing them get excited even though someone had died by self-immolation, it seemed these two were hopeless after all.

’Good grief... I can already see the hard road ahead for Kazuha.’

I also showered and changed clothes before coming back out.

But as soon as I came out, Heiji was nowhere to be seen—he had apparently already left.

Conan was the same.

It looked like the two of them had already headed to the crime scene.

"Huh? Where’s Heiji? Oh, and Conan’s gone too?"

When I asked, Ran sighed and said.

"Those two suddenly said they had some business and left."

I knew where they had gone, but I pretended to be surprised.

"What?! Don’t tell me they went to the crime scene?"

"That’s probably it. Why did Conan have to follow along..."

Then Kogoro said.

"Heiji will bring him back. We can just wait. That kid wanders off on his own all the time anyway."

"But this is Osaka, you know. If Conan gets lost, it might be hard to find him."

Conan really made things difficult in so many ways.

"Hmm... Then how about this. Since it’s awkward to just keep waiting, I heard there’s an old car exhibition and a camping gear expo/sale at Intex Osaka right next to the marina. You all can look around there, and I’ll go find Conan and bring him back."

"Oh! An old car exhibition? That sounds interesting!"

Kogoro agreed, and the others decided to go along with it.

Since it was raining and they would have to stay inside the yacht anyway, they probably thought it would be better to check out the exhibition.

I rented an 8-seater van and dropped everyone off at Intex Osaka.

There happened to be various events going on, so there seemed to be plenty to see.

Haibara agreed to have Ran look after her for a while.

Kazuha decided to come along because of Heiji, and Shizuka and Kazuha’s mother Sakura said they would head home now, so I drove the two of them to their house.

"Jin, thank you for letting us ride on the yacht. Next time you come to Osaka, I’ll definitely treat you."

"It’s nothing. I really enjoyed the fugu cuisine."

"That’s hardly enough to repay you. And please tell Heiji this—he left without saying a word and caused so many people to worry, so he better be prepared."

"I understand. I’ll make sure to tell him."

Shizuka seemed pretty angry at Heiji too.

Honestly, she had every right to be.

"Heiji’s going to get an earful when he gets home. Serves him right!"

As I turned the car back toward Osaka Castle, Kazuha also said in a sulky voice.

"You know, even though you say that, you still like Heiji. Don’t you?"

"Th-that’s true, but I just wish he’d pay a little more attention to me."

"Heiji probably won’t change for the rest of his life, you know?"

"I know... But still, he looks so cool when he’s deducing and catching criminals. I guess I can’t help it. Maybe it’s what you call fate."

Seeing Kazuha say that made me feel a little sorry for her.

It seemed Heiji, like Conan, needed to treasure the people around him more instead of just chasing cases.

We arrived at the Osaka Castle parking lot, parked the car, and went to Osaka Castle.

But Heiji and Conan were nowhere to be seen, and the police seemed to be wrapping up the scene and getting ready to leave.

Kazuha, who had connections with the police, went over and asked.

"Have you seen Heiji by any chance?"

"Oh, Kazuha. Heiji looked around the crime scene a while ago and then left, I think."

"Really? Where on earth did Heiji go?"

At that moment, I said to Kazuha.

"Wait a moment. Let me try to divine it."

I pretended to chant a spell and then pointed in a direction.

"That way."

I had already expanded my Observation Haki, so finding Heiji and Conan was no trouble at all.

"Wow, that’s amazing. To find them so easily. Onmyōjutsu really is incredible."

When I located both Heiji and Conan at once, Kazuha seemed quite surprised.

"Oh, how did you know where to find us?"

"How did we find you? Jin found you, of course. Onmyōjutsu is really amazing. Anyway, you’re dead when you get home. Aunt Shizuka was really angry that you left without a word."

"Ah... I’m in trouble... Mom is really scary when she’s angry..."

I also added a word.

"Conan, same goes for you. Ran seemed really angry, you know?"

"Oh no... I was just going to be gone for a little while..."

Considering the distance from the marina to Osaka Castle was considerable, it was absurd for him to call it "a little while."

"Anyway, let’s head back. Everyone is checking out the events at Intex Osaka, right next to the marina. I told them I’d bring you back."

"Oh, really? Then we have some time, right?"

"Huh? You’re not coming back?"

"Of course not! Things are getting more and more interesting."

When Heiji said that, Kazuha pinched her forehead, looking exasperated, and let out a deep sigh.

"Sigh... He’s really impossible."

I also shook my head and said.

"I’m just going back. I’ll enjoy my date with Ran. You two deal with Conan yourselves."

At those words, Conan frowned, and Kazuha looked at me with envy.

"Ran is so lucky. Having a boyfriend who looks after her like that."

"I just heard that as ’I don’t take care of her well.’"

"Well, it’s true, isn’t it... You’ve had me running around all day since yesterday, and today you made me come all the way out here to find you too. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if you care more about cases than you do about me."

As Kazuha said that, her eyes even welled up with tears, as if she was hurt.

"Kazuha, that’s not it. I’m sorry. Okay, fine. I’ll go back. I’ll go back, so please don’t cry."

Heiji started struggling quite a bit to soothe Kazuha.

"You should have treated her better. Making your girlfriend cry."

"No, it’s just..."

"Anyway, I’m going back. Are you coming or not?"

"Fine... Sigh... I have no choice. If Kazuha is this upset, I’ll give up."

At those words, Kazuha was overjoyed, clinging to Heiji and beaming brightly.

Unlike Conan, Heiji seemed to have room for redemption.

As for Conan, I wasn’t sure if he was feeling something from watching this, or if he was just sighing because he was disappointed he couldn’t solve the case now that Heiji was going back, but he started letting out heavy sighs.

Given Conan’s behavior so far, it was probably the latter.

As we were about to head back to the parking lot, we suddenly heard a scream from somewhere.

Kyaaaaaa!!!

"What was that sound?"

"Let’s go check it out!"

We rushed toward the source of the scream.

What we saw was a person, their upper body on fire, jumping into the moat of Osaka Castle.

"Oh no!"

The Osaka Castle moat was dangerous because it was built to repel enemies, so we couldn’t just jump in.

I immediately called 119 and reported it to the police as well.

"Hmm... The deceased’s name is Katagiri. He’s one of those people from earlier."

Since the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters was near Osaka Castle and it was an important cultural property, the fire department was also nearby, so they quickly arrived at the scene.

They rescued the person who had fallen into the moat, but they were already dead.

Heiji, whose father-in-law and detective chief Ginshiro had also arrived, was giving a statement about what he had seen.

"He suddenly caught fire and jumped into the moat... But the direct cause of death seems to be a blow to the back of the head. I think he probably hit his head on a pillar of the bridge when he fell... Since there was no one else around, for now, it seems like we have to consider it a suicide..."

I was looking at the body with a serious expression.

Ginshiro noticed and asked.

"You’re staring pretty intently. What is it?"

"Hmm... I was just wondering if I saw wrong. I’m pretty sure the person who jumped was a man, but the body that came out is a woman. And she was murdered. This person’s soul has become a vengeful spirit. I can smell it. The smell of a vengeful spirit."

"Wh-what did you say?!"

Then Heiji quickly asked.

"Are you sure?! That the person who jumped was a man!"

"I can’t say for certain since I saw from a distance, but the color of a man’s soul and a woman’s soul are a bit different. That’s why."

At that, Ginshiro looked troubled.

"Come on... I’ll admit that Jin is the finest onmyōji in Japan, but souls and vengeful spirits aren’t exactly admissible evidence."

"I suppose so."

Still, Heiji and Conan, having seen what I could do, seemed to believe me and immediately started deducing.

"If the person who jumped was a man, then he must have transported a body down there beforehand, set himself on fire, and jumped to make it look like a suicide."

"Right. He probably had a wetsuit ready too. It’s raining, and the water in the Osaka Castle moat is murky, so you wouldn’t be able to see well anyway."

"But even if we’ve figured out the trick, we still don’t know who the killer is, and we don’t have enough evidence."

"Yeah."

When Conan and Heiji said that, Ginshiro was dumbfounded.

"You two actually believe what he just said?"

"Uncle Tomiya, you haven’t really seen Jin’s onmyōjutsu in action, so you don’t know. Jin is different from those fake onmyōji. It might not be evidence, but it’s definitely reliable."

"Good grief..."

At that moment, I spoke.

"Here comes the culprit."

Just as I said, three people were walking toward us, and I pointed at the skinny man in the middle.

Ginshiro looked shocked.

"You, now... Sigh... Should I just quit being a cop? To point out the culprit just by looking at them..."

Because I identified the culprit at a single glance, it seemed Ginshiro was having a crisis of faith in his career as a policeman.