BONUS CHAPTER #4
After Jiangxia had successfully distracted everyone with the fake "Sawagi Kohei floating on water" trick, he left the Tengu's puppet to bob dramatically on the surface and got to work on a new puppet.
—In the murky depths, a mermaid ghost slowly formed. As Jiangxia's consciousness settled into it, the mermaid flicked its tail and glided smoothly through the water.
Originally, the wild mermaid ghost could operate independently using a puppet. But ever since signing the contract, its powers had been evenly distributed—same restrictions as the other ghosts now. Bureaucracy strikes again.
Before heading to where Sawagi Kohei was trapped, Jiangxia made a detour. He swam over to a pile of submerged cement debris and fished out a curtain pinned underneath.
Then, curtain in hand, he darted toward the nearby sports car. Yes, the underwater sports car.
Meanwhile, Sawagi Kohei hadn't run out of oxygen yet, but mentally, he was on the edge. He floated helplessly, staring through the vast expanse of water at the legs of people moving around above.
It was not what he had expected.
Police. Detectives. Rescuers. And not a single one was diving down. Everyone was just… floating.
It was as if they didn't even notice someone was missing.
The oppressive weight of the deep sea, the looming threat of death, and the total lack of attention from the people above pushed Sawagi's panic into full-blown fury.
He glared at those air-hogging hypocrites, his respirator squeaking under the pressure. These self-righteous frauds! They always pretend to care, always act noble, but now, when someone's actually drowning, they just—float?! Not even a glance? What kind of detective doesn't detect a missing person?!
…
Jiangxia, dragging the curtain along the seabed, arrived at Sawagi Kohei's location.
The first thing he noticed was a far thicker cloud of murderous intent than before.
Sawagi's rage was no longer reserved for Nishina and Jiangxia—it now included everyone. Hatred mixed with jealousy. The kind that simmers in someone who sees others safe and breathing while he's holding a oxygen tank underwater.
Jiangxia floated for a moment, observing. Then a thought clicked. He sped up.
…
Sawagi Kohei had been looking up for several minutes—long enough to go from hope to despair, over and over. Under normal conditions, that time would've passed in the blink of an eye. Scroll through a phone, read a paper. Easy.
But surrounded by seawater, knowing your end might be one breath away, every second stretches out like a curse.
His fingers trembled. Finally deciding no one was coming, he reached into the chest pocket of his wetsuit and slowly pulled out a remote.
The scarlet light on it still glowed. Not broken. Not waterlogged.
Of course there was more than one bomb in this underwater restaurant. Of course.
This one—if he pressed it—would blow the entire place sky-high.
Sawagi stared upward at the silhouettes preparing to escape. He exhaled bubbles and muttered through gritted teeth: "Let's all die together."
And then he screamed. Or tried to. Because before he could press the button—
A cold hand clamped around his forearm, iron-tight. His arm spasmed in pain and went limp.
The bomb remote—capable of wiping out nine people—drifted downward and was caught by another hand, neatly sinking into irrelevance.
Sawagi Kohei froze.
There was someone else down here.
Before he could even look, a curtain floated past, unfurling gently in the current and obscuring his view.
…
Sawagi tried to scream, but his voice couldn't penetrate the heavy water. His rage got muffled into silence.
Meanwhile, above the surface in the submerged restaurant ceiling bubble, the survivors were having a brief and surprisingly civil debate.
The conclusion: if they waited any longer, they'd run out of strength or be buried by rubble. Better to escape while they could still move. Logical. Efficient. Slightly overdue.
The explosion had cracked the restaurant structure earlier, but they had seen the breach point during the delay before the water rushed in. One by one, they took the plunge and swam for it.
Some were less than ideal swimmers—one was clutching his stomach, one couldn't swim at all and was terrified of water, and one was in such emotional shock he was practically a Buddhist now, utterly void of survival instinct.
Still, the detectives, cops, and civilian helpers organized themselves admirably. Everyone got assigned a buddy. It was strangely wholesome, considering the bomb threats.
A synchronized breath-holding session later, they began swimming down toward the exit.
Halfway through the dive, Conan suddenly paused. Something tugged at his senses. He turned slightly—
There, a curtain danced lazily in the currents. It had gotten stuck under some collapsed cement and was fluttering hypnotically.
Conan stared at it, momentarily mesmerized.
It kind of looks like ink dropped into water, he thought. Calm. Soothing. Kinda nice.
...Too bad this is literally a life-or-death moment.
He reluctantly turned away, scooping the water with determined strokes, and kept swimming.
…
After the last person swam through the breach, over by the Ferrari, Jiangxia pulled the curtain free from the rubble.
He let it float gently away, following the current like a solemn little ghost.
As for the person left behind—don't worry. The mermaid puppet's skill allows someone to breathe underwater. As long as the puppet follows them, they'll be fine until their rage subsides and the puppet disappears.
Even without the puppet nearby, the breathing skill lasts for 15 minutes.
Given how hard it would be for Ran Mouri to swim out solo, Jiangxia had shared the time with her—she got 7.5 minutes. More than enough.
Seven and a half minutes was plenty. For the average Detective Conan civilian, it was practically a luxury cruise.
Just as Jiangxia was reassuring himself of this—
A wave of murderous intent slammed into him from the side. It curled around and surged past him, spreading fast.
He brushed aside the ghostly aura and looked down.
Sawagi Kohei was still on the sea floor, his face twisted in rage, staring toward the exit with bloodshot eyes.
He had assumed, at the very least, that Nishina—the man who feared water—would drown with him.
But no.
In the flickering space between two waves of the curtain, he had seen someone pulling Nishina out to safety. These people were willing to save even a useless person who couldn't swim—but not him?
Sawagi clutched his oxygen tank, its reserves unknown, and slowly turned to glare at the mermaid beside him.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 15/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*