Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

[The time limit for the first game is over.]

Yoo Joonghyuk panted as the dead incarnation of Manu, the Founder of Humanity, dissipated in a cloud of sparkling silver as he returned to his form as a constellation.

[The winning team will be determined based on the points obtained during the time limit.]

The regressor huffed as he sheathed his sword while cradling Biyoo against his chest.  Spinning on his heel, he headed in the direction of where the other members of his team were gathered—

[The winning team of the first game is the Yoo Joon—]

—and found himself inside what appeared to be a private train cabin.

[—ghyuk – Kim Dokja Industrial Complex.]

A rotund man in his late thirties sat on one of the benches, two bullet holes blasted through his head and his chest, respectively.  The small compartment reeked of gunpowder, and Yoo Joonghyuk wondered what sort of bizarre new scenario hell this was.

I’ve died and regressed.  Again.  Somehow.  Fuck.  It was the only possible explanation as to why he would be on a train.  He glanced down and froze at the unfamiliar clothing.  What.  The.  Fuck.  Why am I a child?! he mentally screamed as he stared at hands significantly smaller than what he was used to.

「What do you—ack!  White furry thing!」 shrieked a voice in his head, and Yoo Joonghyuk stiffened in surprise.

Who the fuck are you? he growled, not really paying much attention to what a short-haired teenaged girl was doing with the obviously dead body.  He felt—oddly enough—the faintest sensation of fur against his palms.

The voice sputtered in surprise.  「Eh?  Why am I—there’s a voice in my head?」  It was male and old enough to be past puberty, but otherwise he was unable to pin down an age to go with it.

Yoo Joonghyuk corrected testily, You are a voice in my head.  I have suddenly become a child.  Where the hell am I?  And what the hell did you do to Biyoo?  He frowned as he realized just how tiny he was compared to—well, everything.  The realization pissed him off just as much as watching Kim Dokja die in the Fifth Scenario had.

「Biy—oh!  You mean the white furball I was—I mean, you, were—carrying?」  Yoo Joonghyuk felt an eyebrow twitch when the voice chuckled nervously.  「I threw her into the air because she freaked me out…?」

You threw Biyoo?! he snarled.

The voice complained back, 「I caught her once I realized who she was!  And you’re on the Mystery Train going from Tokyo to Nagoya,」 while the short-haired teenaged girl said, “This is strange because it’s a sealed-room murder…”

Her comment sidetracked his anger because of two things: one, it was spoken in Japanese and he understood it, and two, it was a phrase he had rarely come across before.  Sealed-room murder…? he thought as he considered the system’s interference in ensuring that he was capable of understanding the group he had found himself in.

「There’s a what?!」 the voice squawked in agitation, 「A sealed-room murder and I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere—」

Demon Realm near Duke Melledon’s camp, Yoo Joonghyuk interjected, but was ignored in favor of the other’s continued panicking.

「—with a baby dokkaebi while there’s a murder that needs solving?!  I—oh, shit, I forgot about Them being on the train, too…  And with Haibara!  Okay, okay, think!  What do you need to do to—!」

Yoo Joonghyuk lost what little patience he had with whoever was on the other end of his mental tether as more people in the group he was in chimed into the conversation about the corpse.  You need to shut the fuck up and calm the hell down if you want to survive the coming battle!  Let me take care of whatever the hell it is you have going on here, and you focus on surviving until the battle ends! he snapped as his eyes caught on a handgun with an attached silencer.  He then blinked, for he somehow immediately knew that a system window had popped up for whoever the other male was, because he abruptly knew what his original scenario’s details were, as well as the change in compensation.

[Main Scenario #25 - Demon King Selection]
Category: Main
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: Team up with ‘participants’ to win the ‘Mythical Battlefield’.
Time Limit: —
Compensation: Official succession of the demon king position, ???
Alternate Compensation: Win the ‘Mythical Battlefield’, return to original universe and body.
Failure: Death
* You may recruit ‘participants’ for this scenario.
* There will be additional explanations from the dokkaebi as the scenario progresses.

「… what’s this…?」

Your scenario window, Yoo Joonghyuk grumpily answered, the message reminding him that he had been in the middle of the Demon King Selection process.  It outlines the tasks you’re required to perform in order to clear the scenario.  And in my—and now your—case, you will need to do whatever it takes to ensure you live through the upcoming battle.  The goal of the battle is to capture the other team’s sentence.

The voice was all snark and frustration.  「Okay, forget for the moment that I’m supposed to go after a “sentence”, whatever that is…  You’re telling me that I need to survive a capture the flag deathmatch after this message just informed me that I’m going to be in some sort of battle while asking me to calm the hell down?  Are you nuts?!」

Yoo Joonghyuk ground out angrily, I am not.  The system’s familiar blue message box blinked into existence before him, and he glared at it as he read its contents even as a whiff of surprise curled within him.  He had not thought the system existed outside of his own reality.

[Main Scenario – Mystery Train]
Category: Main
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: Solve the murder and survive assassination on the ‘Mystery Train’.
Time Limit: 1 hour
Compensation: Continued survival of ‘participants’ and ‘passengers’.
Alternate Compensation: Survive the ‘Mystery Train’ case, return to original universe and body.
Failure: Death
* You may recruit ‘participants’ for this scenario.

「Huh…」 the voice hummed, making it clear that he had similarly “read” the notification that had popped up before him.

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is watching you with immense amusement.]

Of course, that fucking asshole would think this whole situation is funny, the fuming regressor thought uncharitably at the constellation.  He caught a completely nonsensical comment about how the man had shot himself and felt an irresistible urge to correct the insipid, prissy-looking girl with a bob cut, “I doubt it because since there’s a silencer attached to the gun, the barrel is too long to be able to reasonably shoot himself in the head.  Plus, why would someone wanting to commit suicide do so in a public location but with a silenced gun?”  He eyed the opposite sofa.  “That, and there is probably residue from firing a gun on the opposite bench.”

The voice was impressed as he said, 「That was… a rather stunning deduction.  And wh—」

Yoo Joonghyuk bit out, It’s nothing but common sense when you measure out the length of his arm against the length of the gun barrel plus silencer.  Honestly, did none of the idiots around him have anything of worth stuffed between their ears?  His mind was caught between trying to figure out how to get back to his own body, figuring out how to solve this murder, and ensuring that the idiot in his body did not die.  Now, how well can you handle a sword?  Or any weapon, really?

「Swords are really cool weap—wait, sword?!」 the voice yelped.

“It’s likely that in order to leave gunshot residue on the victim’s hand and sleeve and make it look like a suicide, they posed the body to grasp the gun and fired an extra time!” exclaimed the short-haired girl.  “Of course, the culprit’s own hand and sleeve would also have gunshot residue on them, but what’s left on their hand could be easily washed off with water.  And since the windows in the room can be opened, perhaps they already threw out their clothes… But then again, our culprit is without a doubt still on this train—they can’t get away!”

Yes, sword, he replied testily as the phone in his pocket beeped.  You know—the long, pointy thing currently hanging off your hip?  It felt surreal referring to his own body as someone else’s.  Can you wield it? he asked as he read the text message from someone labeled as “Crazy Mother” that said, The pieces are all in position.

「No!」 the voice vehemently denied, 「I’ve never held a sword in my life!  At most… a kitchen knife…?  And oh, I need to be where you are because the board is set!  I need to make sure the kids are safe first, so—」

Yoo Joonghyuk could feel an eye twitch in irritation.  You need to—  He paused, reigning in his temper.  It would do neither of them any good if he snapped at the clearly scared and idiotic boy he was conversing with, for whoever was in his body was definitely not a mature adult—someone who was potentially a minor, given his current situation.  It also severely irked him that he needed to censor himself even within his own mind.  First things first, the actual kids needed to be herded off to safety, as the voice had mentioned.  Yoo Joonghyuk knew for a fact that he was a heartless bastard, but even he had a few qualms about unnecessarily putting children in the line of fire.

“You guys should all go back to your room for the time being,” he said in as kind a manner as possible.  When they began to complain, he felt adrenaline flood through the boy’s body in what was clearly a response to fear and he snapped, “Don’t be stupid!  Until I return, lock your room door, and do not open it regardless of who comes to visit!”

「… that was a little harsh,」 the voice commented pointedly.

The strawberry blonde indolently drawled with a paradoxically intense stare over her facemask, “What’s with you all of a sudden?”

Yoo Joonghyuk sighed, marginally ashamed by his outburst.  “Sorry.”  He truly had not meant to shout at mere children.  He did his best to appease them by asking, “Isn’t it dangerous since there’s a murderer lurking about?”

In the background, the short-haired teen and the two other teenaged girls were debating what to do with the children, who then chimed into their discussion.  He ignored them all to refocus on his own interrupted conversation with the voice.  As I was saying: using a sword.  Start by taking the “Black Heavenly Demon Sword” out of—

「That’s its name?!」 the voice screeched in incredulity.

Shut.  Up, he bit out.  Just take the damn sword out and give it a few swings!

The phantom texture of the familiar leather-wrapped handle of his sword pressed against the palm and fingers of his right hand and he squeezed his empty hand into a fist, frustrated at his own lack of weapon aside from that blasted ball belt and supercharged shoes that he somehow knew about just from looking at them.  Whoever had decided to do this to him was going to pay.

The clamor that his group made had drawn other passengers out of their own cabins.  Yoo Joonghyuk noticed that the newcomers seemed to respond to news of a murder with the same apathy that he did when he slaughtered his enemies.  The short-haired teenager was ordering an attendant to call the police and demand that all passengers lock themselves in their respective rooms.

As the attendant made an announcement regarding their situation, the voice whispered somewhat awestruck, 「It… It’s easier than I thought…」

Muscle memory, Yoo Joonghyuk grunted as he watched the actual children get herded out into the hallway by the older girls.  You’ll need that and more for the scenario ahead.

There were more impressions of his sword’s hilt in his hand, the changing pressure against his flesh indicative of the fact that the other male was doing something with his blade.  「So, what are ‘scenarios?’」

Memories of this same scenario in his previous lives flitted across his mind.  Objectives prompted by the blue window you just saw.  They’re task-driven events, and usually failure to complete them means instant death.  In this case, you will need to indiscriminately slaughter anyone not on your team.

「Wait, WHAT?!  But—I don’t kill people!」 the voice screeched in shock.

You must because the other team sure as hell won’t hold back.

The voice was adamant.  「I can’t!」

Yoo Joonghyuk had had enough of listening to the other male’s sniveling.  Listen up, boy, if you do not kill your enemies, they will kill you.  And considering that I do not want another regression to happen because of your idiocy, you will survive this scenario, understand?!

「I have a name, and it’s Shinichi—Kudou Shinichi.  Not ‘boy,’ thank you very much,」 the one named Kudou Shinichi snapped indignantly.

Well then, Kudou Shinichi, he snarled mockingly, make sure my body survives the scenario and I’ll ensure yours does as well.  And speaking of, why the fucking hell are you a child?!  You don’t sound like a… whatever the fuck age this body is.

Kudou Shinichi chuckled nervously.  「I—That—That’s kind of a long story.」

Yoo Joonghyuk clicked his tongue in anger as he hissed out a threat.  Just make sure you keep my body alive, or I will deliberately destroy yours.

「It’s not like I will go out of my way to kill you!」 Kudou Shinichi snipped back.  「The messages were sent by this one here.」  It took the regressor a moment to realize that Kudou was interacting with someone in his universe, though he could not hear half of the conversation.

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ insists that she didn’t do anything.]

「I was in the vicinity of Melledon.」  There was a pause before the detective remarked, 「Being able to speak fluent Korean is weird—None of your business.」  Yoo Joonghyuk snorted as Kudou Shinichi snapped, 「I don’t see why I have to tell you.」  Clearly, Kudou Shinichi had no idea why he had been where he had been, and therefore had answered rather evasively.

The presence of something—someone—with deadly intentions caused the hair on the back of Yoo Joonghyuk’s neck to rise, and he eyed the crowded doorway of the cabin warily even as his mind continued to ponder over the situation his body was in.  What’s the situation over there with your allies?

Kudou Shinichi dutifully reported, 「There’s an adult male, a teenaged female, a dog, and very tiny dog, a… floating wooden gong? and a one-legged man.」

The one with the white coat and smug bastard smile is Kim Dokja, the teenager and the other man with one leg are… I don’t remember their names because they’re not important, and the rest are constellation incarnations, Yoo Joonghyuk explained.

「“Smug bastard smile?”  I know someone who has that,」 Kudou Shinichi commented with a snort.  「Anyone I can call in for reinforcement since we are down by three?」

The hallway cleared, and Yoo Joonghyuk idly studied the body as the attendant left to contact the owner of the train.  The members of “Kim Dokja’s Company” will respond if you call.  Use “Midday Tryst” to contact Lee Hyunsung—he’ll know what to do on his end.  The attendant came back to inform his teenaged companion that there would be no stopping until they reached Nagoya.  The name of their destination made him frown, as the name of the place existed in his world as well—so was this an alternate universe where the constellations had not bothered to turn Earth into a spectator sport for their entertainment?  He brushed the idea aside as he watched the short-haired teen tear into the attendant for not stopping the train at the next station.

Kudou Shinichi snorted.  「What a name, ‘Kim Dokja’s Company’.  Anyway, I will do that, thank you.  I will try to call for additional support,」 Kudou Shinichi said, and Yoo Joonghyuk tuned the other out once he realized his Japanese counterpart had switched to conversing with whoever was left of their team as some mustached man introduced himself as “The One and Only Mouri Kogoro Poirou” and proceeded to make a buffoon of himself.  The regressor observed the idiot who was apparently some bigshot detective, and he really was not all that impressed.

[You have used ‘Midday Tryst’.]

Useless cannon fodder, he dismissed even as the teenager asked the attendant, “Was that really Murobashi-san?”

「Who?」 Kudou Shinichi asked.

[‘Midday Tryst’ has started.]

The fact that he was following her logic was… surprising.  In all honestly, he was not entirely sure how he was keeping track of the suspects and clues in this murder, but somehow this body of Kudou Shinichi’s seemed to absorb and retain information like a dry sponge with a drop of water.  The way everything seemed to fall so easily in line was almost… impressive.

Yoo Joonghyuk snorted.  Some idiot who introduced himself as “Mouri Kogoro Poirou.”

Kudou Shinichi groaned.  「That’d be Mouri Kogoro—Ran’s father and a detective I… uh, use as a puppet at times…?」

「-Lee Hyunsung?  We need reinforcements for the second battle.  How soon can you and the others be ready?」

Yoo Joonghyuk blinked at the message that had appeared in his mind, somewhat surprised that he could also “read” the messages.  Explain, he demanded.

「So you know that watch on your wrist?」 Kudou Shinichi began seeming apropos of nothing, 「Inside it is a soporific dart that I use to knock him out in order to make my own deductions about cases.」  At Yoo Joonghyuk’s baffled, judgmental silence, Kudou Shinichi hurriedly continued, 「I’m actually sixteen and a detective in my own right!  I was poisoned and de-aged into—into the body you’re occupying now, and that’s why I need him as a proxy!  It’s why my bowtie has a voice changer integrated into it!」

「-Yoo Joonghyuk-ss!?  I will need to ask the others, but my estimate would be ten minutes.」

Yoo Joonghyuk could feel a vein pulse in his temple as he followed the attendant, the idiot, and the teenaged female to Cabin A.  You mean to tell me that you’re like this because of a poison?  And you’re playing detective from the sidelines?

「…  Well, technically I was supposed to have died so…」 Kudou Shinichi’s voice trailed off in apparent shame.  Yoo Joonghyuk snorted but decided not to verbally reply.

「-That’s fine.  Just get here as fast as you can because we’re severely short staffed.」

A tall man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache was in the middle of explaining his alibi.  “—surprised at the fact that he was in the room right next to mine; didn’t see that coming.”

「-Will do, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi.」

“Still, why did you lie about having rung the bell and say that you didn’t?” Mouri Kogoro asked.

「No,」 Kudou Shinichi suddenly breathed out in shocked surprise, 「No way, that’s impossible…!」

Wondering what could have caught the detective’s attention over there, he grumbled, What now?

The man denied, “I did not!  The attendant came to my room on his own accord without me calling him!”

「Remember how you said ‘smug bastard smile’ and I said I know someone who has that?」 he said, and a mixture of excitement and glee colored his voice. 「 I think he’s here with me in Kim-san’s body—」

Something about the man’s excuse did not sit well him so he interjected, “But ringing the bell will cause the indicator on the door to light up, so there shouldn’t have been a mistake, right?”

“A-Actually, only the light for Cabin A has burned out, so when I heard a bell ring and saw no lights coming up from any of the rooms, I thought I was sure it was Noto-sama’s room—so I knocked on his door,” said the attendant.

“Kim-san?”   he echoed, amused by the improper method of address.

Mouri Kogoro grunted, “And what happened after that?”

Kudou Shinichi paused.  「What’s wrong with saying ‘Kim-san’?」

The attendant continued to explain, “Soon after the doors of Cabin A and B were both shut, I heard another bell ring.  I saw the light of Cabin B where Idenami-sama was staying light up and went to go check it out.”  The group of detectives and attendant scooted from the door of Cabin A to that of Cabin E.

Yoo Joonghyuk huffed.  Call him Kim Dokja.  “Kim-san” sounds like shit.

The detective made a peeved sort of vocalization.  「Fine, I will call him Kim Dokja-san, Yoo Joonghyuk-san,」he pointedly snipped.  「But as I was saying,」 Kudou Shinichi continued briskly, 「I think my ‘smug bastard smile’ guy is here with me…」  The realization clicked in his head right as Kudou Shinichi confirmed, 「… which means Kim Dokja-san is likely somewhere on the Mystery Train with you.」

So then, who would that smiling smug bastard be, if he is indeed here?

「If I know him, then he’s disguised and he’ll definitely be hanging around to observe this case,」 Kudou Shinichi deduced.  Then seemingly out of the blue he added, 「Ah, I got it— slingshots.」

[Invitation to use ‘Midday Tryst’.]

The woman occupying Cabin B identified as “Idenami-sama” had opened the door and was in the process of answering questions.  “—heard funny noises in my room but it turned out the source was the alarm of this wristwatch.  I found it stuck in the crevice of the sofa and figured it was probably left by the cleaning crew or someone else…”

[‘Midday Tryst’ has started.]

“If you had called the attendant to search your room, then perhaps the culprit took the chance and entered the victim’s room at that time since the attendant who normally watches over the corridor would no longer be there…” the teenager pointed out.

「-Yoo Joonghyuk-san, are your preparations complete?」

Idenami-sama stared at the collective group in irritation.  “Search my room?  I only called him here to complain!  I found this thing all by myself!  I cannot bear the thought of someone else trespassing into my space!”

Kudou Shinichi laughed smugly in validation.

「-Kaitou KID.  I thought that might have been you.」

Who is that?

“So, attendant-san, does that mean you had been standing in the hallway and yet you failed to see anyone suspicious entering the victim’s Cabin B?” asked Mouri Kogoro.

「A phantom thief who will be one of your best allies in our current situation,」 the detective replied with strange mixture of exasperation, frustration, and a hint of fondness in his voice.  It was, oddly enough, very much like how he viewed Kim Dokja if he stopped to really think about it.

「-Ah, did you, Meitantei?  When did you realize?  When I reflexively used ‘-san’ instead of ‘-ssi’?」

Yoo Joonghyuk snarked, A great amount of good he will do for me here when he is over there with you instead, Meitantei.

The harassed-looking attendant explained, “While I was hearing Idenami-sama’s complaint out, the cabin door furthest to me opened, and I had the feeling that someone was peering over the door at where I was.”

「Easy there, hopefully we can wrap this up quickly so we can get back before the grand finale of your case,」 Kudou Shinichi said.

「-I’ll tell you later.  Right now, we need to focus on this battle.  My preparation is done.  What’s the plan?」

The idiot observed the layout of the cabins.  “The furthest one from here would be Cabin A…”

「-When I give the signal, I want the both of you to charge.  I wo—」

“A little before I spotted that suspicious person, I saw Komino-sama being wheeled out of Cabin D by her maid and headed over in that direction, so perhaps those two saw something…?” the attendant suggested.  The group, following the attendant’s suggestion, trooped over to Cabin D.

「-Oh, right…  Do you have any attacks that need charging time?」

The attendant knocked on the door, and a woman in her late thirties answered their knocking.  Yoo Joonghyuk noticed an elderly woman in a wheelchair further inside the cabin.

「-In that case, start charging it up the moment the fighting starts.  Breaking the Sky Master will charge from behind at my signal.  I will already be on the field holding their attention and should be able to turn them around so that their backs are to you, so you should have ample time to charge up.  Breaking the Sky Master should circle back and protect Jang Hayoung.  You know what to do, Meitantei.」

[The constellation ‘???’ is wondering how you plan to solve the murder.]

I’d like to know that myself, the regressor thought grumpily.

「You’ll solve it,」 Kudou Shinichi said encouragingly.

“The door to Cabin A?” asked the elderly woman, “I did not see such a door open at the time we passed by there, and it goes without saying I did not see any suspicious person that was supposedly standing by that door.”

[The constellation ‘???’ is laughing uproariously at the participant ‘Kim Dokja’.]

“The only door that opened was Cabin E, where Idenami-sama’s voice of complaint could be heard,” the maid added on.

[The participant ‘Jang Hayoung’ has used the point earned to unseal a specific skill.]

[The participant ‘Jang Hayoung’ is preparing the ultimate skill.]

[The constellation ‘???’ has sponsored 75,000 coins to the participant ‘Kim Dokja’.]

The attendant suggested, “Then perhaps it was opened after Komino-sama’s party made their pass…?”

“But when we had headed towards Cabin B, we passed by those two ladies near the entrance to Car 8, and we didn’t see the door to Cabin A being opened either,” the teenager said with a thoughtful frown.

Mouri Kogoro sent the attendant a suspicious glare.  “Was it really open?”

「-Anytime now, Meitantei…」

“Ah, c-come to think of it, immediately before the kids came, Andou-san came out of Cabin C to check on things, so perhaps he saw it too…” the attendant tossed out.  They excused themselves and scooted to Cabin C.

[The participant ‘General of Vanara’ is cursing furiously.]

Yoo Joonghyuk snickered at the notification.

「-Excuse me for taking the time to aim and make sure you wouldn’t be collateral damage.」

Yoo Joonghyuk bit back a snort of amusement, entertained by the bite of Kudou Shinichi’s reply to the phantom thief’s ribbing.  He did wonder, however, what exactly the detective was using to aim, if he indeed was using a projectile weapon of some sort.  As far as he knew, he did not have anything besides “Robin Hood’s Strongbow”—which he completely forgot to mention to the detective—that generated its own arrows.

“Ah, yes… Idenami-san’s angry voice reverberated even through my door, so I left my room to check on the situation, wondering what might be going on.  But I can’t say I know whether the door to Cabin A was opened or not since it was the opposite direction to Cabin B—not to mention that at that time, the train was passing through a tunnel.  As there was no light shining through the windows, the corridor was rather dim,” Andou-san explained.

[The participant ‘Thunder Eating Bird’ is screaming in pain.]

[The participant ‘Jang Hayoung’ has activated ‘Breaking the Sky Force Punch Lv. 10’.]

「-Worry about your morals after we win this fight!」

Yoo Joonghyuk snorted at the prod to the detective as the teenager thought out loud, “Come to think of it, that was indeed the case…”

[The participant ‘Jang Hayoung’ has killed the participant ‘Thunder Eating Bird’.]

[The participant ‘Jang Hayoung’ has killed the participant ‘General of Vanara’.]

[The Yoo Joonghyuk – Kim Dokja Industrial Complex has won two points.]

「-Lee Hyunsung, what’s taking you so long?」

“And you guys didn’t see that?” Andou-san pointed out snidely, “You arrived here not too long after I left my cabin, right?”

「-I’m sorry, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi… There’s a lot of bickering over who’s going to come with me…」

[The participant ‘Breaker the Sky Master’ is feeling protective over the participant ‘Jang Hayoung’.]

「-I… whatever.  Just hurry up!」

The regressor blinked, mentally arranging the timeline of events—fuzzy as they were considering he had not been paying his full attention to the case or its details—as the teenager mumbled, “Right… we didn’t…”

「-oq2iw4bfg;oi3t」

The string of incomprehensible letters, numbers, and symbols had the regressor crinkling his brow in confusion before his lips twitched in amusement.  How the hell did you manage to keysmash in “Midday Tryst”?  It never really occurred to him to ask why the detective had felt the need to even keysmash in the first place.

「I’m just really upset with myself!」 Kudou Shinichi snapped.

The idiot huffed.  “By the way, all of you passengers in Carriage 7 seem to be quite sure of each other’s names and cabins to the extent that it’s peculiar… are you lot acquaintances?”

「-Uh, just so you know, Meitantei, a headshot would have been a quicker and more merciful death…」

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has killed the participant ‘Poked Out His Eyes’.]

[The Yoo Joonghyuk – Kim Dokja Industrial Complex has won one point.]

[The participant ‘Founder of Humanity’ is furious at being fooled by the participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is pleased.]

Yoo Joonghyuk raised a brow at the barrage of notifications but otherwise ignored them.

Andou-san confirmed, “Yes, you could say that.  We board the Mystery Train together every year, after all.”

[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is laughing at the antics of the participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ has sponsored 10,000 coins to the participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ has sponsored 10,000 coins to the participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]

[10,000 coins have been added to your account.]

「-Oh, fuck you, KID. You didn’t have to kill him!」

The need to laugh increased, but Yoo Joonghyuk managed to keep his expression relatively straight as he asked, Do I even want to know…?

[Many constellations are spellbound by the constellation massacre.]

“These are regular guests who always make reservations to this first-class car before anyone else each year!” the attendant exclaimed in defense of his guests.  “What’s more, they always choose the exact same rooms!”

Kudou Shinichi grunted, 「Not worth the brain cells.」

「-Actually, I’d rather be the one doing the fucking, thanks.  And yes, I did.」

Yoo Joonghyuk heard Kudou Shinichi make a sound not unlike a strangled cat, and it took a not unsubstantial amount of effort to keep his expression straight.

“So, after all that, attendant-san, turns out that it was just your imagination, wasn’t it?” Mouri Kogoro accused.

[The participant ‘Founder of Humanity’ has neutralized the participant ‘Breaking the Sky Master’.]

The flustered attendant stuttered, “N-No!  I do believe I saw that…!”

“I see, that’s how it is!” the idiot sneered, “Was it you?  Were you the one who secretly let the culprit into Cabin B?”

“WHA—?!” the attendant yelped, visibly paling.

「-I’m out of ammo, KID.」

Mouri Kogoro continued.  “You said it was a sealed room, but actually there’s some sort of hidden door in the adjacent room, isn’t there?”

[The participant ‘Duke Melledon’ has killed the participant ‘Breaking the Sky Master’.]

「-Is there anything around that you can use, Meitantei?  I bought out the entire stock of eyeballs in this world’s online shop.」

Use “Robin Hood’s Strongbow”—you do not need arrows to fire because it creates its own once you pull back the string.  Check your inventory.   Yoo Joonghyuk mentally flipped though his inventory but could think of nothing else to help Kudou Shinichi in his current situation.

The attendant denied the idiot’s allegations.  “T-There’s nothing like that in this train!”

「I’ll use that, thanks, Yoo Joonghyuk-san,」 the detective said gratefully.

[The star relic 'Robin Hood's Strongbow' has maximized the user's accuracy.]

[The participant 'Yoo Joonghyuk' will receive the position compensation effect.]

“And thus, you allowed the people from Cabins A, C, D, and E to gather in Cabin B and fire bullets into the victim’s body, one shot per person!  Am I wrong?” the idiot concluded with a grin that said his deduction was a foregone conclusion.

[The participant ‘Duke Melledon’ has killed the participant ‘Jang Hayoung’.]

「This bow is fucking awesome,」 Kudou Shinichi stated, clearly impressed.

“W-What are you talking about?” the attendant stuttered.

Yoo Joonhyuk barely refrained from rolling his eyes.  Of course it is, it’s a star relic.

The idiot pronounced, “This would’ve been my scenario if I was you!  Anyway, as of now, the victim Murobashi-san’s cabin, Cabin B, was chain locked, and our cabin attendant here, who claims was present in the corridor around the time of the incident, saw nobody suspicious enter or leave the cabin.”

Yoo Joonghyuk sighed as he watched as the idiot menaced the sweating attendant before his attention was diverted to the scrolling list of notifications indicating the acceptance of new participants.  The teenaged girl muttered at his side, “Isn’t that… the scenario from the Orient Express…?”

“Isn’t it obvious that it was a suicide?” Mouri Kogoro proposed.

“But there wasn’t any sign of a burn around the bullet wound in his temple,” the teenager pointed out.  “There was a mark of a shot on the sofa opposite the corpse as well.”

The idiot huffed.  “Everyone on this train is a mystery fan.  If the man had been planning to die, then he probably left red herrings to make it look like a murder because he wanted to make his death a mystery!”  Yoo Joonghyuk wanted smack the man in the head for the sheer stupidity he was spewing.  “He was challenging us all, saying, ‘If it’s a locked room murder, then try and solve it!’”  The idiot smirked cockily.

“Oh, I see now!  A brilliant deduction as expected of Nemuri no Kogoro!” the attendant cheered.

「I think I’m going to be sick…」

Mouri Kogoro preened, and Yoo Joonghyuk suppressed the urge to wrinkle his nose in disgust.  “Oh please, for today just call me Poi-rou!”

What now? he asked.

Kudou Shinichi sounded distinctly green.  「I—I shot someone through the eye with an arrow.」

“Even so, that Murobashi guy switched Ran and her friends’ cabins and had been really getting into helping out with the mystery quiz,” the teenager remarked with a flat expression.  “I can’t imagine someone like that committing suicide.  Speaking of… was there a cue card, Conan-kun?”

So…?  The fact that the detective was fretting at all about harming his opponents was utterly ridiculous to the regressor.

「I didn’t want to kill him!」 Kudou Shinichi snapped.

If there wasn’t an annou—  There was a lull in the conversation regarding the murder that he ignored, and Yoo Joonghyuk jumped when a hand tapped his shoulder.  He snapped his head in the direction of the hand’s owner, forcefully quelling the reflexing urge to break the fingers that had touched him.

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has converted the points won in the last game.]

The teenaged female stared down at him with faint concern in her eyes.  “Are you all right, Conan-kun?”

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has unlocked a certain skill with the points.]

He stared blankly back, uncomprehending of who she was addressing.  … who the fuck is “Conan-kun”?

[The participant ‘Founder of Humanity’ is confused by the sudden darkness.]

[The participant ‘Scorpion Goddess’ is staring with wide eyes.]

「… that’d… be me…」 Kudou Shinichi answered resignedly, embarrassment coloring his voice.  「It’s the alias I go by when I’m… like that…」

[The participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has killed the participant ‘Duke Melledon’.]

[The Yoo Joonghyuk – Kim Dokja Industrial Complex has won one point.]

“I’m… okay,” Yoo Joonghyuk lied as he bit back a snarl of frustration.  Thank you for telling me beforehand, Kudou Shinichi.

「-Hot damn, Meitantei, didn’t think you had it in you!」

[The constellation ‘???’ is chuckling at your identity crisis.]

「-Shut it, KID!」

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is greatly entertained by the situation you and the participant ‘Kim Dokja’ are in.]

Kudou Shinichi did not reply to his jab.

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has activated ‘Beast King’s Sensitivity Lv. 10’.]

“Do you have the cue card?”

[The constellation ‘???’ has sponsored 50,000 coins to the participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’.]

[50,000 coins have been added to your account.]

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ will receive the position compensation effect.]

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has activated ‘Way of the Wind Lv. 11’.]

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has activated ‘Electrification Lv. 12’.]

Yoo Joonghyuk mentally glowered at the two sponsors as he searched himself before finding an envelope inside his jacket pocket.  He wordlessly handed it over, and the girl studied it carefully before announcing, “It’s fake.”

「… this ‘Demon King of Salvation’… 」 Kudou Shinichi quietly, hesitantly began, 「…is he, by any chance, your Kim Dokja…?」

Yes, Yoo Joonghyuk answered curtly, and he’s not “mine.”  He ended up tuning out Kudou Shinichi’s unnerved mental babbling over KID killing someone. 

The attendant took it and similarly scrutinized it.  “You’re right,” he admitted, “it looks exactly like our usual cue cards.  Though the content and the trick are different from what we were told.”

“Excuse me but is there something special about this carriage?” the girl asked.

The attendant frowned thoughtfully.  “Something special?  I suppose the same people have always had booked Cabins A through E every year…  The Bell Tree Express was completed five years ago, but I heard that the first-class carriage was designed by special request from a wealthy friend of Suzuki Jirokichi-sama.  Apparently, that friend was a huge fan of the Orient Express, and the rooms in this carriage were made especially large so that a family could comfortably be contained within one.”

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has killed the participant ‘Scorpion Goddess’.]

“In that case, are any of the passengers part of this magnate’s family?” the idiot asked.

「-KID… another one…?」

The attendant shook his head.  “Most of the family died in a large fire one month before the maiden trip…  Though there is one passenger…”

“Who’s that?” Mouri Kogoro asked.

「-Kill or be killed, Meitantei.  Our opponents are out for our blood and seem willing to do whatever it takes to get it.」

“Komino-sama in Cabin D,” the attendant replied.  “If I’m correct, then I believe she was the late magnate’s aunt.”

「-That’s not justification to kill someone!」

Yoo Joonghyuk snorted.  That’s more than enough justification to kill someone.

Kudou Shinichi snarled, 「I refuse to believe that, Yoo Joonghyuk-san!」

“That case is on the internet…” the short-haired teenager muttered as she quickly read through the case on her phone.

I beg to differ.  Sometimes killing someone is the only solution, he argued as he thought of the countless situations he had been in where the death of either party involved was guaranteed.

「-Meitantei, we cannot afford leniency in our situation right now.」

“Eh?” the attendant uttered quizzically.

「-The ends do not justify the means!」

[The constellation ‘Mass Production Maker’ is frowning.]

[The constellation ‘Goddess of Love and Beauty’ is accusing the participant ‘Supreme God of Light’.]

Yoo Joonghyuk mentally sighed at Kudou Shinichi’s naïveté.  They do if they ensure your survival, Kudou Shinichi.

[The constellation ‘Queen of the Darkest Spring’ is pointing out that this behavior does not fit the status of the participant ‘Supreme God of Light’.]

The teenager read off her phone, “The fire occurred during the magnate’s birthday party, and the ones who died were the magnate’s family and twelve other attendees at the party.  It says the only ones who survived were Komino-san, who we just mentioned, her maid Sumitomo-san, and four other attendees.”

The detective growled in response, 「I’ll take my chances.」

The idiot asked, “Could those four attendees now be the other passengers?”

Not in my body, you aren’t! the regressor snapped.

「-Meitantei, let’s… just focus on getting past this first, okay?」

 “The cause of the fire was put down as a problem with an electric cable,” the teenager continued, “but apparently it was very unclear.”

“If the murder here is a revenge drama related to the fire in some way, then this is looking more and more like Murder on the Orient Express!  Maybe we should go and talk to those passengers!” the idiot exclaimed excitedly.

[The participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has killed the participant ‘Chronicler of Visionary Fiction’.]

… you were saying…?

The detective did not deign to reply.

“Why didn’t you bother to change the dead light bulb in Cabin A?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked, the question suddenly popping into his mind.  It seemed like common sense to change a dead bulb as soon as it was discovered so that it would not inconvenience anyone.

The attendant pointed down the hallway.  “The back of the first-class carriage is our storage hold and we usually have spare bulbs in there, but today we couldn’t find any…”

[The possibility of a new story has developed.]

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyebrows shot up at that particular notification.  What the hell happened to open up that possibility?

The teenager frowned, thinking.  “Were the people making all the final checks before setting off cabin attendants like yourself?”

“That’s right,” the attendant agreed with a nod, “Two or three of us go around the cabins, making sure that the water works and such.  Actually, I heard that one of the attendants’ uniforms had gone missing as well.”

A buzzing in Yoo Joonghyuk’s pocket had him digging out a phone to read the text message from someone labeled “Okiya Subaru.”  Princess is following the script as planned.

「Gods, I’m so sorry for doing this to you, Haibara…」 Kudou Shinichi apologized, and a strawberry blonde girl—the one wearing the facemask earlier—was conjured up in his mind.

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has killed the participant ‘Last Pharaoh’.]

Yoo Joonghyuk mentally shrugged at the detective’s words and quirked an eyebrow at the latest notification.  I need to meet this KID of yours if he’s doing half as well as I think he is, he thought approvingly and jumped when a voice spoke next to his ear.

“Oh?  Is there something you’re concerned about?” the short-haired female asked as he spun to face her, viciously smothering the instinct to crack her jaw with a solid punch.  Instead, he pressed the phone to his chest to hide the text—the code, if it indeed was a code of sorts because of how utterly cryptic it was—was something that he was certain she should not be allowed to see.

「Please don’t tell me it’s because he’s killed others,」 Kudou Shinichi groaned.

The regressor forced out an awkward chuckle as he fibbed, “Ah, no… I was looking up the article on the fire as well, but I still haven’t worked anything out yet…”  He backed up a little to give himself some breathing room, not that there was much of that in the hallway and with how she loomed over him.  The reminder of their stark difference in height had him once again throwing curses at Kudou Shinichi.

[The participant ‘Supreme God of Light’ has invoked ‘Third Eye’.]

[The legendary story ‘Distorting Things as One Pleases’ has been activated.]

The detective complained, 「Why all the verbal abuse?」

[The story ‘Distorting Things as One Pleases’ is screaming.]

Because you allowed yourself to become a fucking midget, that’s why! Yoo Joonghyuk snarled in response before the last notification had him pausing in what should have been the beginnings of a rather spectacular rant.  … what the hell…?

「What?」

The short-haired teen’s gaze sharpened not unlike that of a predator that knew its prey was within its grasp.  “Then in that case, let’s just sit back and think about it for a bit.  Our opponent is probably getting anxious anyway because on a train running at eighty kilometers per hour, there’s no way of escaping!”

The regressor shuffled awkwardly in response to the teenager staring him down even as he thought, Nothing, aside from the fact that your thief is probably going to end up a drooling vegetable.

「WHAT?!」Kudou Shinichi screeched.

[The stigma ‘Third Eye’ is shuddering.]

[The participant ‘Supreme God of Light’ is astonished.]

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes widened in surprise as he followed the idiot, the teenager, and the attendant back to Cabin A.  Your thief is… something else, he remarked, speechless and more than a little impressed.

Kudou Shinichi grumbled, 「Not ‘my’ thief.」

[The fog in the gorge is thickening.]

「Ugh, more constellations… where are they all coming from?!」  The detective sounded immensely peeved.

「-We’re on our way, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi!」

Yoo Joonghyuk heaved a silent sigh of relief that no doubt rivaled that of Kudou Shinichi’s.  He ambled to a halt behind the idiot and the girl as the attendant knocked on the door, and Noto-sama opened it.

[The participant ‘Mysterious Bird of the Nile’ has been killed by ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

“The fire from five years ago?” the bearded man asked, repeating the question posed by the idiot.  “What has that got to do with anything?”

[The participant ‘Purveyor of Multitudes’ has been killed by ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

[The participant ‘Magnate of Manifestation’ has been killed by ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

[The participant ‘Wizard of Silent Reveries’ has been killed by ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

[The participant ‘First Swordsman of Winds’ has been killed by ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

「-Finally!  Who’d you end up bringing?」

Yoo Joonghyuk related to the detective’s sentiment all too well, even if he was indirectly-but-still-directly involved.

「-Yoo Sangah-ssi and Shin Yoosung-ah.」

[The participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has killed the participant ‘Demon King of Sound and Color’.]

「-Go help Kim Dokja.  I can hold out on my own for now.」

You can handle the constellations you’re squared off against yourself? he asked, for he had noticed the faint but familiar sensations of the reverberations of clashing steel through his arms.

“Don’t try to mess around with me,” the idiot grumbled, “I just called Shizuoka Police and confirmed it.  Your name was amongst the names of the survivors.  Isn’t that right, ex-defense force member and sparring partner of the magnate who died in the fire, Noto Taisaku-san?”

「I can manage for a few more minutes,」 Kudou Shinichi grunted in reply, and the regressor felt a particularly harsh vibration run through his arms.

「-Will do, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi!」

Noto Taisaku scratched self-consciously at a scar on his right cheek.  “Ah yes… I got this scar on my cheek from that incident.  It’s not as though I was hiding it,” he muttered.

[The game has accepted the summoning of a new participant.]

Tension that Yoo Joonghyuk had not even realized he had been holding released once he saw that latest message.  The reinforcements had arrived.

Mouri Kogoro grinned at Noto Taisaku.  “Come to think of it, when we first met you, you were carrying something on your shoulder, weren’t you?  Maybe you were carrying the tools necessary for your locked door trick!”

[The constellation ‘Master of Steel’ is looking at the participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]

[The game has accepted the summoning of a new participant.]

[The game has accepted the summoning of a new participant.]

[The participant ‘Shin Yoosung’ has neutralized the ‘Apocalypse Imoogi’.]

[The constellation ‘Master of Steel’ has given a great probability to his incarnation.]

[The constellation ‘Abandoned Lover of the Labyrinth’ is supporting her incarnation.]

[The constellation ‘Master of the Skywalk’ is supporting his incarnation.]

“It was my shinai!  Here!” Noto Taisaku protested.  He turned and reached into his cabin, producing an elongated carrying case, and pulled the bamboo sword from the top.  “I’d made a promise to spar with my friend in Nagoya after this trip.”

The idiot hummed, unconvinced.  “Would you mind running along the hallway for us?” the teenager asked, and Yoo Joonghyuk easily followed her train of thought.

「-KID, mind giving me a hand over here?」  

“Run?” the bearded man said, puzzled.

「-I’m a little tied up right now, Meitantei…」  

The regressor pulled out his—Kudou Shinichi’s—phone, instinctively understanding that the recorded footage would somehow help solve the case.  “We might have seen the culprit’s back running away from us, so would you mind letting us record you running, sir?”

「-Sure, you are…」

Noto Taisaku acquiesced, and he began recording as the man ran down the corridor away from them, turned around, and rand back.

「-Okay, I’m a lot tied up right now!  Legitimately hogtied and being carried like a sack of potatoes!」

「-I don’t believe you.」

「-Meitantei…!」

Yoo Joonghyuk mentally snorted at their banter.  Is this KID usually like this?

「Always,」 Kudou Shinichi answered, and he could hear exasperation and grudging fondness in the detective’s tone.  「He’s like this every time we face off: annoying yet helpful.」

Kudou Shinichi’s description of the phantom thief reminded him glaringly of his own relationship with Kim Dokja.  I know the feeling, he replied in commiseration as he finished recording Noto Taisaku’s run up and down the carriage hallway.  The group then trouped over to find Andou-san in Cabin C, and repeated what they had previously done with Noto Taisaku.  Yoo Joonghyuk absently noted a cut strand of fishing line wrapped around Cabin C’s doorknob but disregarded it.

“Indeed, yes.  I, Andou, was rescued from the that fire along with Murobashi-san,” Andou-san confirmed.  “…  although I wouldn’t have mentioned that unless I was asked…”

The teenager inquired, “On another note, what is in that big black bag in your cabin?”

Andou-san glanced backwards to the large, flat black carrier.  “That’s a painting I was asked to analyze—although sadly, it turned out to be a fake,” he admitted with a despondent sigh.

“Would you mind if we took a look?” Mouri Kogoro asked even as he barged into Andou-san’s cabin with Yoo Joonghyuk and the teenager hot on his heels.

「-KID…」

Andou-san sidestepped them as he murmured, “Not at all.”

「-I’m on my way already!」

Opening up the case, the idiot carefully lifted the painting out.  “It’s quite heavy,” he remarked.

“The frame is solid gold,” Andou-san replied.

The idiot studied the painting, rotating it and scrutinizing it from different angles.  “As an aside, what was your relationship with the magnate?” he asked as he placed the painting back in its case.

「-You're late, KID.」

Yoo Joonghyuk poked at the painting case and lifted it to see how heavy it was as Andou-san replied, “That man was a famous art collector who introduced me to a wide range of paintings… though most of them burned up with the flames.”

「-Better late than never!」

“You must be very strong for an old man to carry this,” he said pointedly.  Thing weighs a shit ton.

[The constellation ‘Master of Steel’ is looking at the participant ‘Founder of Humanity’.]

「What does?」

This stupid painting…

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly in suspicious as Andou-san stuttered, “W-well…”

Sensing the man’s nervousness, Yoo Joonghyuk grinned, unsure whether or not his attempt at an innocent smile was working.  “Now, could you try running along the hallway?”

[The participant ‘Shin Yoosung’ has killed the participant ‘Keeper of Indistinct Gender’.]

[The participant ‘Shin Yoosung’ has killed the participant ‘Traveler of the Dark Sky’.]

[The participant ‘Shin Yoosung’ has killed the participant ‘Fount of Obscure Knowledge’.]

[There are 10 minutes remaining.]

Once Andou-san had completed his run, Cabin D was next.  The elderly woman and her maid greeted them.

“Yes,” Komino-sama said in answer to the idiot’s question, “I’ll never be able to forget the fire.  Because of that, I’m now wheelchair-bound.”

The idiot hummed.  “So, you injured your legs in the fire…”

「Get the duke.  He has the sentence.」  Kudou Shinichi’s voice sounded tired, worn.  「I will open up a path for you.」

Komino-sama huffed.  “Indeed, and for that reason, I will not be running down the corridor like everyone else.”

「- Sæhrímnir’s Bladders in lieu of a soccer ball, Meitantei.  Mind the Black Witch Moth's Spleen blackout powder inside.」

Yoo Joonghyuk barely refrained from raising his eyebrows in a mixture of surprise and interest.  What kind of person is this KID to have such knowledge like that? he wondered, more than a little grudgingly intrigued.

「-I will use this well.  Thanks, KID.」

「The batshit crazy kind, 」 the detective retorted, though there was a hint of fondness in his tone.

“Your maid, Sumitomo-san, will be able to run, won’t she?” the short-haired teenager asked.

Sumitomo-san maneuvered herself around Komino-sama and into the hallway.  “So… all I have to do is run?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

The teenager nodded.  “Yes, just how you normally would.”

Yoo Joonghyuk watched the maid run at a surprisingly fast clip before he turned to the elderly woman, who had pulled out a long, thin smoking pipe and lit it.  He frowned at the woman’s habit, wrinkled his nose at the smell of flavored tobacco and scooted himself out of the cabin as Sumitomo-san returned.

That old lady’s choice of tobacco reeks.

「Eat this!」 Kudou Shinichi snarled, and the regressor snorted at the viciousness in the detective’s voice.

[The participant ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has neutralized the participant ‘Red Herring Scribe’.]

Idenami-sama was far from amused when she answered the knocks on her cabin door.  “Huh?” she scoffed through the space the chain lock would allow.  “It may well be that I was the fiancée of the magnate’s grandson who died in the fire, and that I was also rescued from that same fire.  But why do I have to show you how I run down a corridor?”

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has killed the participant ‘Reject of Divinity’.]

“It’s just a precaution,” the idiot said, clearly trying to placate the irritated woman, “In any case, you could remove the chain lock and let us in?”

[The participant ‘Yoo Sangah’ has killed the participant ‘Stinking One’.]

“If you want to come in, bring a search warrant!” Idenami-sama snapped.

[There are 5 minutes remaining.]

The idiot huffed and muttered under his breath, “That crazy—”

“That watch you found in your room,” the girl interrupted, “has it rung since?”

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is greatly pleased.]

“As you can see,” she snipped as she glanced over her shoulder, “I left it out.  It hasn’t rung since.”

“Where?” the regressor asked in idle curiosity.

Idenami-sama pointed at a bench.  “Here! On top of the sofa…”

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned, thinking back to his visit to Cabin B.  Wait a second… how was I able to see it?  When we found Murobashi’s body through the gap in the door, we saw the shot mark in the sofa opposite him…

「What’s the significance of that?」 Kudou Shinichi asked as Idenami-sama was cajoled into running up and down the hallway as well.

With the chain lock engaged, I was able to see most but not all of the sofa in Idenami-sama’s cabin—what? Yoo Joonghyuk asked testily as Kudou Shinichi snorted in amusement.

「The ‘-sama’ you tacked onto the end of Idenami-san’s name…  You aren’t her subordinate in any way, so there’s no need to refer to her in such high esteem,」 the detective replied.

… what.

Kudou Shinichi sighed.  「Never mind, continue on with what you were thinking.」

Yoo Joonghyuk glared at nothing but continued, noting both the change in honorific that Kudou Shinichi had used as well as the fact that he had only used the surname, and deciding to drop it altogether.  Unlike Idenami’s cabin, I was able to see the entire bench in Morobashi’s cabin despite the fact that the chain lock was engaged.  So that meant—

「—there was an extra link in the chain in Idenami-san’s cabin!」 the detective finished excitedly despite his apparent exhaustion.  「This makes the chain long enough to open the door wide enough to lock it from the outside!」

Then that phone that was not Idenami’s was used as a distraction since everyone here knows each other, he pieced together.  But then why would the cabin attendant not know which cabin was calling for him?

The detective suggested, 「Each cabin should have an indicator light that the attendant should be able to see, no?」

Cabin A’s light was out, so if the attendant heard the ring but saw no light, he probably assumed that it was Cabin A calling for him, and with the direction the cabin doors swing open…

「The hallway is hidden from view from Cabin A, right?  How many cabins are we talking about?」

Five, A through E.  Morobashi was killed in Cabin B, which means Cabins C through E are suspect.  Yoo Joonghyuk growled in frustration.  Beyond that, I’m not sure how the murderer got away with it.

「We’re close to the end of the game,」 Kudou said, 「Hopefully once it’s over I can help you with solving this case.」

[The 73rd Demon Realm is responding to the will of you and your team of ‘participants’.]

The regressor echoed somewhat sullenly, Hopefully.

[A new story about the participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ is being written.]

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes widened in astonishment.  How the hell did KID…?  He had to take a moment to arrange his thoughts.  Kudou, he commanded, and when the detective answered with a tired grunt, he said, you must arrange a meeting between him and me.

「What? NO!」 yelped the detective, 「Why would you willingly want to associate with that sort of insanity?」

The fact that he was able to create a new story speaks very well for him, the regressor argued.

“Well,” Mouri grumbled with a snort once Idenami had gone back into her cabin, “it was only with a little bit of reassuring that we managed to get Idenami-san to run down the corridor as well, but is there any actual meaning behind that test at all?”

Kudou groaned.  「… I have no idea what you mean by ‘new story,’ but I give up…」

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has taken away the enemy’s sentence and won the game.]

[The participant ‘Duke Bercan’ has taken away your sentence and you have lost the game.]

Yoo Joonghyuk sucked in a sharp breath.

[The participant 'Demon King of Salvation' has killed the participant 'Duke Bercan'.]

The teenager was cheerful as she said, “Anyway, let’s show the movies we took to the kids!” as she began jogging down the hallway in the direction of the carriage the kids had been taken to.

「KIM DOKJA!」

The sheer terror in Kudou’s voice had Yoo Joonghyuk stiffening in apprehension, and he mentally braced himself for whatever event had frightened the detective that much.

What’s happe—?!

“Hey kid, are you listening?” the idiot barked, irritated.

[The participant ‘Demon King of Salvation’ has been killed by the participant ‘Duke Bercan’.]

[The time limit for the second game is over.]

… well, fuck.

「KID…!」

[The winning team will be determined based on the points obtain—]

Yoo Joonghyuk jolted as the oddest sensation—and this included dying—of his sense of self being squeezed off to some vague metaphorical “side” occurred, and suddenly he was no longer in control of his—or rather, Kudou’s—body.

I’m back, Kudou thought as he sucked in a breath of air, flexed his hands, and slowly turned his head to study his reflection in the window.  I’m me again…

And yet somehow, Yoo Joonghyuk remarked, I’m still here.

Ah, Kudou realized, the case hasn’t yet been officially solved.

The regressor grumped, And no assassination attempts yet, either.

The detective released a miserable sigh.  It will come, don’t worry, he wearily replied as he checked the messages he had missed on his phone before slipping away from the idiot to do a little of his own sleuthing—and to have his own private mental breakdown.  Yoo Joonghyuk felt like an immersive movie spectator, able to watch and sense, but unable to control what was happening. Kudou Shinichi stuffed himself in a hidden corner and began to hyperventilate.  I’ve killed—I killed—

You did what you had to in order to survive, the regressor said firmly.  There was no other alternative for you.

I could have knocked them out! Kudou argued.

Yoo Joonghyuk growled.  And they would have regained consciousness before the time limit, and you would have had bigger problems.

But I—

They are not dead! he snapped, impatient with the detective’s denials.  They are constellations, and what you killed were their physical constructs, not the constellations themselves!

Kudou was quiet for a while before he responded with a quiet, … oh.

Yes, oh, he snarked with a mental glower at his headspace companion.  Now get your head out of your ass and help me solve this thing!

Kudou took a few moments to pull himself together before he entered Cabin B and studied the interior with a meticulousness that by turns, bored, puzzled, and fascinated him.   He knew he did not have the patience to do that.  Anything?

The detective grinned, and Yoo Joonghyuk could, oddly enough, feel it as though he was the one doing the grinning.  Kudou’s thoughts regarding the clues to this case were too disjointed and fast for the regressor to keep up with.  “Almost,” he hummed, “I just need to figure out one last trick…”  He wandered out into the hallway and studied the crown molding above the cabin doors and the cabin doorknobs themselves.  Throughout this process, thoughts such as fishing line going up—but where would—ah, they had to open that—but the timing, why—oh, that’s how they did it!

The detective grinned victoriously, and Yoo Joonghyuk could not help but feel Kudou’s glee alongside him.  It was mildly disconcerting, but it was also a novel experience because it had been so very long since he had felt anything as… happy… as this.  It was an innocent sort of pleasure, one untainted by bloodlust and vengeance, one that was righteous and just, and it highlighted things about himself that the regressor had no desire to see or acknowledge.

I can feel you sulking over there, Kudou nudged as he continued to study the crown molding.  Anything you want to talk about?

Yoo Joonghyuk’s kneejerk reaction was to spit out a very emphatic, NO, but considering that after this strange scenario ended, it was highly unlikely that he would ever talk to Kudou again.  He would be someone who, even if he divulged whatever he learned about the regressor, would have absolutely no bearing on him, separated by universes as they were.  And so, despite his initial misgivings, he sighed and answered.

I…  Yoo Joonghyuk stalled, feeling the words that he wanted to say clog his figurative throat.  Gods damn it, he swore at himself, how difficult is it to admit that it’s been a long time since I’ve been happy about something…?

Kudou paused in his scrutinizing to look at his reflection in the window.  The expression on the child’s face staring back was concerned.  Has it really been that bad for you, Yoo Joonghyuk-san?

The regressor really studied the detective’s appearance for the first time.  You really do look like an idiot wearing those glasses, he remarked bluntly.

Oi! Kudou objected, affronted, and a scowl was reflected in the pane of glass.  These glasses are much more useful than they look!  And just say you don’t want to discuss something if you don’t feel like it!  I’m not about to pry into your personal affairs, you know, he replied, miffed.  Anyways, out of curiosity, was there a mirror anywhere in this carriage?

Yoo Joonghyuk had not actually meant to say something so meanspirited, not to someone who had done his utmost to not only keep his body alive in his own world but had also offered a metaphorical ear to listen.  … I’m fine.  Thank you.  And no, I have not seen a mirror anywhere.

The detective grinned.  It’s nothing, he answered with a cheer that was at odds with the fact that he had just been insulted not two seconds ago, and strode down the hallway to gather his suspects, calling them on behalf of the idiot when the regressor knew that Mouri had done no such thing.

Noto asked, “Now what do you want, calling us out into the corridor like this?”

“Well, it seems as though you’ve worked out something,” Idenami remarked.

Mouri blinked, confused.  “Actually, the investigation is still in the works…” he hedged.

“But that boy called us all out from our rooms…” Sumitomo murmured.

“He said that the sleeping detective was about to start a deduction show,” Komino added.

Kudou tugged on Mouri’s pant leg.  “Weren’t you saying earlier, ojisan, that you’d worked out the general outline of the trick?” he asked in an affected child’s voice as he flipped the face of his wristwatch open and aimed it at the idiot.

Yoo Joonghyuk gave himself figurative whiplash as he projected his bewilderment at how the detective was acting.  What the fuck, Kudou?

“Idiot,” Mouri Kogoro huffed, “that was metaphorical…”  He trailed off as the detective darted the idiot in the neck.

The regressor was stunned speechless.  I—what…?

Didn’t I mention he was my puppet? Kudou reminded dryly.  The idiot groaned as he stumbled around drunkenly for a moment before collapsing into the chair where the attendant normally sat at the end of the corridor.

“It… it’s happened,” the attendant whispered excitedly, “It’s Nemuri no Kogoro!”

You did, but I didn’t think you meant it literally! Yoo Joonghyuk exclaimed as Kudou ducked behind the corner of Cabin A, hidden from sight from the others, and pulled out a red bowtie with odd dials on one side.

A dark-skinned man with platinum blond hair commented, “Since Mouri Kogoro-sensei has adopted such a position, then he has solved the case, haven’t you, sir?  This incident in which Murobashi-san was found shot in the chain locked Cabin B of the first-class carriage—you already know the truth behind the locked room murder.”

Something about this man raised Yoo Joonghyuk’s metaphorical hackles.  Who is this asshole?

An ally, Kudou replied, though there was an air of caution that the regressor could feel about him.

Idenami barked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Mouri Kogoro-sensei’s number one apprentice, Amuro,” he answered with a wide grin that only caused Yoo Joonghyuk’s suspicions to ratchet even higher.

“Yes, the locked room murder,” Kudou said into the bowtie—which altered his voice to match that of the idiot’s.  Yoo Joonghyuk was shocked.  “I solved that mystery the second time I went to Idenami-san’s Cabin E.”

Idenami screeched, “Wait, what?  You can’t be saying that I’m the murderer!”

“I’m not making accusations yet,” Kudou refuted in Mouri’s voice.  “It suddenly occurred to me when I was looking into your room past the chain locked door that when your door was chain locked, it was only possible to see most of one sofa—but when Conan found Murobashi’s body in Cabin B, even with the chain lock engaged, he could clearly see the right-hand sofa.  Can you imagine why?”

This is… weird.

“That boy didn’t get a proper look?” the woman scoffed.

Kudou snorted.  Believe me, this is nowhere near the weirdest thing I’ve done.

Amuro suggested, “Most likely that was probably because there was an extra link in the chain.  The gap was therefore larger, and the field of view was wider.”

Noto asked, puzzled, “So what’s the big deal with increasing the number of links by one?”

“It’s a huge deal!” Amuro exclaimed, “A chain lock is normally set to a length that only just prevents people from getting their hands in from the outside, so increasing it just by one makes it possible to chain lock the cabin from the outside.”

“I’ll go check!” the attendant called as he left to count the links in all of the cabins.  While everyone waited for the man to count the chains, Kudou Shinichi slunk past the group and entered Cabin B.  Using his phone, he recorded the call out bell sound before returning to his previous location behind Cabin A’s wall.  “He’s right, there are six!” he called as he exited Cabin A, “There are five links in the chains of all the other cabins—the only with six links is Cabin B!”

Amuro smirked.  “With this, it’s no longer a locked room mystery.”

Sumitomo asked, “But if somebody was loitering around the door, surely the train attendant would have noticed?”

“True,” the blond admitted, “and he said that he was in the corridor the entire time.”

“Well, there was some stranger peering into a doorway…” the attendant hedged.

Idenami hummed.  “True, it could all be the work of an outsider—there shouldn’t be anyone in the first-class carriage who would carry out a crime and risk being recognized, since there was an attendant familiar with all of our faces in the corridor.”

“But what if that risk could be removed by using this little sound?” Mouri suggested as Kudou played the recording of the bell.

The group as a whole looked about the carriage for the source of the sound.  “A call out bell?” the attendant murmured, confused.

Noto muttered, “But… but who…?”

“It was me!” Kudou chirped as he poked his head out from behind his protective wall, “I just went into Cabin B, rang the bell, recorded the sound, and played it back on my phone.  The attendant heard the noise but didn’t see the corresponding light come on for any of the cabins, so you assumed it was Cabin A’s, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” the flustered attendant admitted, “the light for Cabin A had run out of batteries and I was worried that Noto-san might get angry and demand to know why I hadn’t come when he called, so I just assumed that it was Noto-san.”

“So, while Noto-san and the attendant were having an argument in the doorway of Cabin A, Cabin B’s Murobashi-san opened his door, didn’t he?” Kudou confirmed in his annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Will you stop with that infernal child’s pitch? Yoo Joonghyuk snipped, You’re giving me a headache.

“Y-Yeah,” stuttered the attendant, “while on the phone with someone…”

Kudou retorted as he ducked back behind the wall, How could you have a headache when you currently don’t even have a head? and the regressor wordlessly snarled in reply.

Amuro smirked.  “I see…  That was the moment, wasn’t it?  When the culprit entered Cabin B?  This corridor is narrow enough that opening the door blocks most of the passage.  If Cabin B’s door was open, the attendant stopping in front of Cabin A wouldn’t see the culprit coming towards the cabin from the other end of the corridor.”

“That’s right,” Mouri agreed gruffly.  “The culprit probably called Murobashi-san, saying, ‘There’s some sort of disturbance happening outside your cabin—has something happened?  This occurred as we were going through the tunnel.  If our culprit called Murobashi-san just as we entered the tunnel to get him to check the outside of his room, and the culprit came out of his room and approached Cabin B, then it wouldn’t be too surprising to think that they’d move the conversation to Cabin B because the tunnel would prevent any communication by phone.”

Noto protested, “But what were the culprit and Murobashi talking about?”

Mouri answered, “Likely the mystery quiz that happens on board the train each year.  The culprit pretended with fake cue cards that Murobashi had been selected as the victim, himself as the murderer, and my daughter and her friends as accomplices.  He said that Murobashi, who was in Cabin B, Carriage 7, should swap with my daughter’s room for a vanishing body trick.”  He scoffed.  “Of course, in actuality Murobashi should have booked Cabin B in the first-class carriage, so these fake cards had been prepared as an emergency measure.  He selected the children for the role of detectives, and as part of their role as accomplices, my daughter and her friends were to delay anybody who came around to Cabin B in Carriage 7 in the detective role.  The plot, however, fell through instantly, and my daughter came back to the first-class carriage along with the children to where the crime took place.”

“And then what happened?” Noto pressed, “We’ve understood how the culprit moved Murobashi to Cabin B, but when did the murderer come out of the cabin?”

Idenami barked, “That’s right!  If he killed Murobashi the instant he went into Cabin B, the attendant in front of Cabin A should have seen something!”

Andou replied, “But he didn’t, so the person who is most suspicious is the one the attendant saw peering into a doorway.”

“Which door was it?” Idenami demanded.

The attendant answered, “The door at the other end of the hallway to where I was…  It was when I was in front of Cabin E, so I thought it was Noto-san from Cabin A.”

“Oi,” Noto objected, “you shouldn’t go around making unfounded accusations like that!”

“I can reveal the identity of this man,” Mouri offered, and Yoo Joonghyuk sent a figuratively questioning “glance” at his bodymate.

You can?

Kudou smirked.  Definitely.

“Eh?”  Noto was understandably confused.

“It was yourself, attendant-san,” Mouri stated.

“Eh?!” the attendant yelped in surprise, “Me? the strange man in the corridor? Are you saying that I’m the culprit?”

“No,” Amuro negated, “what you saw was yourself in front of Cabin E in a mirror.”

… what.  A fucking mirror?!

“That’s right,” Mouri concurred.  “The murderer stuck a mirror on the inner side of his door, and when the attendant was in front of Cabin E, he opened the door to so that he couldn’t be seen upon completion of the crime.”

“But…”  Idenami was also befuddled.  “But if the culprit was in Cabin B at the time, then how did he open the door to his own cabin?”

Mouri explained, “He attached fishing line to the doorknob and passed it through the handrails by the window.  This trick could be undone if the position of the mirror was too far or too close to Cabin B.  Therefore, the only one who could have been able to commit the murder was the passenger of Cabin C, directly in the center of the cabins A, B, C, D, and E.”  Kudou peered around the edge of the wall as he proclaimed, “Andou-san, only you could have done it!”

“A-A mirror?”Andou stammered, “How on Earth do you say I managed to bring a mirror large enough to cover a whole door on board the train?”

He annoys me, Yoo Joonghyuk growled, May I off him already?

“That painting you were asked to analyze,” Mouri explained, “if you placed about three panes of mirrored glass between the canvases, you would have sufficient area to cover the door.  That painting was very heavy…”

What?!  NO! Kudou screeched.  Why are you already jumping to killing when the whole point of your scenario is to keep everyone from dying?!

Andou fibbed, “Oh, but that was because the frame was made of solid gold…!”

He’s all but explicitly said he’s the murderer.  So let me murder him in return.  The regressor could feel his frustration at his lack of independence already stifling.

Amuro refuted the man with, “No… the frame’s wood, and covered in gold leaf.”

That is not how we handle things here! the detective snapped.

“What’s heavy is the painting,” Amuro continued.  “The inside is just as sensei said—three panes of mirrored glass!”  Kudou peeked around the edge of the wall to find Amuro revealing the mirrored glass panes by prying off the canvas after he had taken it out of the frame.  “And one of them has a spot of beige paint on it in the same shade as the door… a part of your trick to stop the attendant from realizing that he was looking at a reflection.  If you left it as it was, the cabin label of Cabin B would have been reflected as well, and the trick uncovered.”

“So, those three mirrors… how would you explain them?  You can’t say they had been put in before framing and you didn’t notice the abnormal weight of the painting,” Mouri uttered, verbally boxing Andou in.  “Maybe we should ask the client who commissioned the framing of the painting—if there really is such a person…”

Noto interjected, “But… but tantei-san! Some of your deductions are barely plausible!  It’s not easy to increase the number of links in the chain lock, and if the lamp in my room hadn’t been broken, then the attendant wouldn’t have come to my cabin in the first place!”

“And when I called the attendant, it was because the alarm on the watch that had been left in my cabin just happened to go off!” added Idenami.

“These were not coincidences.”  Mouri was confident as he pointed out, “They were all events that were planned and carried out according to Andou-san’s plans!  Attendant-san, you said it yourself earlier, didn’t you?  That there was one set of attendant uniforms missing…”

“Y-Yes,” the attendant confirmed.

Mouri huffed.  “That was probably the doing of Andou-san.  If he wore that uniform and took part in the checks before boarding, increasing the number of links in the Cabin B crime scene’s chain lock, swapping out Noto-san’s Cabin A light with a blown one and putting a watch with a remote controllable alarm in Idenami’san’s Cabin E are all possible.”  Kudou once again peered around the wall, and Andou’s expression was anxious.  “Then, if you rang the alarm again when Idenami-san and the attendant were arguing in front of Cabin E, it would act as a distraction so that even if Andou-san pulled open the mirror-lined door of Cabin C with a fishing line while hiding in Cabin B after having already committed the crime, no one would have noticed once he changed Cabin B’s lock while standing in the shadow of the mirror-lined door.”

Kudou’s logic was irrefutable, and Yoo Joonghyuk was unwillingly impressed by the detective’s deduction abilities—particularly since he had missed a lot of the action when they had been hopping from cabin to cabin.  Why are you so smug about the old lady and her maid?

“Then, all he had to do was close the mirror-lined door as though he had just come out of his cabin and approach Idenami-san’s party.  In this way, he could create a situation in which even though the attendant was always in the corridor, nobody would have seen anyone going in or out of the Cabin B crime scene!”  That’s our aforementioned ally and his assistant, the detective replied.

“Unfortunately, the moment Andou-san opened the mirrored door, Komino-san and her maid entered the corridor, whereupon they might have discovered the fishing line.  But being in a tunnel, it was very dim and probably escaped their notice.”  Mouri’s voice took on a slightly accusing tone.  “I would hope it’s not as though they purposefully said nothing to avoid getting involved with the case…”

… seriously…?

“But why did Andou-san kill Murobashi-san?” Idenami asked.

One-hundred percent positive.

Noto was still just as confused as ever.  “Weren’t the two of you friends after escaping the fire together five years ago?”

Andou sighed.  “Yes, that’s what I thought until two years ago—until I encountered a painting that should have been lost in the fire at an auction!”  The last was said in an angry shout.

“WHAT?”  Idenami was, in Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes, appropriately shocked.

“After I traced back the ownership of the painting, I eventually came around to Murobashi-san…” Andou said, trailing off quietly.

“I see,” Amuro interjected, “Murobashi-san stole the painting and set fire to the mansion in order to hide the theft, didn’t he?  And in doing so, he killed so many others…”

“Yes,” Andou confirmed.  “Before he died, Murobashi said that he hadn’t imagined there would be so many deaths.  If that man had, like the rest of us, boarded this Bell Tree Express every year in memory of those who were lost in the flames and the family that was supposed to board this first-class carriage, then I was planning to simply force him to confess.”  The man gustily sighed.  “But when I brought up the fake mystery quiz and gave him the role of the victim while we were waiting for the children in the detective role, that man said this: ‘You know, these sorts of things are so exciting, they make you really feel alive!  Doesn’t it remind you of that fire we were rescued from? the one where we were all lost in the smoke and we barely got out of it alive?’”  Andou’s voice wobbled as he added, “And he said that with his face all rosy with a tone of twisted glee!  To think my wife died in that fire, lost in the smoke!  That’s why I—I…”  His voice tapered off with a loud sniffle.

Noto’s voice was soft and sympathetic.  “Andou-san, let’s save the rest for the police,” he said as Andou began crying in earnest.

“O-Oi,” Idenami murmured, voice pinched with nervousness, “what’s going on with all this smoke?”

Amuro’s shouted soon after, “F-Fire?! There’s a fire!  Everybody, evacuate to the front of the train!”

Kudou glanced around the wall and saw the billowing cloud of haze rolling out of Cabin B.  Yoo Joonghyuk had only a fleeting sensation of fierce satisfaction before the detective darted out of his hiding spot and began urgently jostling the sleeping Mouri.  “Ojisan, wake up!”  Once he was assured that the older man was awake, albeit rather blearily, he hurried over to the elderly Komino and Sumitomo.  “And you two as well!  Hurry!”  To emphasize his urgency, he grasped Komino’s hand and gently but firmly tugged them in the opposite direction everyone else was fleeing towards.

Yoo Joonghyuk noticed how Kudou had briefly glanced at Amuro and noted a moment of almost eerie calm on the man’s expression before he turned away.   There’s something about him that I don’t like…

“O-Okay…” Komino stuttered, clearly ill at ease with the smoke.

NO. KILLING.

“Attendant-san, please alert the passengers aboard the preceding carriage!” Amuro directed.

The attendant yelped out, “Yes, right away!”

As the carriage cleared, a quiet settled between the three remaining occupants.  Kudou grinned.  “You two—you’re Kaitou KID and one of his accomplices, right?”

Sumitomo blinked in confusion.  “Eh?”

“You came to scout out the train before your heist,” the detective declared.

The maid scowled.  “Is this some sort of joke?” she demanded.

“The maid, Sumitomo-san, is Kaitou KID, and the old lady is her accomplice.  She doesn’t seem to be able to mimic Komino-san’s voice though.  Whenever KID used ventriloquism to make up for that, she just opened and closed her mouth in time with the voice and tried to mask it with the veil of her hat.  That’s my guess, at any rate,” Kudou said with a nonchalant shrug.

Yoo Joonghyuk was grudgingly in awe over the observation of such a tiny detail.

“I see… that’s why you made me run in the corridor,” the maid muttered thoughtfully.

Kudou nodded.  “Yes.  Well, at that time, the old lady was absolutely fine lighting her pipe.  All the others who had been rescued from the fire were terrified of flames.  That’s why I thought she must be a different person,” and the regressor could feel the detective’s gaze sharpen on the maid.  “The reason you chose the wheelchair bound Komino-san for your disguise was because you could measure the width and the length of the corridor using the rotations of the wheelchair, right?”

The grin that spread across the Sumitomo’s face was… disconcerting.  “Fine, yes,” KID confessed, and Yoo Joonghyuk once again felt unwillingly impressed by the detective’s ability to look past such a detailed and thorough disguise.  “The real old lady and her maid are probably wandering around their home at the moment” the apparent phantom thief disguised as a woman huffed, “I merely sent them an email about a change in the train’s departure date.”

Kudou snorted.  “Anyway, be a little grateful I didn’t press you guys when you were trying to avoid getting involved in the case and said you didn’t see anything.”

 “Is that so?  You’ve made it clear that I owe you one,” KID purred with more than just a hint of malice, “so what are you trying to get me to do?”

The detective pulled out a phone—the other one that he had not used to record the running—and unlocked it before swiping to an image of a strawberry blonde woman.  “I want you to disguise yourself as this woman and shake off the people going after her.  Your conversations with them will be picked up by a microphone.  She herself will be waiting in a separate room and will tell you everything you need to say via an earphone.”  He handed the device over to the phantom thief when they gestured for it.  “They’ll probably try and corner her in the storage hold, where they’ve set some explosives, so be careful.”

I want to talk to him, Yoo Joonghyuk demanded.

“So, I’m supposed to look like her?” KID asked with a frown.

Kudou furrowed his brows.  Now?  “Yeah.  Take the phone so you have a reference while you build your disguise,” he added.

Now, Kudou Shinichi, he pressed before he began to wrestle for control over the detective’s body.

What—?! Kudou yelped before Yoon Joonghyuk was able to shove the detective off to the “side” the way he had been earlier.

“Kaitou KID,” he announced, gazing up in anticipation at the phantom thief while mentally shoving Kudou back, “I’ve heard so much about you.”

KID blinked.  “Excuse me?”  The phantom thief stared for a moment before dropping a smoke bomb.  Yoo Joonghyuk reared back in startlement, though as the haze cleared, a tall—compared to his current stature, damn you Kudou!—and slim figure in a suit, cape, and top hat of white with a blue button up and red tie stood before him.  A monocle perched over his right eye, and as the man tugged his hat lower, a rakish grin curved his lips.  “And you must be Yoo Joonghyuk-san,” he murmured.

Amusement curled up within Yoo Joonghyuk’s chest while Kudou stopped struggling and groaned somewhere in the background.  The regressor had the distinct impression that the detective had slapped a metaphorical hand to his face.  “I take it Kim Dokja was the one to tell you who I am?”

KID nodded, the gesture somehow demure.  “He did.  Was there a reason you wanted to talk to me, Yoo Joonghyuk-san?”

Now that the question had been posed, the regressor suddenly felt tongue-tied.  He had so many things he wanted to ask: Who was he?  Where did he learn all of his abilities?  Was he truly as adept as Kudou Shinichi had made him seem?  How had he managed to create a new story?  And aside from inhabiting Kim Dokja’s body, what about KID in particular was captivating enough for anyone in the Star Stream to pay special attention to him in the first place?

Rather than any of these more practical questions, what came out instead was, “Could you permanently trade places with Kim Dokja in my world?”

The phantom thief’s expression flipped like a switch from confused to indignant.  “Why the hell do you want KID-ssi to trade places with me?!” he demanded, and Yoo Joonghyuk instantly knew that Kim Dokja was the speaker and not Kaitou KID.

“You.  Keep.  Dying,” he gritted out accusingly through clenched teeth and a scorching scowl directed at the idiot masquerading as the white-clad phantom thief.

Wait, how is he still alive if he’s died multiple times already? Kudou asked in utter bafflement.

Kim Dokja sputtered.  “But—he did end up dying at the end of the battle!  You saw that notification!”

Constellation, Yoo Joonghyuk replied as he snorted and folded his arms across his chest.  “Considering KID had absolutely no knowledge of how our world worked, the fact that he managed the unprecedented achievement of writing the beginnings of a story on his own speaks well about him.”

“He’s clever,” Kim Dokja admitted, “I’ll give him that, but—"

The regressor felt himself suddenly shoved back as Kudou reclaimed control over his body.  “I’m putting a stop to this argument,” he interrupted as he leveled a literal glare at Kim Dokja and a metaphorical one at Yoo Joonghyuk.  “If I let you two continue, we’ll be here for a week.  KID,” he said, “will you be able to disguise or not?”

You’re such a dick, Yoo Joonghyuk snapped, though deep down he knew Kudou was right.

“Are you doubting my abilities?”  KID leveled him with a very unimpressed look.

Takes one to know one, the detective singsonged back as he grinned at the phantom thief.  “No, because I know you.”

“Oh, do you now?” KID crooned.

Kudou rolled his eyes despite the fondness that suffused his chest—fondness that was so very similar to what the regressor felt towards Kim Dokja.  “Yes.  Here’s your earpiece,” he said as he offered the small electronic.  “It’s already been synced.  You have five minutes to get yourself ready.”  He watched as KID stalked off before spinning on his heel and sprinting off in search of the strawberry blonde girl from earlier.

You’re sure he’ll be able to pull this off? Yoo Joonghyuk asked skeptically.

The detective snorted.  I know he’ll be able to pull this off, he replied confidently as he ducked into Carriage 6.  Sliding into Cabin G, he found the strawberry blonde girl.  “Haibara!” he panted, and the aforementioned Haibara finally pulled her facemask off.

“Kudou-kun,” she greeted back with wide eyes, and Yoo Joonghyuk could see how her rounded child’s features would transform into the more angular face in the phone picture with time.  “What’s happening?”

The detective practically shoved a phone into the girl’s face as he said, “Kaitou KID’s about to meet the Organization’s members disguised as you, so tell him what he has to say!”

Haibara yelped in shock, “What?!”

“Hurry, we don’t have much time,” he urged.  “Use the app on the phone to talk to him!”  He then spun and ran out of the cabin before the strawberry blonde could respond, sliding his own earpiece into an ear to listen in on Haibara and KID’s frequency so that he would be able to time his own actions accordingly as well as keep a figurative eye on KID’s situation in case he needed help.  Though to be fair, he had little doubt the phantom thief would be fine on his own.

Your faith that he will follow your directions is astounding, Yoo Joonghyuk remarked.

Comes with having been his adversary for a little under a year and getting to know each other in that time.  The detective hurried back to Carriage 7, waiting for KID to give proof positive that he was prepared.  He did not have to wait long.

“I’m ready,” the phantom thief said.

 Haibara’s voice was blatantly grateful.  “Thank you for doing this, KID-san.”

There was a sigh before KID replied, “You know I wouldn’t leave you hanging out to dry in situations like this if someone is after your life, right, Haibara-san?”  The fact that it was spoken in a voice so very similar to Haibara was shocking to the regressor.

His voice… Yoo Joonghyuk murmured, astounded.

The girl replied with a soft, “I know.”

Crazy, right? was the detective’s knowing response.  And it’s all him, too.  “KID,” Kudou said, and Yoo Joonghyuk could feel the detective’s smidge of regret at butting into the conversation, “I need to you to return to Carriage 7 and act as though you were trying to escape to the front of the train from the back.”

“Ever the demanding one,” KID complained.  There was a pause before the phantom thief muttered, “Amuro-san is loitering inside the carriage near my entrance.”

 “I’ll create a distraction,” Kudou replied, and Yoo Joonghyuk observed as ideas for said distraction were conjured and discarded with admittedly impressive speed.

KID continued his conversation with Haibara regarding details on how he was to act, and both Kudou and Yoo Joonghyuk tuned their discussion out.  The detective reentered Carriage 7 on the side opposite the storage carriage and used his voice-changing bowtie to imitate the sound of someone coughing.  He knew he had successfully distracted the blond man when he called down the hallway, “Who’s there?”

The detective ducked back out of the nearly vacant carriage, quickly retreating to Carriage 6 as he hissed, “Go, KID.”  KID’s coughs barked in an ear as he listened in.  His feet took him to the cabin where the detective’s friends were located, though he paused outside the door.

“—meet you.  Call me by my codename, Bourbon.”

“Bourbon…”  Haibara and KID’s voices layered over each other in an imitation of a very fast echo, and Yoo Joonghyuk was still surprised to note how accurately the phantom thief had managed to replicate Haibara’s voice—though just a hint deeper since he was assuming that KID was embodying someone older than six or seven.

Bourbon’s voice was easily picked up by the microphone KID had on him as he continued.  “—revealing myself to people close to him and observing their reactions.  Unfortunately, I could only conclude that—”

You’re not going in? the regressor asked after a long pause where both had been listening to the conversation between Haibara, KID, and Bourbon, referring to the cabin the detective was standing outside of.  It was, after all, the cabin containing the older teenaged girls and the younger girl and boys.

“—her well, after all.  Now, shall I have you come this way with your hands up—”

No, I have something else I need to do, Kudou replied, but I just wanted to check and make sure the kids were safe.  Yoo Joonghyuk watched as Kudou pulled out his other phone—the phone that he himself had used to record videos of the suspects’ running—and returned to Carriage 7 after he had judged both KID and Bourbon had vacated the smoky carriage.  He found the number for his mother and dialed.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up.  “Oh, Shin-chan,” came a chirpy female voice that Yoo Joonghyuk could only assume was his mother, “What’s the matter?”

“Kaa-san!” Kudou shouted, infusing panic into his voice, “We have a problem!  I can’t find Haibara anywhere!  Is she with you?”

“No, she hasn’t come to my room.  Maybe she went to the front of the train?  It’d be easier to hide herself in a crowd, after all…” Kudou’s mother worriedly suggested.

“Okay,” the detective panted, acting as though he had been very actively searching for his missing friend, “I’ll check the front, kaa-san, you stick to the plan!”

Kudou’s mother chirped a cheerful, “Okay!” and hung up.

“—hold is full of explosives.  Looks like there was some slip-up in your preparations,” KID remarked, and Yoo Joonghyuk felt Kudou’s odd sigh of relief at that tidbit of information.

Why the relief?  Aren’t explosives on a train a bad thing? he asked, puzzled.

The explosives being there means that I predicted my opponents’ plans correctly, Kudou replied.  All that’s left is to let KID do what KID does best, which…  Here, the detective scowled before he grudgingly finished, … is to escape.

Yoo Joonghyuk snorted at that.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll turn down that offer,” KID snapped, and the sound of a door slamming followed by frantic scrabbling could be heard.

You’re not going to instruct him on anything?

Kudou shook his head.  At this stage, I don’t want to distract him since I’m positive he’ll need to stage a fairly quick escape.  True to the detective’s word, a concussive BOOM shook the carriage not long after, and Kudou barely managed to stay on his feet as the shockwave from the explosion rippled through the train carriages.  Kudou froze as a notification popped up.

[Main Scenario – Mystery Train has been succe—]

Yoo Joonghyuk blinked and found himself back in the Demon Realm in his own body.  It was bruised and battered and nearly drained of magic and ached all over, but it was his.  He scowled, wincing a little as overworked muscles pulled in his back, arms, and legs.  Kudou Shinichi, what the hell did you do to my body? he snapped as he took stock of his injuries.

「What did I do?  What didn’t I do to ensure that you remained alive through that shitshow of a battle?!」

The regressor scoffed derisively.  You certainly could have done a better job at dodging.

「Did you honestly expect a non-combatant like me to be a pro at swor—when I have nev—ed a sword before?」  Kudou’s exasperation was clear in his voice.

I expect that you would have better reflexes and sense of self-preservation, he bit back.  His eyes fell upon the still form of Kim Dokja, and he withheld a snarl.  Regardless, thank you for surviving, unlike the dead smug bastard in front of me.

Kudou snorted.  「While I—n’t say it—asure to m—was inte—eting—ll the s—oo Joo—」  

Yoo Joonghyuk waited for Kudou to say something else, but when it became clear that there would be no further interaction, he made his way towards the corpse and knelt beside him.  Roughly grabbing the front of Kim Dokja’s shirt with one hand, he used the other to unceremoniously slap the currently not smug nor smiling bastard across both cheeks.  "Wake up," he commanded as he continued to slap Kim Dokja.

“Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi, stop it!” Yoo Sangah shouted from somewhere behind him, the increasing volume indicating the woman was fast approaching.  “Dokja-ssi's face is swollen!"

 Lee Hyunsung fretted as he skidded to a halt and knelt next to Kim Dokja’s body, "What in the world is happening?" right as Shin Yoosung rode up on her dragon chimaera and leapt off it to stumble to Kim Dokja’s side.

"He is still breathing. I think there was a shock to his soul…" Yoo Sangah murmured as she knelt by Yoo Joonghyuk and gently made the regressor release the dead smug bastard’s shirt.  He frowned and stood up, and the woman carefully arranged Kim Dokja on the ground.

"Dokja-ssi… wake up.  Please…" murmured Lee Hyunsung as the Mythical Battlefield faded and reverted to the wastes of the industrial complex.

Yoo Joonghyuk watched as Yoo Sangah greeted the two dogs, the boy, and the one-legged man.  “You’re alive, department head-nim,” she greeted.

"Y-Yoo Sangah-ssi," the man stuttered in reply.

The woman stared at the teenager.  “You—are you on our side?”

“Ah, I…”  Jang Hayoung seemed to curl in on herself before she caught sight of Shin Yoosung.  “Ah, weren’t you in that video…?”

Shin Yoosung tilted her head quizzically at the teenager.  “You know of me?”

Jang Hayoung’s expression lit up.  “I’m a huge fan!  Oh, wow, I can’t believe I’m meeting the incarnations from Earth…!” she squealed as she shook Yoo Sangah’s hand.

“By the way, did we win or lose?” the woman asked once she had reclaimed her hand from Jang Hayoung.

Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at the last notification hovering in his line of sight.

[We are currently determining the winning team of the second round.]

“I think Kim Dokja killed him first… doesn’t that mean that we should have won?”

Lee Hyunsung exclaimed, “But our sentence was stolen!”

“Kim Dokja was faster,” Yoo Joonghyuk said with a shake his head.

The pressure from a number of powerful presences gathered on the other side of the wilderness, complete with a hazy and growing cloud of dust, caught his attention and the regressor scowled.  The notification had yet to fade, and if Yoo Joonghyuk’s calculations were correct, thirty minutes had already passed since the end of the second round.  Clicking his tongue in irritation, he barked out, “Prepare yourselves!"  He received a chorus of confused noises.  "Something is wrong."

The bureau was usually much faster than this.  The fact that it was taking this long meant that someone was interfering with the scenario’s results.  There was an extremely large amount of probability in the current 73rd Demon Realm to the Mythical Battlefield.

A black snarl darkened Yoo Joonghyuk’s face as he unsheathed the “Black Heavenly Demon Sword” and cautioned to his teammates, “This time, it isn’t a game,” right as the Thunder Eating Bird’s cries echoed in the sky, a battle cry for the furious constellations headed in their direction.