Anime Crossover: Master is Not Here Today

Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief, and Haibara Ai's expression also relaxed considerably.

Moriarty watched the two with a smile, and after they had recovered somewhat, he laughed and said:

"Speaking of which, when I went to buy water earlier, I overheard some interesting legends about this island."

Although the actual situation was not what I heard, but what I found out, that doesn't matter much; what matters is the content itself.

Seeing the two of them looking at him with curiosity, he spoke mysteriously:

"It is said that there is a unique local disease on this island called 'Shadow Disease'."

"Although there are very few people with this disease now, it seemed quite common in the past. People with shadow disease can see shadows, and people who can see shadows—"

"—I will be killed by the shadow."

"Then, the shadow will impersonate the person it killed and continue killing that person's entire family."

After he finished speaking, he smiled and said:

"Isn't it a pretty good legend?"

"."

After hearing this legend, Fujimaru Ritsuka remained silent for a while before saying speechlessly:

"Where's the good part? This is a complete horror story!"

Ai Haibara remained unmoved by this, and said calmly:

"Indeed, many places have such terrifying folk legends, but often they are just to illustrate some simple and easy-to-understand principles, or just to scare children and prevent them from running around."

"Haha, maybe."

Moriarty neither confirmed nor denied this, but instead offered a hypothesis:

"What if there really is something called a 'shadow' on this island?"

"what to do.?"

The two were about to seriously consider this issue, but after only a few seconds, Ai Haibara gave up first, saying:

"It's just a legend without a beginning or end, with too little useful information. If we only analyze the information above, it's basically an unsolvable ghost story."

"That's true. After all, we don't even know what a 'shadow' is, so we naturally can't know how to deal with it."

Moriarty nodded, then commented jokingly:

"But her ideas are too mature and lack imagination. I think Ai should be more innocent and carefree at her age."

Ai Haibara did not buy into Moriarty's suggestion.

"Not every child has to be innocent and naive, right? Can't there be children who are a little more mature?"

Ultimately, she wasn't a real child herself.

Moreover, when she was with Fujimaru Ritsuka, she didn't like to deliberately pretend.

"That's great! This is what young people are like! This is really good!"

Moriarty sighed, not pressing the matter further, and turned to Fujimaru Ritsuka, asking:

"Miss Ritsuka, what do you think?"

She thought for a moment and tried to analyze it:

"After all, it's called 'Shadow Disease,' so it should at least have something to do with shadows, right?"

"For example, although they can transform into humans, the human form is just an appearance; their true form is the shadow beneath their feet."

"Although it is purely speculation, it is quite reasonable. As expected of someone with your extensive experience."

Moriarty clapped his hands lightly in approval.

Then, as if lost in thought, he said:

"So, which scenario will it be? I'm really curious."

Although they had only spent a short time together, Ai Haibara had already gotten used to his neuroticism and therefore didn't pay too much attention to it.

But Fujimaru Ritsuka had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Based on her understanding of Moriarty, he didn't seem like someone who would be interested in such folklore.

Aside from causing trouble for Sherlock Holmes and acting coquettishly in front of Fran, all he was interested in was crime, and more crime, and bigger crime, right?

Did he discover some crime? Or is he planning something underhanded?

Thinking of this, she looked at Moriarty suspiciously, but he gave her an innocent look in return.

This guy is definitely up to something!

She decided to find an opportunity to question him properly later.

In addition, she felt a strange sense of déjà vu about the legend Moriarty had just told her, as if she had heard it somewhere before.

Where is it?

She racked her brains for a while, but it was like solving a problem; the more crucial the moment, the easier it was to forget. After thinking for a while without success, she had no choice but to give up for the time being.

After strolling around for a while, as dusk approached, the three prepared to return to their guesthouse for dinner and rest, thus concluding their first day of travel.

"Boss, we're back!"

Upon entering the guesthouse, she greeted the owner warmly as always, and the owner responded just as warmly.

"Welcome back! How was your day?"

"Yes, you had a great time! The scenery on the mountain was beautiful!"

As she spoke, she smiled and said:

"Boss, we'll go upstairs and rest for a while. Let us know when the food is ready, thank you!"

The boss smiled and agreed, saying:

"No problem, you can go upstairs and rest first."

So the three of them said goodbye to the boss for the time being and returned to their room on the second floor to rest. But the moment they stepped onto the stairs, the smile on Fujimaru Ritsuka's face suddenly disappeared.

That's not the boss.

If the other party were just a complete stranger, she probably wouldn't have noticed anything unusual.

But that person was the owner of the guesthouse, the one who warmly welcomed them, was generous, unconventional, and understanding.

Although the other person's expression, actions, mannerisms, tone of voice, and appearance were exactly the same as her former boss, her intuition told her that the person was definitely not her former boss.

Whether it can even be called a human being is still an unknown.

So, what exactly is that thing?

Thinking of this, the local legend that Moriarty had mentioned earlier echoed in her mind again. At the same time, some distant memories also surfaced, causing her to freeze in place.

She murmured in disbelief:

".shadow?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 93 Shadow

"Professor, what exactly happened? When did you realize it?"

Back inside, Fujimaru Ritsuka's relaxed expression vanished as she asked Moriarty a question.

Thinking back to the legend he had told them and his strange behavior, she was certain that Moriarty had discovered the existence of the Shadow much earlier than she had, and might even know more.

"I first noticed it when we disembarked, and one of the staff members was also a shadow."

As Moriarty answered, he explained:

"As a human, you may be a bit slow on the uptake in this regard, but as Servants who were once human but are now non-human, it's easy for us to notice anything unusual about the other person."

As he spoke, he smiled and said:

"At first, I thought they were special residents of this island, and I was a little confused."

"After all, Master, you said before that there don't seem to be any mysterious beings in this world."

"So, this is an unusual situation?"

She nodded, acknowledging Moriarty's assessment.

Of course, the situation is even more unusual now; she has never heard of anything like this in the Conan world that is neither scientific nor Conan-like.

"In that case, besides the legend about the Shadow Disease you just mentioned, do you know any other information?"

"Sorry, at this point, our intelligence has been completely synchronized."

Moriarty shook his head, then pondered for a moment and said:

"However, my intuition as a crime boss tells me that this is not a simple crime in the mysterious realm; there seems to be a larger conspiracy hidden within."

As he said this, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled up slightly.

"As expected, it has to be a large-scale crime like this. Even if it is destined to lead to destruction, the process itself is intoxicating enough."

"Not even a little bit!"

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka glared at him fiercely, and he immediately responded:

"Of course, no matter how wonderful the crime, as long as it conflicts with your will, Master, I will stand by your side without hesitation!"

The way this came from the other person didn't sound very convincing.

But we don't have time to worry about that now.

She kept the 'greater conspiracy' Moriarty mentioned in mind for the time being, and already had a general idea of ​​what she wanted to achieve—

First, deal with the shadowy figure downstairs who replaced the shop manager. If we can capture him alive, it would be even better if we could gather more useful information along the way.

"Ritsuka-neechan, what are you talking about?"

Ai Haibara, who had just returned from the restroom, noticed that the atmosphere between Ritsuka Fujimaru and Moriarty was a bit off, so she asked him with some confusion.