The Enchanting World of Seventy-Seven

Among the onlookers clustered in small knots, whispering about the "incident" that had just taken place, Kurama felt his head begin to ache.

Wasn't this supposed to be the world of the extremely gentle and healing Natsume's Book of Friends, a place that was also perfectly safe for him, a fox demon already powerful enough in his own right? Since when had that grim little faux elementary school detective slipped in here?

In terms of the fundamental forces that constituted a world, Detective Conan was far inferior to Natsume's Book of Friends, but one must not forget the only rule of Conan's world: everyone who appears newly, unless they belong to the protagonist faction, is highly likely to end up dead. And then there was the other one: do not think that being on the protagonist side means you are safe, because you may still end up dead in the finale.

Silently covering his face, Kurama suddenly had the faint, unsettling suspicion that Conan's world might in fact be more dangerous, more tragic, and more cruel than the worlds of Fate and Fullmetal Alchemist he had experienced before.

"But why is Natsume's aura here?"

Standing amid the murmuring crowd, the fox demon, after the initial shock and impact, had by now managed to calm himself somewhat. He frowned slightly, puzzled.

Although Natsume was forever getting swept up in strange troubles, and some of the things he did could leave the people around him feeling bewildered and troubled, he was in truth a very considerate child who would never, so far as conditions allowed, bring worry or inconvenience to anyone else. If Kurama were told that he had been caught up in an incident involving someone like Conan, he would not have found that normal.

"Well, well, well. I only failed to notice it for a moment. Truly... what a troublesome child."

Though he muttered in complaint, the fox demon's hands did not slow as he sent his dandelions out to gather information from every direction.

So a few minutes later, when the flood of returning information gathered in his mind and laid out every detail of the event he had missed, even Kurama, usually so composed, could not help feeling veins twitching at his temple.

There was no other reason for it except that these so-called coincidences were all colliding together in a way far too "coincidental."

The incident had begun in this teahouse restaurant, now ringed tightly by the surrounding crowd.

Shortly before Kurama arrived, a woman of about thirty-five or thirty-six had been stabbed several times with a sharp weapon in the restroom on the second floor. Excessive blood loss and a fatal wound had eventually killed her.

And at the time the incident occurred, Natsume and several friends from his school had been sitting in this teahouse restaurant, about to finish the drinks on their table and then head home separately.

In short, the young master Natsume had finally been dragged into trouble, not by "natural disaster," but by "fate."

Through the bright, polished glass window of the teahouse, Kurama looked at Natsume, who wore an expression of concern and anxiety but, because of the police's intervention and their instructions, had no choice but to sit obediently with his classmates and wait to be questioned. The fox demon let out a silent sigh, politely parted the crowd, and went to the front.

When Natsume, peering worriedly outside from inside the shop, noticed him and for a moment looked relieved before quickly becoming anxious again, as if he wanted to say something, Kurama gave him a knowing wave and took out his phone, flashing it slightly.

"I'll call Aunt Tatsuko to let her know."

He mouthed the words, and when the boy understood him, the tension in his face finally eased. Then he broke into a beautiful smile full of gratitude. The fox demon shook his head helplessly, turned, and squeezed back out through the crowd to find a slightly quieter corner, where he began dialing the Fujihara household.

He told Tatsuko that Natsume's current situation was a bit lighter than it looked, repeated patiently that he had only been accidentally swept up in the incident and had not been hurt and had no direct connection to it, and promised over and over that he would absolutely wait for him until the matter was resolved and they could go home together. At last, after soothing the deeply worried Tatsuko, Kurama exhaled long and hard, then turned and looked back toward the teahouse from afar.

"So that's it. He's been loved and protected with such tenderness."

Then perhaps he really could be a little more willful, and a little more... bold and relaxed.

Kurama knew that Natsume chose not to say anything to the Fujihara couple because of his kindness and thoughtfulness, but precisely because of that, someone like the fox demon, who understood him, felt an inexplicable ache in his heart.

Because...

he was still just a child.

Although after obtaining the Book of Friends he had met more people and yokai who brought him warmth and positive emotions, those brief encounters, followed by farewells that no one could deny were sorrowful, had time and again allowed Natsume to grow through them and see himself more clearly, strengthening a heart that had once been uncertain and lost. Yet even as he was healed, the child had also shouldered many things.

And those things originally should not all have fallen on his shoulders...

...No.

What am I rambling about at a time like this?

Shaking his head, Kurama gave a faint, wry smile.

He thought he now perhaps understood why Madara, even after the seal was broken, still remained by Natsume's side. Even if Madara kept saying, "I'm only waiting for you to die so I can take the Book of Friends," his actions were clearly saying something entirely different. His cherishing of Natsume, his protection of him, that feeling springing from the heart...

Those things could not deceive anyone.

Perhaps Madara, like him, had been unknowingly drawn in by the exceedingly gentle and tranquil aura surrounding Natsume. No matter what he had intended at first, after spending some time together, he had sincerely come to value and like the boy.

Unlike Tsuna, whom he had met in the Tutor world when he first crossed over, Natsume was yet another type impossible to leave alone.

Helplessly shaking his head once more, Kurama turned, preparing to return to the crowd and see how the incident would unfold...

"Big brother, big brother, are you someone that the brown-haired big brother inside the shop knows?"

--Only to find that the mobile little reaper who had earlier dealt a tremendous blow to his understanding of this world was standing at the mouth of the alley behind him, looking at him with a face full of "innocent and cute" smiles. And by the looks of it, he seemed to have been standing there for quite some time.

The fox demon nearly cried out in surprise.

This was no longer a matter of calm or composure. Anyone seeing this little creature appear right before their eyes, if they knew even a little about his identity, would not be able to remain completely unmoved.

Even Kurama was no exception.

That did not mean the cannon-fodder law of Conan's world would necessarily apply to Kurama as well. It only meant that the "whoever meets him dies" debuff carried by this fellow might, under the distortion of the nonsensical rules of the Natsume world, be twisted into some kind of powerful curse. Kurama did not want to carelessly get tainted by such a thing.

So he took two unobtrusive steps back.

"Although I am indeed an acquaintance of the big brother you mentioned, little one, how did you know that?"

In truth, the fox demon was not at all broad-minded, and he ground his teeth secretly while refusing to lose the initiative. Though he did not want to get close to the false detective, and though he had no idea why the child had come to him or what his purpose was, now that he had been startled, the other party... would not have it easy either.

Before that deliberately innocent little brat could answer, a warmer, more genial smile had already spread across Kurama's face.

"Could it be that you were secretly eavesdropping on the big brother's phone call just now? A polite child wouldn't do that. And where are your adults? How can such a small child be allowed to run around alone near the scene of an incident that has just happened?"

As he spoke, Kurama did not give Conan any chance to reply. Raising his voice, he called loudly to a police officer standing not far away.

"Officer, I think this child must have gotten away from whatever adult was supposed to be watching him and wandered into such a dangerous place."

Seeing the little boy's face shift into a look of "oh no" after Kurama briefly explained the situation to the detective, the officer took him by the hand while lecturing him: "How could you run around like that? Where are your adults? Do you remember their contact information?" Without any further discussion, he was swiftly pulled away from Kurama. When the boy turned back with a furious expression, Kurama smiled and waved at him with feigned gentleness.

Seeing that the boy's face instantly produced an extremely wonderful expression, as though something had gotten stuck in his throat and could neither be coughed up nor swallowed, Kurama felt a surge of pure satisfaction.

Heh.

If you dare to use the appearance of a child to act cute and try to probe him for no reason, then you had better be prepared for the limitations that come with being a child.

Detective boy.

For an instant, it seemed as if the fox demon had blackened entirely. Only after Conan the little boy was dragged into the yellow line marking the forbidden area by the detective and disappeared from sight did Kurama finally let the smile fade from his face and lower his arm. He then held tight the little white puffball that had burrowed into his arms, his expression deep in thought.

"The dandelions sent word back that Natsume seems to have found something, but what is that child planning in a situation like this? Even if a yokai who happened to be in the shop witnessed the murderer at work, ordinary people cannot see them. How is Natsume supposed to prove everything he heard from the yokai?"

Especially since he didn't have enough evidence to support those "facts" either?

Knowing that Natsume had earned the label of hopelessly kind from Master Cat, Kurama still could not, no matter how many times he witnessed it, imagine that the boy could continue to be that thoroughly generous again and again. He sighed, rubbing his fingers together helplessly, and shook loose a scattering of tiny seeds invisible to the naked eye.

Demon World Plant: the little cleaning expert.

Don't laugh.

This plant might not sound especially reliable by name, but in fact it was a very practical improved species.

Before he obtained a maid card in the game, whenever Kurama had something to clean or a room to tidy, he would entrust these little fellows with the task.

They were hardly larger than the dandelions, but because of their structure and properties, they could clean a room extremely thoroughly and neatly, and they could even, according to their master's wishes, find among the clutter they cleaned away certain things that had fallen into corners and been forgotten by their owner, though in truth they were very important.

And this trait...

How could it not be perfect for finding the evidence that could support Natsume's "reasoning"?

Smiling, Kurama watched as the plants, after the initial surprise had passed, were greeted by Natsume's astonished and delighted gaze. They quickly found the murder weapon, so well hidden by the killer, and delivered it into his hands as evidence. With these, the police soon arrested the true culprit. Meanwhile, he listened to the murmurs of the surrounding onlookers.

"What a boring ending! I thought we might get to see the reasoning of 'The Sleeping Kogoro,' but he isn't even as good as some ordinary high school student from our side?"

Kurama curled one corner of his lips. As he turned to leave, he glanced toward the glasses-wearing young boy inside the teahouse, who was being properly "loved and cared for" by the famous Sleeping Kogoro's iron fist. His sense of satisfaction nearly overflowed.

Heh.

Not only was he disciplined, he also failed to solve the case in time...

Young man, how do you feel right now?

The gloom left behind by being blocked in the alley and having his phone conversation eavesdropped upon while being probed under a cute pretense was completely swept away at this moment. The fox demon, carrying his little white puffball, whose own face was also lit with a mischievous, delighted smile, walked briskly toward Natsume, who was waving to him from not far away.

The glow of the evening sunset spilled across him in a soft warm orange, as if the sky itself knew what Kurama had been worrying about and was silently soothing him in such a tender, comforting way.

Seeing this, Kurama could not help but smile with narrowed eyes.

He thought that this truly was a wonderful world.

Perhaps... a world made by the same hand as well.

Author's note: To use the methods one would use to test and deal with ordinary people to test and deal with a fox demon... Conan boy, that is the road to self-destruction! Facepalm.

And so the poor faux elementary school student was utterly overpowered by the fox demon, who used the "rules of society" against him? Hahaha. Next time, remember that acting cute to probe others can backfire, young man. There are always advantages and disadvantages in this world, after all. Shrug.

As for whether the fox demon will end up being remembered by Conan boy because of this, that's a question that remains unanswered for now. After all, what he did was actually something any ordinary person might do, only ordinary people would have given Conan-kun time to respond, whereas he did not... stares at the sky.

The illustration for this chapter features the main character, Fox Demon Kurama, whom we haven't seen in a while.

Aww, that slightly grave expression... are you preparing to cause trouble? Of course not!

And finally, the usual preview for the next chapter: two people meeting again. The chance encounter with the perpetually faux elementary school student has come to an end. Will the fox demon's life return once more to peace and serenity? Research into this world seems to have yielded a few clues, but research into the Creator God still shows no progress. Just when even Kurama's patience is beginning to fray a little, it seems that a turning point is about to appear? Please look forward to the next chapter of Fox Demon Kurama: Two People Meeting Again!

P.S. Thanks to Smile and Helat for the thunderbolt gifts! Kisses one by one~ And as always, I continue to roll around begging for favorites and follows. I'm very well-behaved and easy to keep!