"Alright, try cutting it yourself now."
Hayashi Shuichi released his grip on Midori Orikasa's hand and stepped to the side.
"Huh? Oh." Midori seemed to startle awake from a beautiful dream, a faint blush still lingering on her cheeks.
Although she tried her best to focus, her mind couldn't help but drift back to the scene from moments ago—the sensation of being so close to Hayashi Shuichi.
Under normal circumstances, such a lapse in concentration might not have mattered. But right now, she was holding a kitchen knife. The consequences of her distraction manifested almost immediately.
"Ah!"
With a soft cry, Midori's finger was nicked by the blade. Fresh blood instantly welled up from the small cut.
Shuichi rushed forward to check. Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep; it wasn't anything serious.
He grabbed Midori's hand, placing it under the faucet to rinse the cut, while instructing Kogoro Mouri to fetch a bandage.
"Senior, I can do it myself..." Midori whispered, her voice thick with embarrassment.
Shuichi nodded and turned back to clean the ingredients the girl hadn't finished prepping.
"I'm sorry, Senior," Midori asked dejectedly. "Am I being too clumsy?"
"Cutting vegetables just requires focus," Shuichi comforted her. "You only cut yourself because your mind wandered. Just be careful next time."
The reason my mind wandered is entirely because of you...
Midori couldn't help but complain silently in her heart.
At that moment, Kogoro Mouri returned with the bandage. "It's not bad, is it?"
"Just a scratch, I'm fine." Midori shook her head gently, putting on a brave smile. "When practicing Kendo, injuries like this happen all the time."
She took the bandage and expertly wrapped her finger. Although the wound was small, she wouldn't be able to touch water for a little while.
Shuichi had her stand aside and watch him process the ingredients. Midori studied him intently, occasionally asking a question or two.
Once the Izakaya opened for business, the place quickly became lively.
Although her hand was injured, Midori still actively helped out wherever she could. One moment she was helping Kogoro clear tables, the next she was assisting Reiko in serving dishes to customers.
With her assistance, Kogoro and Reiko—acting as the waitstaff—found their workload significantly lighter.
"Orikasa really is diligent, isn't she?" Kogoro took advantage of a brief lull in the shop to lean against the cooking counter, chatting with Shuichi while sipping water.
"You think everyone is as lazy as you?" Shuichi retorted without sympathy. "Midori helps out at her family's flower shop all the time."
"Hey," Kogoro suddenly winked, leaning in close to his friend to whisper, "If Orikasa masters the culinary arts, do you still plan on letting Yukiko come back?"
"Midori is just learning cooking from me," Shuichi frowned. "She isn't working part-time at the shop. What does that have to do with Yukiko?"
Just as they were speaking, the noren curtain at the entrance was lifted, and four or five young people wearing Kendo uniforms walked in.
"Whoa, Shuichi, look! A real beauty just walked in!" Kogoro's eyes instantly lit up. His gaze locked tightly onto the girl who entered last, his expression full of awe.
The girl appeared to be a bit older than Shuichi and the others. She had long, lustrous black hair tied in a high ponytail that swayed gently with her steps.
Like her companions, she wore a dark blue Kendo gi. She carried herself with a dashing, heroic air—a unique kind of gallantry specific to female swordsmen.
"I'll handle this table!" Kogoro grinned broadly, preparing to rush forward.
However, Midori beat him to it. She stepped in front of the group of young people, but instead of greeting them with the usual customer service, she looked at the female swordsman with palpable excitement.
"Excuse me, are you Miss Shizuka Ikenami from Osaka University?"
"Oho? Shizuka, looks like you have fans here too," the girl's companions started teasing, grinning and poking fun at her one after another.
The swordswoman ignored them and nodded gently. "Yes, I am Shizuka Ikenami."
"Miss Ikenami, you've always been my idol!" Midori's eyes sparkled with adoration as she spoke excitedly. "I've watched every single Kendo match you've participated in since junior high!"
"...Thank you." The swordswoman seemed slightly surprised. Her gaze swept over Midori's bandaged hand, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a gentle smile. "Do you practice Kendo as well?"
"Yes!" Midori nodded vigorously, the ponytail on her head bobbing up and down. "I've been learning Kendo from my mother since I was little, I..."
"Alright, Orikasa." Seeing the girl holding up the customers and blocking the Izakaya's aisle, Kogoro hurriedly interjected. "Seat the guests first. You can talk later."
"My apologies!" Midori snapped out of her daze like she was waking from a dream. Wearing an apologetic expression, she quickly guided the group to their seats.
"Just some college students, right? Are they that famous? Why is Orikasa so excited?" Kogoro looked bewildered.
"Midori has always practiced Kendo," Shuichi said casually while methodically slicing vegetables. "Judging by their accents and clothing, they're likely from the Osaka area. They probably came to Tokyo for a competition."
"Senior is exactly right!"
Midori walked back over, her face beaming and her eyes shining with excitement.
"They are from the Osaka University Kendo Club. They came to Tokyo this time to participate in the All-Japan Student Kendo Championship being held here in Beika."
"The opening ceremony is tonight. They just came from there. That Miss Shizuka Ikenami is a very famous swordswoman in the Kendo circuit..."
Seeing Midori rambling on excitedly, Shuichi could only clear his throat helplessly. "And their order slip?"
"Right here!" Midori hurriedly handed over the slip in her hand. "By the way, Senior, Miss Ikenami wants to eat Okonomiyaki. I don't know if you..."
"I should be able to make it," Shuichi hesitated for a moment. "I learned a bit from watching a cooking show on TV."
Meanwhile, at the construction site next to Sakuragaoka Junior High.
Because a body had been discovered there, the entire construction site was strictly cordoned off with black and yellow police tape. Under the dim streetlights, the tape stood out starkly.
Additionally, a security guard had been assigned to watch over the site.
"Damn it. Good things never come my way, but I always get stuck with jobs like this," a security guard in his forties grumbled. Flashlight in hand, he patrolled the site in sheer boredom.
The massive construction site was dead silent, save for the lonely figure of the guard.
A cold night wind howled past, making the guard shiver and wrap his arms around himself.
"This wind feels strange..."
The guard's mind involuntarily drifted back to the information he had overheard from the police. The deceased was a girl, sealed inside a concrete pillar.
This reminded him of rumors he had heard in the past. In ancient Japan, during the construction of massive structures, living humans were sometimes sacrificed and buried to appease the gods and ensure the building's stability.
These sacrificed people would become Hitobashira—human pillars—trapped forever within the structure to protect it from destruction.
That girl... she wouldn't have turned into a ghost, right?
Just as this thought crossed the guard's mind, a sharp crack echoed nearby, sounding exceptionally abrupt in the silent night.
The guard's heart gave a violent jolt. He spun around, shining his flashlight in the direction of the sound.
There, he saw a headless figure wearing a Kendo uniform, standing quietly in front of the broken pillar destroyed by the police.
In that instant, the guard's heart hammered so hard it felt like it would burst out of his throat.
"G-G-Ghost!"
The guard panicked. He turned to flee, but tripped over some debris on the ground, sending his flashlight rolling away.
Scrambling frantically to get up, he suddenly noticed that the headless ghost had, at some point, silently walked right up to him.
The guard collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with fear. His face pale, he cried out in a trembling voice, "D-Don't kill me! Help..."
"Old man?"
The 'headless corpse' bent down and picked up the flashlight from the ground.
"I'm perfectly fine, why would I kill you?"
Are modern ghosts this polite?
The guard froze, then looked up tremblingly. Only then did he realize that the figure in front of him wasn't a ghost at all, but a young man in a Kendo uniform.
It was just that his skin was so dark, and he had been standing in the building's shadow, that the guard had mistaken him for being headless.
"Phew, you scared me to death," the guard let out a long sigh of relief, patting his chest. His fear quickly turned into anger. "This area has been sealed off by the police! Who let you in?"
"Sorry. I'm a student from Kyoto University, here in Tokyo for a Kendo competition. I heard the police found a female corpse in a cement pillar at this site, so I dropped by to take a look."
The young man narrowed his fox-like eyes and scratched his head, an embarrassed smile on his face.
"Since you're the security guard here, you must know something about it, right? Can you tell me?"
"What's there to ask about this kind of thing?" The guard climbed up from the ground and dusted himself off. "I don't know the specifics either. I just know the victim might be a student from the nearby Sakuragaoka Junior High."
"By the way, the one who found the body is a high school detective who's become quite famous in Beika recently. He opened an Izakaya nearby. If you're really interested, go ask him."
"High school detective?" The dark-skinned youth rubbed his chin. "I think I saw a report introducing him a couple of days ago. His name is Hayashi Shuichi, right?"
Back at the Mouri Izakaya.
Perhaps because they had a match the next day, the students from Osaka University didn't stay long.
After finishing their meal quickly, they got up to leave.
While the others walked out first, the gallant Miss Swordswoman approached the cooking counter.
"Is something the matter?" Hayashi Shuichi stopped his work and looked up, a trace of surprise on his face.
"The food was delicious," the swordswoman said, looking at Shuichi's young face with obvious surprise. "Is this shop run by you alone? Did you make that Okonomiyaki as well?"
"Yes," Shuichi nodded. "Did my Okonomiyaki not suit your taste?"
"No, you misunderstand," the swordswoman quickly shook her head. "I was just a bit strange to find such an authentic Osaka taste in Tokyo. I thought the chef here might be from Osaka, so I came over to ask out of curiosity."
"I ordered Okonomiyaki at another shop this afternoon, and the taste was completely different from what we have in Osaka."
"People's tastes vary from place to place. When food from outside is introduced, the flavor is often localized to suit the locals," Shuichi smiled. "Actually, I just learned it by following a program on TV. I wasn't sure if it was truly authentic Osaka style."
After chatting for a few sentences, the swordswoman bid farewell and left.
Shuichi watched her retreating figure, recalling the name Midori had introduced earlier.
Shizuka Ikenami... Shizuka? Could she be Hattori Heiji's mom?
"Senior?"
Midori waved her hand doubtfully in front of Shuichi's eyes.
"What is it?" Shuichi snapped back to reality.
"Miss Ikenami has been gone for a while now!" the girl said with a hint of disdain. "I didn't expect you to be just like ordinary men when you see a beautiful woman, Senior."
"You are a beautiful woman too. Do you see me gawking at you like a fool?" Shuichi shook his head. "I was just reminded of someone I used to know."
"Who? Tell me about them." Eri Kisaki, who had walked over at some point, crossed her arms and let out a cold harrumph. "When you first met Yukiko in the classroom, you also said she reminded you of an old acquaintance. What? Do you know this swordswoman from the past too?"
"Shuichi, if you want to look at beautiful women, just look," Kogoro Mouri wandered over as well. "Why make so many excuses? Look at me; I always appreciate beauties openly and honestly."
"Shuichi was led astray by you!" Eri glared at him angrily.
"Men don't need anyone to lead them to look at beauties..." Kogoro muttered unconvinced.
"But that big sister just now was really cool," Reiko sighed with admiration. "Looking at her makes me want to learn Kendo."
10:00 PM. The Izakaya closed on time.
"So tired..." Kogoro stretched lazily. "I'm going upstairs to shower."
Reiko, being young, had already gone back earlier.
"Senior, I'll be taking my leave as well," Midori bowed slightly, then called for Pudding to leave with her.
Suddenly, only two humans and a dog remained at the shop entrance: Hayashi Shuichi, Eri Kisaki, and Wangcai.
Wangcai was staring reluctantly at Pudding's retreating back, refusing to budge from the doorway.
"Stop staring," Shuichi kicked him lightly, annoyed. "There's no future in being a lovesick simp."
"Woo..."
Wangcai let out a grieving whimper. Seeing that Pudding was completely out of sight, he finally drooped his head. Taking three steps forward and looking back once, he slowly trudged his way upstairs...
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