Just as Natsume Natsuyu finished preparing herself and was about to begin her very first ten-pull, the three children she had just met happened to be talking about her as well.
"Mitsuhiko, Genta—I bumped into a really pretty big sister in the restroom just now!"
Ayumi couldn't wait to share her special encounter.
Genta blinked.
"Was it that gentle-looking big sister with golden hair?"
Ayumi's eyes widened.
"Yes! Genta, Mitsuhiko—you saw her too?"
"Mm-hmm."
Genta and Mitsuhiko nodded in unison.
"Her hair was so beautiful—like sunlight," Ayumi said dreamily. "And her eyes were golden too."
Thinking back to how the beautiful big sister had looked at her so gently, Ayumi felt her cheeks warm again.
Genta couldn't help chiming in,
"Yeah~ it kinda felt like curry."
Mitsuhiko frowned.
"Genta, all you ever think about is food. How can you describe someone like that?"
Scratching his head in embarrassment, Genta muttered,
"I just meant that looking at her made me feel happy. And food makes me feel happy too…"
"I wonder if we'll run into that big sister again later," Mitsuhiko said thoughtfully.
Ayumi sighed a little regretfully.
"Yeah… I didn't even get a chance to ask her name."
Genta, however, didn't dwell on it.
"Ah, whatever. Ayumi's done using the restroom now—where should we go play next?"
"Let's go to the roller coaster," Mitsuhiko suggested.
"There are lots of people over there. It looks really fun."
Hearing that, Genta and Ayumi's eyes lit up as well, and the three of them headed off toward the roller coaster together.
At this moment, Natsuyu had already placed her consciousness on the Wish button, beginning her very first ten-pull in this world.
As she pressed it, she couldn't help praying fervently in her heart:
Please be the Geo Archon… Zhongli… Morax…
She repeated those words over and over, hoping sheer persistence would will Zhongli into existence. After all, the Geo Archon's shield was simply too reassuring. With him around, Natsuyu felt her life would be secured—she could even afford to be reckless.
Suddenly, the gacha screen erupted in a burst of golden light.
A gold!
She'd hit gold in her very first ten-pull!
Natsuyu's heart raced.
Ten cards appeared on the screen. Aside from one gold card and one purple card, the rest were blue. They could be flipped one by one—or all at once.
Naturally, Natsuyu chose to flip them individually.
The first eight blue cards were no surprise at all: mostly three-star weapons like Messenger, Harbinger of Dawn, and Magic Guide. There were also two healing foods—Pile 'Em Up and Sweet Madame.
So food can be obtained through gacha too…
That was an unexpected discovery.
Now, only two cards remained.
She flipped the purple card first.
It turned out to be a character card—Lisa, one of Mondstadt's original trio. Natsuyu felt her luck had been pretty good so far, which only made her anticipation for the gold card even stronger.
Holding her breath, she carefully flipped the gold card.
Golden light flashed—
It was Alhaitham.
Although she felt a twinge of disappointment that it wasn't Zhongli, Alhaitham was still a solid pull.
In Teyvat, Alhaitham was the Scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, a man of extraordinary intellect and talent. In a world governed by "Conan logic," someone like him would undoubtedly be of great help.
Natsuyu decided to test consciousness control with Alhaitham first.
She found a discreet, out-of-the-way corner and asked Paimon to release the character.
Standing before her was Alhaitham. Since he wasn't yet being controlled, his eyes were closed. He wore a black T-shirt and a dark green jacket, with headphones hanging around his neck. He didn't look as exaggerated as in the game—clearly adjusted to suit this world's aesthetics. At a glance, he looked just like a university student.
Following Paimon's instructions, Natsuyu split off part of her consciousness and projected it into Alhaitham.
The moment she did, the person before her opened his eyes.
It was a strange sensation.
Her awareness felt as though it had divided into two. She could sense a connection between herself and the person in front of her—faint, indistinct emotional ripples—but at the same time, he felt separate, not quite her.
"Hello, Traveler."
Alhaitham quickly grasped the situation and spoke first.
"No need to stare. It's obvious—we're the same person. You are me, and I am you."
"The way you talk really makes it feel like the real Alhaitham is standing in front of me," Natsuyu said, still a little uncomfortable.
"And don't call me 'Traveler.' Just use my name."
"That's normal," Alhaitham replied calmly.
"When your consciousness takes on a role, it's influenced by that character. In a sense, I am Alhaitham."
Seeing that the "other self" in front of him seemed fine, Alhaitham glanced up at the sun.
"Nothing else, right? If there's nothing urgent, I'll put on my noise-canceling headphones and take a nap."
With that, he moved as if to walk past her.
"Wait!"
Natsuyu hurriedly stopped him.
What kind of joke was this? She had summoned Alhaitham for help—not so he could come out and sleep.
Just then, Paimon suddenly alerted her that a quest had appeared.
Natsuyu opened the quest panel with her consciousness. It displayed:
[World Quest: Roller Coaster Murder Case
An amusement park meant to bring joy becomes the stage for a tragic incident.
As the roller coaster passes through a pitch-black tunnel, bitter tears of love and sacrificial blood are left behind.
Please prevent the case in advance, or expose the murderer in public.**]
The moment Natsuyu read the description, she realized what it was.
This was the very first case in the Detective Conan series.
Which meant that the amusement park she was currently in was Tropical Land—the place where Kudo Shinichi was turned into Edogawa Conan.
Seeing that Alhaitham showed no reaction to the suddenly appearing quest, Natsuyu realized he probably couldn't see the system interface. She quickly explained the situation to him, expecting that he would give up on sleeping.
Instead, she heard him say calmly:
"Natsuyu, you're someone with strong self-sufficiency. And more importantly, you already know the answer to the puzzle. Completing this task should be effortless. I don't have any advice to offer you, and you likely don't need my help either. I'll be going now."
For a moment, Natsuyu didn't know how to respond.
She could only watch as Alhaitham walked away from the corner.
Left with no choice, she decided to rely on herself for now.
After all, he wasn't wrong. She already knew the solution—she simply needed to reveal the truth before Kudo Shinichi did to complete the quest. The most urgent task right now was to locate where the incident would occur. If she moved quickly enough, she might even be able to prevent it altogether.
Stepping out of the corner, Natsuyu scanned her surroundings, quickly spotted the roller coaster, and headed straight in that direction.