Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha were stunned. Neither of them expected something like this to happen so suddenly.
They both watched as Jiangxia instinctively reached out to grab Naoko.
Their hands brushed for a split second, but the woman was running too fast. Their grips missed each other, and Naoko let out a despairing scream as she scraped past a dead tree and plummeted.
Hattori's hands were full and couldn't react in time. Kazuha was half a beat too late. By the time she reached out, Naoko was already gone.
She instinctively continued reaching toward Naoko, her pupils shrinking as she imagined the next gruesome scene.
Then, Hattori shouted from above, panic in his voice:
"Watch out!"
Kazuha looked up just in time to see Jiangxia lose his balance—probably from trying to save Naoko—and step on a loose rock. He slipped and rolled off the edge of the cliff…
Right before their eyes, Jiangxia slammed into a tree mid-fall, in a nerve-wracking crash, narrowly missing Naoko's fate.
Jiangxia groaned theatrically, then slowly sat up like he was in pain.
Beneath him, the innocent tree trunk creaked under the weight. Earlier, Jiangxia had quietly added some puppet clay to them for reinforcement. Not just him—even five or six big guys could've landed in this spot and the tree would've held. Solid stuff.
That's right. Jiangxia had thrown himself down on purpose.
If he'd stayed up top, he would've been stuck in a "too involved" position. Who was chasing Naoko? Why'd they stop? Why didn't they silence the witnesses? Should he chase after them? Way too many questions.
And later, when Heiji got back on his feet and his detective switch flipped back on, Jiangxia would have to decide how much "information" to provide. Too much detail and it would seem suspicious. Too little and it'd be even weirder.
Sure, Heiji looked like one of those senior-citizen detectives who solved cases at a leisurely pace with the help of spoilers. But his deduction skills and intuition were razor sharp. Jiangxia had a feeling that if he stayed up there unharmed and mysterious, Heiji might just connect him to the murder. Too many coincidences.
And if things got awkward between him and the detectives, future corpse-picking operations would become a lot harder. No thanks.
So: down he went.
Now he could reasonably claim he wasn't trying to avoid the murderer—he'd just had a tragic, clumsy slip and fall. Got stuck in a tree. Couldn't move. Classic cliffside misfortune.
Of course, the rescue work still needed doing. But that could be left to his vest.
Jiangxia first checked on the two people hanging in the tree with him, then reached out to haul them closer to the trunk.
As he helped them settle, he mumbled, "…Sorry."
Neither Hattori nor Kazuha blamed him at all—he'd almost turned into a pancake himself, and…
They looked down at Naoko, who lay dead on the rocks by the riverbank, body twisted in a horrible pose. The sight made them feel heavy. And if they were this upset, Jiangxia, who nearly grabbed her hand, must feel even worse…
On the tree trunk, the puppet clay was faintly tinted, blending in with the bark like some exposed fibers. You'd never notice unless you were really looking.
Hattori glanced at Jiangxia, who'd gone unusually silent after pulling them up. He tapped the wood beneath him, trying to change the mood:
"This tree's… pretty sturdy."
Jiangxia didn't respond. Didn't even look up. He sat there like a soul who'd floated out of his own body, expression blank. Naoko's death seemed to have hit him hard.
Hattori looked at him sympathetically and adjusted his baseball cap. He wanted to say something comforting but didn't know where to start.
(TL Note: Apparently Heiji had a third hand available to adjust his cap.)
Eventually, he turned his eyes to the stone wall two or three meters above. They couldn't stay dangling on this tree forever—even if it did look suspiciously solid, like it could last until the apocalypse.
Kazuha fished out her phone with one hand and started dialing. Her other hand gently patted Jiangxia's back, like comforting a stressed-out cat. Completely unconscious gesture.
(TL Note: Apparently everyone has grown extra limbs now.)
Unfortunately, storms had swept through recently. Signal on the island was terrible. Her distress call wouldn't go through.
Hattori studied the cliff for a while. He was about to suggest teaming up with Jiangxia to build a human ladder or something when suddenly—
Rustling.
The sound of cloth brushing against grass came from above.
Then, someone peeked over the cliff's edge.
Heiji and Kazuha tensed immediately. They hadn't forgotten how Naoko had shouted "Help!" before bolting—something dangerous was chasing her.
Heiji's first thought was: the killer's back.
But then, after Jiangxia fell, Heiji had checked the cliff carefully. No one had been there. Maybe it was just a wild animal?
But now…
The person peeking down was no beast. Definitely not a wild animal.
It was a woman—gorgeous, dressed in black, with a wide-brimmed hat and flowing hair. Under her right eye was a striking tattoo. From this angle, she looked… like a ghost come to claim souls.
Kazuha shivered and nearly slipped off the branch.
Even Heiji was caught off guard—but then he recognized her:
"Anonymous?!"
What the hell was she doing here? This person who made regular appearances in the tabloids—was she the one chasing Naoko just now? What was her connection to the creepy legends of this island?
Heiji had a thousand questions.
But, given their current precarious position—and the pile of loose rocks at the cliff's edge—he decided to keep his mouth shut. Wouldn't do to get stoned to death by a mysterious woman.
Under their nervous gazes, Anonymous leaned in and peered down at them.
Then she stood upright again and vanished from view.
Moments later, a rough hemp rope was tossed down.
Heiji tugged it cautiously. Solid.
He stared at it, stunned.
Anonymous… was here to rescue them?
Wait—was that a thing now?
Jiangxia, controlling the Anonymous puppet from afar, watched the rope drop and then casually stepped into the woods.
Anonymous vanished without a sound.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 28/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*