*
The full moon hung high in the sky.
Moonlight poured down from the night sky, shining on the rooftop of the museum.
Snapping out of the illusion, Fujino cast his gaze toward the shadow standing in the stairwell.
At that moment, the illusion shattered.
The figure's appearance became clearly visible.
It was a man dressed in all-black nightwear.
The man wore a black headscarf, with its tail fluttering in the wind. His face was covered by a silver-white mask, with three glowing red eyes.
"When I turned around and saw that red glow, I fell into an illusion. That mask must be the culprit, right?"
Fujino squinted slightly, thinking to himself.
Was it a psychological suggestion?
Hypnosis?
Or magic?
As a materialist, Fujino had no idea what kind of trick it was.
But one thing was certain: the tool that pulled him into the illusion was definitely the mask on the man's face.
Fortunately, the mask couldn't continuously pull people into illusions.
It seemed to have a cooldown time.
**[New Detective Mission Detected. Please Check!]**
A voice suddenly interrupted Fujino's thoughts.
"A system mission?"
Fujino was briefly stunned, then glanced at the system mission interface out of the corner of his eye:
**[Detective Mission: SPIDE]
Mission Objective: Repel 'SPIDE' (Spider)
Mission Reward: 1 million yen, 100 detective reputation points]**
"My nightmare has been broken?"
The man on top looked at Fujino with interest. "Impressive. Very few can break free from my illusions with sheer willpower. You're one of them…"
"I'm curious, how exactly did you break out of my illusion?"
Fujino accepted the system mission, raised his head, and said in a deep voice, "Human will."
"Human will, huh…"
The man let out a classic villain laugh before continuing, "My target this time is the phantom thief Kaito Kid, so this has nothing to do with you. I advise you not to interfere!"
Fujino glanced at the newly issued system mission and ignored the pretentious villain in front of him, instead turning his attention to Kaito Kuroba.
At that moment, Kaito Kuroba was staring blankly.
Clearly, he was still trapped in the illusion.
Looks like some physical assistance is needed to wake him up.
Fujino knew that if he wanted to deal with this guy named Spider, he couldn't do it alone.
He grabbed a wooden sword and struck Kaito Kuroba hard on the head.
"Wham!"
"Ow!"
Kaito Kuroba snapped out of the illusion.
Feeling the sharp pain on his head, he stared blankly at Fujino.
"Awake?"
"What just happened…"
Kaito Kuroba rubbed his aching head, looking confused.
"You were under that guy's illusion. I knocked you out of it."
Fujino weighed the wooden sword in his hand. "You owe me one."
"…"
Kaito Kuroba glanced at the wooden sword in Fujino's hand with mixed feelings. "No wonder my head feels like it was hit by a brick… it was you…"
Before he could finish, a familiar shout came from nearby: "Spider!"
Fujino turned to see Hakuba Saguru rushing up the stairs, shouting angrily at the man named Spider: "It all ends here!"
"You again… you're persistent!"
Spider waved his hand dismissively at Hakuba, clearly acting like an old acquaintance.
Then, under the watchful eyes of Fujino and Kaito Kuroba, Hakuba began to slowly float two or three meters off the ground.
"Magic?"
Fujino fixed his gaze on Hakuba. "No, it's not magic—it's a trick."
"You figured it out too, huh," Kaito Kuroba said with a smirk. "Good observation, detective."
"Same to you."
Fujino glanced at Kaito Kuroba. "That guy's trick is impressive, but at the end of the day, it's just a magic trick."
With the help of his enhanced vision glasses, Fujino quickly figured out how Hakuba was floating.
Hakuba was being lifted by two transparent golden threads attached to his shoulders. These threads had been specially treated to blend into the night sky, and at the top of the wires was a hot air balloon device.
The bottom of the balloon had been coated with a substance that refracted light, creating the illusion of invisibility.
"I'll deal with Spider. You go get that narcissist down and come help me. Got it?"
Fujino said to Kaito Kuroba. Then, he reached into his pocket, crushed a high-level reaction speed card and a high-level perception card, grabbed the wooden sword, and rushed forward.
The shadow from the illusion was actually a manifestation of the negative memories and unresolved emotions buried in Fujino's subconscious.
Spider's illusion had just triggered that subconscious.
Now that he had severed those ties, Fujino felt lighter, and even his swordsmanship had improved. His mind was clearer.
His resolve had strengthened.
But he wasn't going to let Spider off the hook for pulling him into that illusion.
Spider was about to experience the pain of "six legs going in, two legs coming out."
Let's go! Time to carry that rice up a few floors!
"Hey! Are you really just ordering me around like this…"
Kaito Kuroba watched Fujino charge at Spider and sighed, feeling strangely resentful.
Wasn't this the same guy who, just moments ago, seemed ready for a life-and-death battle?
Now he was just leaving him here?
Why did he suddenly feel like he was being ignored?
Doushi: Look at me! Look at me!
...
Fujino dashed toward Spider.
Spider smirked as he saw Fujino charging at him.
He raised his hand, and a steel needle appeared between his fingers.
With a flick of his wrist, the needle shot toward Fujino.
The needle wasn't particularly fast, and Fujino focused his gaze on it, raising his wooden sword.
"Crack!"
The wooden sword struck the steel needle precisely, sending it clattering to the ground with a crisp sound.
"?"
Spider was visibly taken aback.
Fujino didn't give Spider a chance to react.
He stomped hard on the rooftop.
With a surge of momentum, Fujino leapt into the air.
In midair, he raised the wooden sword and brought it crashing down on Spider atop the stairs.
Spider wasn't too concerned about Fujino's attack.
If it had been a katana, he might've been a bit worried.
But a wooden sword…
It was just a wooden sword, after all.
He didn't think it could do much harm.
As the wooden sword sliced through the air with a loud "whoosh!", Spider raised his arms to block, intending to take the hit head-on.
Then, Spider was sent flying a meter back, crashing into the stairwell wall like a swatted "spider."
(End of Chapter)