A desire to lie back down on the bed caused Kisaragi Chiyo to undergo a brief moment of internal struggle.
He rubbed his face with both hands, applying a bit of force, before finally resigning himself to his fate and heading off to wash up.
Today was not a day for sleeping in.
Because according to yesterday's plan, he had promised Hara Kenji that they would make gingerbread men together today.
Of course, he was only responsible for the step of pressing the dough with the molds. As for everything else, he left it to Matsuda Jinpei and Hara Kenji to complete.
This distribution was also intended to better ensure that their gingerbread men could be successfully made.
It is not difficult to understand that Kisaragi Chiyo is not good at cooking.
Her lack of skill here didn't just refer to cooking, but included every activity that required the use of kitchen utensils.
Except for the microwave.
This is probably the only appliance that doesn't clash with Kisaragi Chiyo.
"This is even more unbelievable than seeing a ghost." Matsuda Jinpei joked, calling Kisaragi Chiyo the Kitchen Hell's Cold-faced Killer.
"How can someone turn cooking into a demolition site?" Matsuda Jinpei dumped the charred potatoes, wreathed in flames and black smoke, into the sink.
Those bomber criminals really ought to come and see who the true master and genius is.
"A guy who turns noodles into pizza has no right to talk about me," Kisaragi Chiyo sneered, mocking Matsuda Jinpei.
"At least my finished product is still within the realm of food." Matsuda Jinpei remained unmoved by Kisaragi Chiyo's mockery, firmly believing that his cooking skills had already reached a passing grade for a human.
If one were to specifically describe Kisaragi Chiyo's cooking level, it would probably be at the level of the eighteenth floor of Hell.
"Alright, everyone, don't fight." Hara Kenji's fuzzy head poked out from the middle, taking the opportunity of the crowd pressing in, he used a flour-covered hand to playfully smear a streak across Matsuda Jinpei's face with a smile.
“Now”
Hara Kenji winked at Kisaragi Chiyo, making a shushing gesture toward her from an angle where Matsuda Jinpei couldn't see.
"Which little kid wants some candy?" Hara Kenji asked with a smile, holding a box of exquisite and beautiful candy canes as he looked toward the two of them.
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
Matsuda Jinpei: ".."
Is the dough kneaded?" Kisaragi Chiyo picked up a mold and looked at Matsuda Jinpei. "Besides the gingerbread man shapes, do you want to make something else?
Christmas trees and stars, I guess," Matsuda Jinpei said, glancing at the molds on the cutting board. "Aren't there snowman-shaped ones in the gift set too?
I think there is.
Then let's add that one too. Once it's grilled, I'll prepare the frosting.
Hara Kenji: ".."
Hey," Hara Kenji said, puffing out his cheeks in dissatisfaction, "don't ignore me.
Little Jinpei
Chiyo-chan
"Kisaragi, did you hear something?" Matsuda Jinpei put down the ball of dough in his hands and tilted his head, looking at Kisaragi Chiyo with a look of confusion.
"Really?" Kisaragi Chiyo blinked slowly, a faint curve rising at the corners of her lips.
Yes, there is." Matsuda Jinpei nodded with a serious expression, "It sounded like a puppy's whimper, like 'werwerwer'.
"That's just your imagination," Kisaragi Chiyo said with absolute certainty, completely ignoring Hara Kenji, who was behind her, repeatedly and gently thumping his head against her back.
"Is that so?" Matsuda Jinpei's voice was laced with obvious amusement, though he tried his best to keep his lips pressed flat.
I don't think it's the heavy love of a Ghost Vigilante.
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".. Do you want this love or not?"
After speaking, Kisaragi Chiyo turned and left to get the snowman cookie model that Matsuda Jinpei had requested to be added.
The moment Kisaragi Chiyo turned around, Hara Kenji's pitiful expression vanished instantly. He flashed a triumphant, mischievous smile, raised his hand, gave Matsuda Jinpei a silent high-five.
Behind Kisaragi Chiyo's back, while she wasn't paying attention, Hara Kenji was using his tentacles to carefully clip a pair of small deer antler hairpins onto the top of Kisaragi Chiyo's head.
Looking at the cute sight of the brown antlers on her black hair, Hara Kenji felt that even if Kisaragi Chiyo banned him from sweets for a week after discovering this, it would be worth it.
But at this moment, Kisaragi Chiyo did not go to take the icing cookie model, but instead turned around and walked into the bathroom.
The mirror in the room was as clean as new, clearly reflecting the pair of small antlers atop his head, which, like those of a newborn fawn, possessed a rounded curvature.
And just below the antlers, there was even a fluffy little pom-pom as an embellishment.
"Two idiots, how childish." Kisaragi Chiyo stared expressionlessly at her horned self in the mirror, raised her hand, lightly touched the deer antler hair clip on top of her head.
My vigilance hasn't dropped to the point where I wouldn't notice an inexplicable weight on top of my head.
So-called successful pranks are nothing more than the result of humans turning a blind eye, knowing full well what is happening.
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Author's Note: Hehe, this is an extra chapter from the 2k nutrient solution bonus. Thank you all for your support, Merry Christmas to all the little angels! *
The extra content is unrelated to the main story and belongs to a plotline independent of the current timeline.
Thank you for the support, little angels! Mwah 0330 (v)
Chapter 46
Perhaps he should have taken Hara Kenji's previous advice and find some time to visit a shrine alone to pray.
It only costs a single five-yen coin, so regardless of the outcome, it's a worthwhile deal.
Kisaragi Chiyo expressionlessly licked the ice cream in her hand, watching the Ghost Vigilante, whose face was covered in blood, as he anxiously reported the anomaly he had discovered to Matsuda Jinpei.
Perhaps it was just bad luck; ever since arriving in Tokyo, almost every time he stepped out the door, some unexpected incident would occur before it would finally let him be.
"Calm down first." Kisaragi Chiyo finished her last bite of ice cream cone, looking at the Ghost Vigilante, whose tongue was so tied from anxiety that he couldn't make a coherent sentence, her remaining patience finally reached its limit.
“You.. you can see me!” Startled by Kisaragi Chiyo's sudden speech, the Ghost Vigilante, with blood streaming from his head, widened his eyes, his speech became much more fluent.
.." Kisaragi Chiyo sighed, reaching up to rub his forehead, a look of helplessness crossing his face. "This isn't anything important. What's most urgent right now is, you said you discovered that someone has planted a bomb in the amusement park?
Ye.. Yes!" The Ghost Vigilante was startled by Kisaragi Chiyo's expressionless demeanor; he instinctively straightened his back and answered in a loud, clear voice, "I am absolutely certain!
“Very well..” Kisaragi Chiyo took a step back. “Did you see what he looked like?”
That guy is a gloomy man disguised as a staff member," the Ghost Vigilante said, gesturing with his hands. "He's about my height, with messy hair, a thin build, a habit of walking with a slouch.
Oh, right," the Ghost Vigilante added, "the work uniform he was wearing looked about a size too large for him.
I see." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded, pulling her phone from her pocket. As she sent a message, she continued to press for answers, "So, how did you find him? Did you just happen to catch him while he was planting the bomb?
No.. at first, I was just following him.
The Ghost Vigilante scratched his head somewhat sheepishly; as he grew nervous, the blood from his head began to flow even more profusely.
Dark blood bubbled forth like a stream, covering Ghost Vigilante's young face. With his features mottled and blurred by the blood, Ghost Vigilante looked bloody and terrifying, as if he were a vengeful spirit standing in the shadows, waiting to claim the lives of those destined to die.
Generally speaking, every attraction in the amusement park has fixed staff members responsible for guarding them. Under normal circumstances, staff members are not allowed to leave their assigned areas without authorization.
But that man was acting suspicious. Even though he was on duty, he wasn't staying in his assigned area; instead, he was specifically choosing to walk through crowds and places where the cameras couldn't reach..
"I felt something was wrong, so I followed him." The Ghost Vigilante let out a grin, as blood slid down his cheek, dripping onto his clothes and blooming into a large bloodstain.
And then I discovered that guy sneakily stuffing an envelope into the Director's office.
The Ghost Vigilante reached out and pointed at Matsuda Jinpei, who was holding an envelope, "I thought it was probably a threatening letter or something, so I opened it without permission. I couldn't understand most of the ciphers inside."
"But the last sentence," the Ghost Vigilante revealed a shy expression, one that was completely inconsistent with his terrifying appearance.
I hereby dedicate this grand firework display, filled with screams and terror, to your amusement park and its visitors.
"I suspect that fireworks display is likely a euphemism for something bad, like bombs, isn't it?" the Ghost Vigilante said with certainty.
As someone from Beika, Tokyo, who had seen it all, the moment he saw those specific words, he could immediately associate the two.
The unsophisticated country girl, Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
I can't help but feel that sounds quite heartbreaking.
Is this the composure and ease of a big-city dweller? What an utterly unenviable level of reaction capability.
"Alright." In the brief interval while Kisaragi Chiyo was chatting with the Ghost Vigilante, Matsuda Jinpei took a single glance and had already deciphered the locations indicated by the code on it.
He reached out to Kisaragi Chiyo to ask for the amusement park brochure, his finger tapping on it as he traced over several attractions.
“Here, here, including this entire area, should all be rigged with bombs.” Matsuda Jinpei finally used his finger to draw a large circle, the attractions he pointed out almost perfectly covered the four corners of the southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest.
Kisaragi Chiyo took the letter from Matsuda Jinpei's hand. He shook the paper, his gaze falling upon the printed text, said thoughtfully, "It says here it's a story about Pinocchio and five gold coins?"
Heh.. this question can hardly be called simple.. Is this an intentional attempt to make things difficult for the amusement park director, or is it an allusion to something else?
Kisaragi Chiyo folded the letter neatly and put it back into the envelope, then looked up at Matsuda Jinpei.
One is still missing here.
"I know," Matsuda Jinpei replied, his long eyebrows furrowed as his eyes stared intently at the four locations in the manual.
Four locations correspond to four gold coins. Since it's a story about five gold coins, there should be one more location.
"Then there are two possibilities now." Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes and clicked send on the edited message. At this moment, she couldn't worry about any subsequent questioning by the police; regardless, she would always have a way to gloss over it.
"The first possibility is that the culprit didn't prepare a fifth location at all." If that were the case, then of course it would be the best possible outcome for both Kisaragi Chiyo and Matsuda Jinpei.
The second possibility.
As Kisaragi Chiyo spoke, Hara Kenji, who had been in line to buy the Super-No-Limits Ice Cream, finally returned. He was holding two ice creams and was just about to greet Kisaragi Chiyo, Matsuda Jinpei, the others, but halfway there, he saw Matsuda's tightly furrowed brows, Kisaragi's expressionless face, the blood-stained stranger, the Ghost Vigilante, standing nearby.
A weak, harmless stranger of a Ghost Vigilante.
In an instant, Hara Kenji made the judgment that he must have encountered a difficult problem.
Thinking of this, Hara Kenji could no longer care about the ice cream in his hand; he finished it in just a few quick bites, then strode over to Kisaragi Chiyo's side, putting on a serious, quiet, well-behaved expression as he waited for orders.
Kisaragi Chiyo glanced at Hara Kenji, whose sugar intake was once again excessive today, but she said nothing.
Matsuda Jinpei also glanced at Hara Kenji. He noticed that Hara Kenji had eaten too quickly just now, with a dollop of ice cream still stuck to the corner of his mouth, but he also did not say anything to remind him.
The second possibility you want to mention is that the hidden fifth gold coin is tucked away in one of these four locations, right?