When the City Wears the Mask of Frailty

Chapter 14 : Chapter 14

Chapter 14: You Expected Me to Scheme Against You and Then Tell You to Your Face?

“Long time no see.” Christie folded up his umbrella and waited until all three children had run into the house before stepping inside at an unhurried pace.

The instant he saw the dark green-haired young man, the smile at Christie’s lips turned sincere. Even those mist-veiled gray eyes brightened a little. Then he repeated himself.

“...It’s been a long time.”

For the first time, the crow on Christie’s shoulder took flight. It circled Yuki Mu twice with uncanny intelligence, letting out its harsh, grating cry again, yet somehow managing to convey a trace of delight through it.

“Eddie is happy to see you too.” Christie looked at the crow now flying around Yuki Mu, pure happiness filling his pale gray eyes. “...You’re still just as loved by little animals.”

The two of them were not making any effort to lower their voices. After politely greeting the Kudo couple, Suzuki Sonoko wandered back over to them. When Christie looked at her, she asked curiously, “Mr. Christie, did you just say Officer Yuki is really popular with little animals?”

A little earlier, Kudo Shinichi had given both her and Mouri Ran a rough explanation of who Yuki Mu was, along with a general outline of his personality and what he had done.

As a result, the slightly lovestruck admiration Sonoko had felt at first sight when she saw his face had shifted into something different—a child’s admiration and worship for a reliable adult, along with the strange sense of closeness she had felt toward him from the very beginning.

—For a little girl who was naturally drawn to beautiful things, the fact that the first thing she noticed was not his excellent looks, but his... what was the word for it again? Charisma? That was already an incredibly astonishing thing!

(The highest tribute from a lovestruck little girl)

Knowing that Yuki Mu disliked making unnecessary explanations, Christie replied gently, “I mean it quite literally. Yuki has always been very liked by little animals... He probably hasn’t had much time to go out for walks lately, but if he took even a short stroll through a little park, I’m sure he’d have no idea how many stray cats would gather around him.”

Just imagining the scene made Suzuki Sonoko feel amazed. Although she was the daughter of the Suzuki Group, she never carried herself with any kind of young-lady arrogance in daily life. Instead, she pressed on eagerly, “Really? Then could I go for a walk with Officer Yuki someday?”

The moment she said it, the little girl awkwardly tried to patch it up.

“...Of course, I mean, if Officer Yuki has time.”

“Mm.”

To Sonoko’s surprise, the young officer who looked so cold and so cool gave a quiet answer. Though he still wore the same cold expression, there was an inexplicable indulgence in the way he spoke to children.

“If I have time.”

Off to the side, Kudo Yusaku did not interrupt the conversation. Instead, he watched the scene thoughtfully.

He actually knew Kuroda Hyoue, so he had already known that this war comrade’s orphan existed.

Back at the restaurant that day, Kudo Yusaku had recognized him at once—if he remembered correctly, the young man ought to be in Public Security now.

And the actions that followed had unquestionably proven his excellence. It was only that, at the time, Kudo Yusaku had been a little worried...

After all, the young man had truly seemed to regard everything around him from a kind of hidden, superior god’s-eye view, with a detached indifference toward the world, as though none of it felt quite real to him.

Then again, given his abilities, there did not seem to be much difference between the world as it was and a god’s-eye view of it.

Only over the past two days had Kudo Yusaku finally let go of that concern. After all, judging by the way the other man treated Shinichi, there was really no need to dwell on it...

Even if his tongue was a little sharp, it could just serve as a way of training Shinichi’s mental resilience later on :D

As for everything else... a detective did not need to dig into absolutely everything.

If the young man was not doing anything bad, then what did it matter if he had a few mysterious little secrets?

Nearby, even Mouri Ran whispered to her childhood friend, “Shinichi, Officer Yuki is amazing! He protected you... I’m learning karate, so one day I’ll be able to protect you too!”

Kudo Shinichi had absolutely no defense against words like that. In an instant, he turned red from his ears all the way down his neck. “...Ran, what are you saying?!”

Noticing the movement between the little boy and girl over there, Yuki Mu could not help glancing their way. Though he still wore the same expressionless face, his gaze softened in a way that was almost unbelievable.

And Christie, already more sensitive than most to the emotions of others, especially where a friend he cared about was concerned, immediately noticed that Yuki’s attention had wandered ever so slightly even during their reunion. He coughed twice, gently drawing Yuki Mu’s attention back, then smiled with a touch of embarrassment.

“You know how it is. It’s an old problem...”

The young Englishman looked extraordinarily pure when he smiled, a kind of beauty that made hearts skip. “Yuki, you still like these children very much.”

Kudo Shinichi, standing to the side, found that rather strange. His inborn detective instincts and curiosity made him instinctively turn the sentence over in his mind.

“These children” seemed, on the surface, to mean him, Ran, and Sonoko. But if one really counted it out, he and Officer Yuki had known each other for only a very short time.

Not even a week had passed.

So why had this Mr. Christie London, who had come a long way through wind and dust to reunite with an old friend, said, “You still like these children very much”?

Kudo Shinichi looked down at himself and his two little companions. Their clothes were all perfectly dry, untouched by the rain, and he scratched his head.

...Why did all these adults feel like they had so many secrets?

Meanwhile, Yuki Mu: “......”

Yuki Mu: “Sorry.”

He instantly understood the meaning beneath Christie’s words. Afraid that this other self might start quietly feeling wronged again in silence, he made a firm decision on the spot. First, he said goodbye to the Kudo couple—after all, Christie had gone to the trouble of picking up the children and catching a flight today, so being tired and not wanting to work was only natural. There were still three months left to prepare for that summit anyway.

He selectively ignored the fact that he had just been telling Kudo Yusaku they would discuss the details once Christie got back—Kudo Yusaku would understand.

Resisting the urge to pat the children on the head this time, the young Public Security officer swept his empty emerald eyes across the room. At last, after holding Kudo Yusaku’s gaze for two seconds, he politely said a temporary farewell and left the Kudo residence with Christie.

Once outside, Yuki Mu’s voice shifted ever so slightly, and he actually offered an explanation for once.

“...My fault. I should have cleared out time to stay with you today.”

The system could not stop itself from speaking again, trembling faintly as it did so. “...May I ask what sort of routine you are playing at this time?”

“Mm. This is the relationship I designed between them, based on the personalities of the different cities.” Yuki Mu’s control over the [Character Card] was not disrupted in the slightest as he explained in his mind. “Because in the end, the true identities of all the [Character Cards] will be exposed.”

That “exposed” naturally referred to only one thing—

letting people learn that [They] were the incarnations of city consciousnesses walking among humans.

So as the cities themselves, beings who had lived far longer than humans, how could they possibly have had no understanding of one another, no connections between them?

And the groundwork being laid now would, in the end, turn into nothing more than a feeling of, “So that’s how it was.”

Yuki Mu glanced at [London]’s Recognition Level. Though the raw Recognition Value kept rising through interaction, the Recognition Percentage itself remained low.

That was because what people were recognizing was not the true [London].

He explained, “[London] and [Beika], for example, are friends. In a certain sense, Beika is the most special friend in London’s heart.”

For instance, whether it was London by day or London by night, he actually preferred speaking with children, the dead, and his own crow far more than he did with adults.

Because human hearts, after all, were simply too narrow.

And one of the side effects attached to [Beika]’s skill, 【Eye of the City】, after Recognition Percentage rose to a certain point, would even make it possible to converse with every living thing in the city, from flowers and grass to trees.

Having seen through all the warmth and coldness of the world, all the ugliness and malice of the human heart, and yet still possessing a heart that looked cold but remained warm all the same—together with the way their skills and personalities resonated, that was one of the reasons [London] and [Beika] had become friends.

“Of course, there are many other reasons as well—” Yuki Mu continued leisurely. “Once things unfold gradually later, you’ll understand.”

The system said, “...Could there also be a reason like the fact that both [London] and [Beika] happen to have a strong-curiosity protagonist?”

It felt extremely sure of this reasoning. “For example, right now Sherlock has already been packed up by his brother Mycroft and sent over to Beika... Mycroft really is working hard to keep his younger brother from getting bored.”

But Yuki Mu ignored the system’s guesswork. He only gave Christie a faint nod, told him to wait a moment, then took out his phone and tapped rapidly for a few seconds before saying, “All right.”

He had triggered one of the hidden lines he had arranged earlier in advance. The effect was more or less as expected.

Christie nodded. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

“I know,” Yuki Mu answered.

...For one brief moment, he almost wanted to activate 【Eye of the City】 and see whether there was anywhere in the near future where no murder case would occur, then take him there.

But the greatest possible source of interference had already been removed by him just now.

A text message was sent to his phone almost instantly.

Hawaii: So heartless, Beika. If you were going to scheme against me, why didn’t you tell me in advance~?

Expressionless, Yuki Mu replied: I schemed against you because I schemed against you. What, did you expect me to tell you in person too?

Your brain isn’t just decorative.

After sending the message, the dark green-haired young man neatly put away his phone and said to his friend, “Let’s go.”

—If he used 【Eye of the City】, the side effects would definitely make Christie say something... so all he could do now was pray.

The citizens of Beika had better step up.

...Please, for once, do not let him run into a murder case.