Everything around her felt surreal, the line between reality and illusion blurring to the point of being nearly indistinguishable.
Whatever this extra, stretched-out time was, one thing was certain: if she did nothing, this temporal anomaly would likely continue.
After all, everyone, including Conan, had already accepted these shifting days as their new, unremarkable routine.
Her own situation was still manageable, though; she could still perceive the issue with time. She didn't know if it was because she was a newcomer here, or because she was an esper.
After a moment's thought, Natsume Sonoko pulled a small notebook from her suitcase and began recording her current thoughts and observations, a precaution against her own perception succumbing to the chaos.
She spent over ten minutes scribbling in her unique, cobbled-together cipher—a kind of 'Martian script.' It barely managed to convey her intended meaning, just as she'd hoped.
As her personal code, its security was debatable, but it sufficed for ordinary situations—like recording things she felt shouldn't be written down plainly.
Even now, Sonoko still wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten tangled up in such troublesome affairs.
Was it because she'd gotten involved with Conan and his group?
Or was it a consequence of her previous ambush on that Black Organization?
Or perhaps… this was simply the world's true face all along?
This strange new world had its perks—like seemingly endless holidays—but Sonoko much preferred the original, properly functioning world.
The thought that her own perception could one day be altered made her feel deeply unsettled. It was far worse than having her memories tampered with.
Everything around her had suddenly become utterly unscientific. She wondered if returning to Academy City would dispel this effect. According to what Shirai had said, the Academy City on her end didn't seem to be affected by this bizarre time dilation.
Tucking the notebook away and hiding it back in the suitcase, she mused, 'I still don't understand what's happening, but Conan is definitely involved in this somehow.'
That afternoon, 'Uncle' Mori slumped onto the sofa in his detective agency, his face a picture of gloom. He cracked open a freshly chilled beer and downed it in one go.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"Don't ask," he grumbled. "Inspector Megure suspects that cocktail bar is a front for some secret society. He kept pressing me for any information I might have about them."
He trailed off there, falling silent and opting to just continue drowning his sorrows in beer.
Kogoro Mori's solved cases were always bizarre. He'd crack them in his sleep, only to wake up to everyone's awestruck and respectful gazes. It had him half-convinced he had multiple personalities.
In reality, he never remembered any of the process, let alone anything about some secret society behind the scenes.
"Darn it, another dead end," Conan muttered nearby, his expression a mix of deep frustration and resentment. He looked utterly unwilling to let it go.
--+--
She had never felt a holiday pass so slowly, a single day stretching to feel like five or six, with the occasional random festival thrown in for good measure.
By strict count, only seven days had passed since leaving Academy City. But in lived experience, it had been over a month. And an even longer stretch of holiday still lay ahead.
Removing the 'Capacity Down' device from her head, the incessant buzzing in Natsume Sonoko's mind began to fade, her hearing returning to normal.
The growth of her computational power felt the same as in normal time. Meaning, these extra days were just as real for Sonoko.
"Even as an esper, my perception can still be altered."
This thought filled her with a fresh wave of worry. Espers weren't immune; they just had slightly stronger resistance. But over time, even they would be gradually assimilated.
This alteration could be blocked, however. Writing things down or having constant reminders from others could temporarily restore normal cognition.
But Natsume-san seemed to be a special case. Unlike the brain, her soul—which held memories of a past life—could rapidly recover from this assimilation.
So, Natsume Sonoko was temporarily safe from assimilation. But the feeling was profoundly unpleasant, as if her brain was being scribbled over and altered by something every single day.
"Two things are clear now. First, I can maintain normal communication with Academy City. Second, time within Academy City seems to be normal; it's the time here that's abnormal. But what exactly is the deal with these extra days?"
Sonoko felt a headache coming on. To gather more useful information, she'd been calling Academy City almost daily to verify things.
According to Shirai-san, her daily calls were received on Academy City's end as calls coming at different times within a single day.
Take the first problematic day, July 25th. That single day had spawned four extra days. Including July 25th itself, she had made five phone calls over those five days.
But from Shirai's perspective, on July 25th, she received five calls from Sonoko at different times throughout that one day, one even as late as 11 PM. The other, normal days proceeded as usual.
"So, in essence, only the time here is being stretched? That's completely unscientific."
Standing by the window, she stared out blankly. She was alone in the Mori Detective Agency now.
During these stretched-out days, besides busying herself with investigations and training her ability, she'd also been savoring this hard-won leisure time.
In the earlier part of this period, she had accompanied Uncle Mori and the others to various places—the botanical gardens, hot springs, holiday inns, a magic club gathering, and so on.
And every single time, without fail, they'd stumble upon a murder. The methods were novel and bizarre, even including locked-room murders and impossible crimes.
It was enough to make one question reality. Seeing the victims lying in pools of blood, listening to Conan reconstruct all sorts of outlandish crime scenes… it had shaken her to the core. Even now, the fear lingered.
The silver lining was that she was building up a resistance. She now knew that the first thing to do upon discovering a body was to secure the crime scene.
Finally, after numerous such experiences and lessons, Sonoko had chosen to go solo today. She planned to do some investigating on her own.
"Even though this world before my eyes looks real, I mustn't let it lull me into a false sense of security. The world is vast, and I need to go see it for myself."
Today was March 18th—another day that shouldn't exist. The real date should be July 29th.
After careful consideration, even though it wasn't time to return yet, Sonoko decided to focus her investigation on Academy City itself.
Since today was an 'extra' day, she wanted to see if the time distortion on her end caused any corresponding changes within Academy City.
She sprouted her wings, soaring a dozen meters into the air, using natural winds to propel herself forward rapidly.
The streets below were bustling with people, looking no different from any normal day.
Office workers crammed into subways, housewives lined up at supermarket entrances clutching discount flyers… everyone seemed perfectly normal. The traffic flowed, the city hummed with life.
But as she flew further, the number of people didn't change, yet an odd, stiff quality began to permeate the crowds. It was like watching an old machine that had forgotten its lubricant.
Reaching the farther outskirts, she could only see figures standing still like wooden mannequins. It was as if, beyond the boundaries of Beika Ward, the entire world had been replaced with puppets.
Finally, she arrived at the massive outer wall of Academy City. Everything here was the same as outside: motionless mannequins stood everywhere.
During these anomalous stretches of time, was Academy City also populated only by these static puppets? This wasn't the Academy City she knew at all.
A realization dawned on Natsume Sonoko: Shirai-san was seeing Academy City in its normal state, while she was seeing it within this anomalous time. The two seemed to be separated by some kind of barrier.
Just as Sonoko was feeling a sense of helplessness, distinct footsteps suddenly sounded from behind her.
She started, whipping her head around to look.
"Who's there?!"
From an unseen corner emerged a girl with an exceptionally long ponytail that reached her waist. Her skin was pale and seemed to glow, her figure slender and tall.
She wore a white T-shirt, tied up at the waist to expose her navel, and jeans with the entire left leg cut off from the upper thigh.
--+--
On a bench somewhere within Academy City, Natsume Sonoko looked up at the girl beside her. This girl had a sharp air about her, yet she also exuded a classical, Yamato Nadeshiko-like grace. Her manners were impeccable.
"We are not in our original world," the girl explained. "This is an incomplete magical circle—you can think of it as a structure summoned using a form of energy called magic."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.