Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 219 Miracles Sometimes Descend Upon the World

Chapter 220 Miracles Sometimes Descend Upon the World

"Do you think what Detective Azure said at the end was true?"

The wife looked at her husband with a worried expression.

As the sun set, a seemingly harmonious family of three walked under the newly lit streetlights, their three shadows stretched long and thin.

However, the little girl in the middle of the three, whose hands were being held by her parents on both sides, looked confused.

Her right hand, held by her mother, was a little stiff. The girl kept tugging at her right hand in distress, her eyes filled with tears as she looked to her father for help, as if she were being held back by a mischievous ghost Pokémon. "—That's probably just to comfort us."

After hesitating for a long time, Mr. Kuribayashi finally told his wife his thoughts.

He patted Sachiko's head and, speaking as if to himself to the spouse who didn't exist in his daughter's eyes—

"Just like treating an illness, even after ruling out the causes that worsen the body, the patient still needs a long time to recover; if treatment was delayed, or if the illness was particularly severe, there's a possibility of developing a lifelong, incurable condition. If other organs are like this, the brain, with its most intricate structure, is certainly even more fragile. Therefore, even that detective couldn't guarantee that Sachiko's cognitive impairment would be cured, and instead chose to comfort us with an ambiguous blessing. Her final suggestion that we not rush to pay the commission fee was probably because she felt guilty about this—"

Upon hearing her husband's guess, Lady Kuribayashi, still dressed as a psychic, showed obvious sadness and covered her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. Her other hand, however, remained firmly gripping her daughter's small hand, unwilling to let go.

"Of course, that detective has already helped us a lot. No matter what happens to Sachiko in the future, I will go to the agency in the city center tomorrow to express my gratitude to her in person."

He understood his wife's grief. Although Sachiko could still communicate and interact with him normally now, he might be the one ignored by his daughter tomorrow.

"In the end, we can't blame anyone else for this. While the Dream Eater was certainly the culprit that made things worse, the ones who really confused people and made Sachiko unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality were us, the two incompetent parents."

"There's something I want to tell you."

The wife lowered her sleeves, and although her eyes were filled with tears just like her daughter's, she put on a serious face again, as if she had something important to announce.

"Starting tomorrow, I plan to resign from the White Tree Hole Circus and stay home to spend time with Sachiko."

"I see."

Her husband, who also worked in the theater troupe, responded calmly, as if he had long expected this day to come.

"I'm going to ask Sachiko for a semester-long leave of absence. I'll stay home with her full-time until she's fully recovered. I'll make up for any missed lessons or lessons from school at home. Besides that, I'll bring the Night Watchers that were previously with the theater troupe home to take care of them. If Sachiko can gain more experience interacting with Pokémon, we can prevent this from happening again."

It might even help with psychological recovery—”

Even before today, Mrs. Kuribayashi had already conceived this plan in her mind, but she would never have revealed her thoughts to her spouse so directly without the detective's intervention to unravel the mystery.

Before the source of the anomaly is determined, keeping one of the couple at home for an extended period would mean depriving the person "in the other half of the world" of the right to see Sachiko, and could even prevent Sachiko from ever seeing him again. This would naturally be met with opposition from her husband, who, having had a major argument with Mr. Kuribayashi in the past, was unwilling to start such a pointless argument again.

Now, the mystery has been solved, and the dark cloud hanging over the family is no longer a terrifying nightmare that preys on people, but has become a malnourished dream monster.

If the family continues to live a normal life, even if Sachiko's cognitive impairment cannot be cured, at least it will not continue to worsen. Perhaps her mother, who stays at home for a long time, can even accelerate her daughter's recovery process.

However, this meant the entire family's financial burden fell on her husband, and with the circus business currently struggling, her decision seemed rather impulsive.

However, Mr. Kuribayashi nodded without even thinking.

"Alright, I'll explain this to the theater company manager tomorrow."

The wife stared in surprise, her mouth agape.

It didn't surprise her that her husband would eventually agree to the matter. What truly surprised Mrs. Kuribayashi was that her usually deep-thinking husband answered so readily this time, as if he hadn't thought about it at all.

"As you said, in terms of recovery, this is the most appropriate course of action. Even without the detective's visit today, I would probably have suggested that Sachiko take a leave of absence from school soon, and asked you to do the same thing."

Mr. Kuribayashi answered earnestly. For him, this was not a solution that required no thought, but rather a question to which he had already reached a final conclusion.

He continued, "The money I saved up to break away from the circus hasn't been spent at all. It's not a huge amount, but it's still a sum of money. If we cut back on expenses starting tomorrow, even with one less person working, it should be enough to make ends meet. I didn't bring this up before because I was worried you'd misunderstand my intentions. If you take it as an excuse to abandon you and Sachiko, then there's nothing I can do. Because of that big argument we had before, I'm very worried that something like that will happen."

It turned out that her husband had been planning the same thing as her, but she asked, "Aren't you worried that Sachiko won't be able to see you?"

"Even if I experience one failure, my life won't completely collapse. Even if I can't see one of my parents, I'm sure Sachiko can still grow up and live a normal life. As long as Sachiko can grow up healthy, that's enough for me."

The husband shared his long-held feelings.

"Compared to me, who always considers profit and isn't good at expressing emotions, it might be better for Sachiko to live with you—of course,"

Now that the detective has intervened, we've figured out the root of the problem, and I shouldn't be in a situation where I'm completely ignored by Sachiko.

"So you'd already started thinking about these things, huh? That's really something—"

Lady Kuribayashi thought of something and suddenly covered her mouth, bursting into laughter through her tears.

"What's wrong?" the man asked, puzzled, his expression exactly the same as Sachiko's as she watched her father mutter to himself.

"It suddenly occurred to me that even without Miss Azure's help, if we had been honest with each other about our plans sooner, Sachiko, who was on leave from school, would have left that class, and her cognitive impairment wouldn't have worsened—it really is the same situation as when we had that argument, we were a step too slow again."

"Sigh, it really is like that." Mr. Kuribayashi scratched the back of his head and gave a wry smile with a lot of emotion.

As if sensing the warm atmosphere, Sachiko, who was being led by the couple, found a smile appearing on her face.

However, at this moment, none of the three noticed that the crowd that should have been getting more and more crowded on this not-so-remote street was slowly disappearing, and even the adjacent lanes were becoming empty.

By the time the Kuribayashi family realized something was wrong, the three of them had already arrived at a completely unfamiliar and deserted section of road. Around them were several antique shops, and under the hazy light of the night sky, they found themselves in a strange and desolate place.

Mr. Kuribayashi was the first to react. Realizing he had entered completely unfamiliar territory, he instinctively shielded his daughter behind him and threw his Poké Ball into the middle of the street. "Daiyuu! Watch out!"

At this moment, an incredibly strange situation occurred. His alien-like partner did not jump out of the Poké Ball as usual. Instead, the thrown Poké Ball, like a video playing in reverse, followed a parabolic trajectory and disappeared back into Mr. Kuribayashi's pocket.

"What's going on? Have we been ambushed?" Lady Kuribayashi also became wary.

After seeing what happened to her husband, she pressed the button in the center of the Poké Ball in her palm, but her partner also failed to get out of the Poké Ball.

"There." Sachiko tugged at her father's sleeve. "There seems to be something hiding there, though I can't see it clearly at all."

Following the direction their daughter pointed, the couple looked at the rooftop of a distant building, where a figure seemed to be standing.

However, the figure vanished the moment they caught sight of it.

"Kahahaha, kahahahahahaha."

As if treating physical distance as a joke, an extremely arrogant laugh came from a very close distance.

Before the three, a mysterious woman dressed in a deep purple gown suddenly appeared—a high-definition magnified version of the figure on the rooftop.

Floating in the air, she exuded a somber aura, yet possessed a queenly presence. Despite the absence of wind, her long, dark blue hair billowed out like countless outstretched tentacles, obscuring the light from the streetlights behind her.

"The wind has finally broken through the dryness."

"My dear imposters, this is a truly touching reunion that even my precognitive abilities couldn't have predicted! Last time you dared to call the police against me; there's a limit to how arrogant you are! Now it's time for you to pay for your emotional distress!"

As the mysterious woman finished her entrance and lines, a chilling wind swept through the area, and the sky seemed to turn an ominous deep purple.

"Are you—the superpowered person who caused trouble at the circus yesterday?"

"Making trouble? Ha."

The other person glanced sideways at Mr. Kuribayashi, then gave a blatant sneer, abruptly closing the black feather fan in his hand and pointing it upwards. "Mystery should remain mystery, and magic should remain magic. You mediocre, incompetent people dare to impersonate psychics. Now, open your ignorant eyes and take a good look! This is the realm of the Magic Queen! A place where the police and communication signals cannot reach! Now is the time to set things right!"

As if proclaimed by the Queen of Magic, miracles arrived as scheduled. The world seemed to tremble, and incredible things began to emerge in large numbers, like mass-produced inferior goods, crashing against the world like waves.

Cracks appeared in the earth; a human face emerged in the sky; mysterious incantations mingled with the howling wind; shrubs in the green belt floated up into the air, roots and leaves intact, bobbing and throbbing like chubby creatures swimming in an aquatic world; streetlights were cruelly stretched and twisted, transforming into incredible knotted shapes with the mysterious woman's finger movements; the roadside vending machines creaked and disintegrated on their own, spilling out colorful canned drinks that then lined up in long queues, swirling and dancing around her like a moving train—

Compared to the magnificent yet bizarre, bizarre yet magnificent scene before them, the anomaly of "traveling back and forth between two worlds" seemed as pale and bleak as a lie, and the strangeness of "mysteriously disappearing in the classroom" seemed as insignificant as a coincidence. The fake superpowered couple and the psychic couple had completely lost the courage to resist.

What is unfolding before our eyes is a miracle that no magic trick or stage prop can replicate. Even if an organization were to use superpowers and ghost-type Pokémon to imitate it, it would be impossible to perfectly recreate this earth-shattering, breathtaking effect.

A definitely dangerous guy has come knocking on our door.

Faced with a superhuman with abilities powerful enough to warp the entire neighborhood, the two were left dizzy, breathless, and weak-kneed. But they still had something they needed to do.

The Kuribayashi couple exchanged a knowing glance.

"I am very sorry for offending you at the theater troupe before. If you need compensation, I am fully willing to pay it."

Mr. Kuribayashi released Sachiko's hand and took a step forward toward the superpowered woman who resembled a magical queen.

"Excuse me." The other person fiddled with the folding fan, opening and closing it repeatedly, each opening and closing creating another crack in the ravaged floor.

"I'd rather see the fools wailing than money."

"Could you leave me here and let my wife and daughter go? My daughter is completely innocent, and my wife has already decided to give up her job at the circus."

"Haha, that sounds so righteous. But there are no such merciful villains in the world. If I were still hesitating at this point, I wouldn't have arrested you in the first place. Hmm, let's start with the kids today—"

As the other person uttered the last sentence, Mr. Kuribayashi suddenly turned around, and an alien-like brown Pokémon was clinging to his back, unleashing some kind of attack on the psychic the instant he turned.

It was the giant monster that Mr. Kuribayashi secretly released out of the Poké Ball during the conversation. After several attempts, the partner finally managed to escape from the Poké Ball when the other party's attention was diverted.

"Boring." The mysterious woman shook her head in disappointment and unleashed a tangible burst of psychic power at the monster.

However, this superpower landed in vain.

"Oh? It's a 'Sealing' skill. That's quite creative of you to think of using it on a psychic, you imposter. This means I can't use 'Psychic' and 'Teleport' that I learned from Pokémon. But you didn't actually think that was all I knew, did you?"

Mr. Kuribayashi did not respond, but instead gave his partner the direct command: "Strengthen your mental focus!"

Da Yu Monster raised his glowing finger and, without hesitation, gathered a wave of light and smashed it towards the person in the air.

Just as the beam of psychic energy was about to strike its opponent, the psychic braced itself with its hands, creating a mirror-like screen of light in its palms. "You know what? No, you should know, I know. Psychic Pokémon like Daewoo can't learn 'Mirror Reflection'."

With a deafening roar, the "Mental Power" technique, now many times more powerful, changed direction and reflected back towards the monster that had initially unleashed the attack.

The brown alien Pokémon was instantly blasted away, its body crashing into its trainer like a cannonball, immediately falling into a coma. "Next, it's time to deal with those two escapees."

The psychic wore a standard, wicked smile as he floated upwards into the sky. While Mr. Kuribayashi was stalling for time with negotiations and combat, Mrs. Kuribayashi had already picked up her daughter and rushed straight towards the street exit.

Sachiko, picked up by her mother, was initially stiff as a puppet, but she suddenly snapped out of it halfway through. "Mom, have I arrived in your timeline? Listen, Dad is in danger—"

The daughter paused halfway through her sentence, because as she was held in her mother's arms, she looked over her shoulder and saw the magic queen with long, dark blue hair waving a folding fan, driving away the purplish-red mist as she chased after them.

No, within the purple mist, there seemed to be something being swept along and moved—what was it? Sachiko's eyes clearly saw the shape of the thing, but she couldn't make it out at all.

The mist condensed and transformed into a giant purple hand that reached out to grab the two fleeing individuals. Despite the mother's desperate efforts to run, she was still slightly slower than the spreading mist and was about to be caught.

"Night Patrol Spirit, 'Shadow of the Night'!"

In a desperate move, Mom sent out her partner Pokémon to try and slow down the giant hand. But even though Night Patrol successfully broke free of the ball, just as the move took effect, two new, even thicker arms emerged from the left and right, instantly engulfing the skull-faced ghost Pokémon.

Lady Kuribayashi, clutching her daughter, ran another dozen steps, but was eventually bound by the purplish-red smoke hand. The night patrol spirit she had sent out earlier had also collapsed somewhere.

At the last moment, the mother gave up on continuing to struggle free and instead helped Sachiko escape from the fog in her arms.

"Mom! Mom!" Sachiko cried out, collapsing onto the rough cement floor.

"Sachiko, run out into the street. Remember, Mom and Dad will always love you—" Before she could finish speaking, she was swept into the sky by a large hand.

"Oh dear, just as I predicted, this is exactly how the plot is going. This is the next step."

The terrifying witch let out a strange, cacophony of laughter, lifting the mother and another unidentified object into the air. Then she waved her hands as if performing some even more incredible magic.

As the opponent continued their actions, a new purplish-red object appeared higher up in the clouds—this time, two sharp spears.

"No!" The superhuman's intentions were already obvious, and the little girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

But the villains high above didn't hear Sachiko's shouts at all, and the two incredibly dangerous-looking spears began to descend slowly, gradually accelerating.

The girl stared wide-eyed in terror, trying to block out the tragedy with her gaze.

Two enormous weapons, one pointed at the mother who gently cared for him every day, and the other—what was it pointed at?

Why was she also concerned about the safety of that object?

It seemed to be something incredibly precious.

"—A person who should not be forgotten or ignored."

I could almost hear the sound of something shattering.

The misunderstandings that had been entangled were resolved at this moment.

At the critical moment, Sachiko saw it and screamed at the two of them, "Dad! Mom! Please don't hurt them!"

The little girl in preschool burst into tears and shouted at Naz.

Speak at the top of your lungs.

The moonstone amulet that was tied around her neck had disappeared.

"Card."

Not far at the end of the street, next to a illegally erected retractable tape cordon, a girl with a high ponytail pulled down the brim of her baseball cap and whispered into her earpiece.