Chapter Forty-Five: The Incident

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts…" Sonoko cried out loudly.

"I haven't even touched it yet…" Amu rolled her eyes.

"Oh." Hearing this, Sonoko explained a little sheepishly, "I was just practicing…"

At this moment, Sonoko was sitting in a chair in the living room, her injured left foot bare, while Amu was preparing to treat her wound.

"Oh dear, it's already swollen." Ayako gazed at Sonoko's left ankle with concern.

What had been fair skin now bore a distinct bruise.

"It's fine, just a minor sprain," Amu corrected her, dismissing the notion of it being anything "oh dear."

Sonoko: …

"Ugh…" Sonoko grimaced.

This time, Amu was actually applying the medicine, and after the spray, there was a poultice that needed to be pressed firmly.

But after being chided earlier, Sonoko felt too embarrassed to cry out in pain.

Amu then quickly bandaged her foot, sighing inwardly: humans really are more troublesome than Pokémon—their medicines usually just require a quick spray.

"All done." Amu finished, giving Sonoko's calf a light pat to signal completion, only to be met with a glare.

"No use, I still can't get through. Looks like… the phone lines have been cut!" Hiroki set the receiver down in frustration.

Even the Pokédex couldn't connect to the network out here, so naturally there was no wireless signal. On one hand, wireless base stations were easily destroyed by Pokémon; on the other, because some Pokémon are sensitive to wireless signals, the League forbade widespread installation—wireless signals were usually only available in towns.

Villas like this relied on wired phones.

"Seems someone has their eyes on us. Once the rain stops…" Amu was about to suggest that everyone head to Yosoda City together, when suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from a room on the southern side of the second floor. Then, a startled exclamation echoed down the corridor: "Who's there… ah!"

This was followed by the thud of someone falling. Soon after, they saw Ryoichi sitting on the floor, scrambling backwards with hands and feet until he hit the railing, pointing at the window opposite him, too frightened to speak.

"What happened?" Conan demanded at once.

From the first floor, they couldn't see what Ryoichi was pointing at. Seeing him so terrified, Conan immediately dashed upstairs.

But just then…

"Who are you?!" Hiroki's shout rang out from the first floor. Conan spun around and saw a shadowy figure, swathed head to toe in bandages, holding Chikako hostage, slip past the window near the main entrance!

"Ah!" Ran screamed involuntarily at the sight of the bandaged figure.

"Stop!" Conan shouted, taking off in pursuit.

Amu followed close behind, and as soon as she stepped outside, she released three Pokémon to join the chase.

Normally, Conan—with his Rotom skateboard—should have been fast, but the figure darted straight into the forested mountains. Perhaps his Rotom wasn't yet accustomed to the skateboard form, as he quickly fell behind.

"Damn it! Where did they go?" Conan, unable to find a trace, jumped off his board and searched the area.

But night had already fallen, and the mountain forest was pitch black—there was no sign of anyone.

Just then, Hiroki's voice echoed again: "Who are you? Wait… stop!"

Amu and Conan rushed towards the sound and saw Hiroki running along the mountain stream, shouting, "Hurry! Chikako… Chikako was swept away!"

"What?" Amu was shocked, then immediately called out, "Bulby, use your vines to grab her!"

Bulbasaur’s vines shot from beneath its bud, but even stretched to their limit, they couldn't reach the figure swiftly carried away by the current!

Any further and the mountain slopes on both sides of the ravine became perilously steep—how could they…

Just then, Conan had already readied his Rotom skateboard again, intent on charging straight down. Amu hurriedly stopped him: "Don't be reckless!"

This world might have a lower accidental death rate, but it wasn't zero.

And Chikako might already be dead…

After all, Shinichi himself had encountered three or four murder cases!

Just as Conan was about to refuse to give up, a curtain of water swept downstream, and Misty hurried over from the gentle slope behind, shouting, "You two, come back—leave it to the professionals!"

Not long after, another surge of water shot upstream…

Amu saw clearly—it was a Goldeen, swimming powerfully against the current with someone on its back—Chikako, without a doubt.

But when Goldeen carried her ashore and they crowded around, they found she was no longer breathing!

Misty and the others, terrified, covered their mouths. Amu scrambled up and immediately checked her pupils.

"Her pupils are just starting to dilate; it's probably shock after nearly drowning!"

In other words, the culprit hadn't tried to dispose of a corpse—just knocked her out or hypnotized her before tossing her into the ravine.

As Amu spoke, she lifted Chikako, quickly drained the water from her lungs, and began CPR and artificial respiration.

With this sort of drowning, if you don't restore her heartbeat first, even a healing Pokémon would be useless.

The others watched anxiously as Amu worked…

After several rounds of resuscitation, Chikako suddenly shuddered and coughed up a mouthful of water.

Conan, feeling her pulse, nodded to Amu with a sigh of relief.

Amu also breathed out and sat back, saying, "Let's find something to carry her back as quickly as possible—it's going to rain again."

…

Shortly after, the group returned to the villa.

Following Hiroki, Katsu and Ryoichi had rushed out as well, while Ran and Ayako stayed behind, releasing their Pokémon to guard the injured Sonoko.

Back at the villa, Chikako remained unconscious.

Ayako gave her a brief examination and found multiple bruises, including two on her head!

It was clear she had really been thrown into the raging mountain stream.

First, it was thanks to the resilience of people in this world; second, Misty and her Goldeen had caught up just in time; third, Amu's rescue was prompt…

Otherwise, after such an ordeal, survival would've been impossible.

But even after being rescued, Chikako remained in a coma.

Seeing this, the group fell silent, until Katsu worriedly voiced his fear: "Could it be… Chikako will end up like Atsuko…?"

Sure enough, Conan perked up at this, and with the innocence of a child, asked, "This Miss Atsuko you mentioned, who is she…"

"Conan!" Ran quickly cut him off.

"The mummy… it must be the Coffin of Death!" Hiroki exclaimed, watching the playback on his camcorder in terror.

Earlier, when the bandaged figure had slipped past the window by the main entrance, Hiroki happened to be filming.

Conan and Amu leaned in and saw—a bandaged figure, holding the apparently unconscious Chikako.

Misty and Sonoko wanted to look but didn't dare, while Ran had already fled far away!

Though the familiar bandages had appeared, Amu could no longer identify the culprit. After all, Chikako wasn't dead, the "killer" hadn't taken any heads, and the method was now completely different…