Disclaimer::::
I do not own Harry Potter or Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro characters. Only my OC Character (s).
I don't make any profit from any of my stories on this website.
Rated M for future sexual content and language
"Characters Speaking"
Characters Thinking
/Author Comments/
~~~Chapter Twenty-Two~~~
~~~Previous~~~
"You cannot judge a human by their looks; that's a lie." Ears and tails sprout out from her body. She removes her hands, which now have long nails, from her face to show that it has become fox-like. "Your appearance is everything. Your appearance affects what you think within." Her tails move past her face, and each time, she has a different appearance. She tilts her head back and covers her face with her hands. "Which is my face?!"
Kuroo-sensei stands up. "Yoshino!"
"The owner of this face tried to get close to my husband because of the money. The women after that are also the same." She removes her hands and lifts her head. "How can the owner of the face be like that?" She clenches her fists as she leans forward. "Everyone sharing the same face. It's unforgivable! That's why I killed them all." She covers her face again. "As long as my husband continues to produce this face, I will kill every woman who has this face." She removes her hands as she crouches on the ground.
Yako takes a few steps forward. "Madam, you really love your husband. If you just wanted to be the only owner of the face, you could've just simply killed your husband. But you didn't do that." The wife lifts her head and looks at Yako.
"That's the proof of your love," I add softly.
Both the wife and Kuroo-sensei gasped at the same time. Kuroo-sensei takes a step forward. "Yoshino...I..."
"It's all too late. I've already killed two people." She opens a bottle and moves it near her mouth. Neuro slaps it out of her hand before she can. The bottle smashes on the ground, and fog fills the room.
"Neuro!" Yako yells as they all, apart from me, cover their faces.
"It'll be messy if you die now because it's hard to find an eatable mystery. Itadakimasu." Neuro eats the mystery.
The fog disappears, and the wife has a normal appearance and is resting on her knees. Sasazuka is the first to break the silence. "Can you perform an operation one more time?" Kuroo-sensei looks surprised and looks at Sasazuka before looking back at his wife. "Change her back into when you first met her."
Kuroo does.
~~~A Few Days Later~~~
~~~After Yako Finishes School~~~
I meet Yako as she leaves her school. She doesn't look happy, but that is due to her friend Eri and the surgery she went through.
"Yako-chan, Yuuki-chan, finally found you." I hear Sasazuka say as he puts his hand on our shoulders. We turn to look at him, surprised. "Sasazuka-san!/Sasazuka!"
"Listen...listen to me calmly. Your Kaa-san has been arrested somewhere in South America and is charged with murder." Sasazuka comments.
Yako and I share a look of surprise. "Our Kaa-san...?"
"Your Kaa-san went to South America because she wanted to solve the mystery of your Otou-san's death. But it seems like she got dragged into something."
"Otou-san's death? Why is it South America?" Yako questions.
Yako and I share a look before nodding our heads. We leave Sasazuka, get all our items packed, and fly to South America instantly. Nothing will be solved until we take our first step there.
~~~To Be Continued~~~
~~~Present~~~
~~~3rd POV~~~
Inside a cafe, a man is drinking heavily when footsteps approach him. "You're Rarita Jones, right?" The man looks up. "I'm Katsuragi Haruka; we spoke on the phone earlier. Did you bring the photos of the witch-"
She is cut off when he grabs her bag and pulls her. "Did you bring the money?"
Haruka pulls back. "Wait, please stop it…"
She pulls her bag away from him when a glass breaks. Just after that, the building starts to shake. Haruka looks outside. "An earthquake?"
"It's the curse!" The man says. Haruka looks back at him. "The curse of the witch!" He is pale with his hands on either side of his face and shaking badly.
Haruka holds out her hand. "Rarita-san…"
He abruptly stands. "I'm going to be killed…by the witch…" He suddenly falls silent. His eyes roll to the back of his head before he falls to the side and falls to the ground. He is completely pale, and foam is coming from his mouth.
"Rarita-san?!" Haruka exclaims, surprised. The customers scream. "Rarita-san…Rarita-san!"
A photograph falls to the ground. It shows a female figure, but shadows block the face.
~~~Yuuki's POV~~~
I change into my cyan cobalt blue strapped top with a blue bow that ends just below my breasts, black shorts with a white belt, my choker, and a pair of black flats. Due to the amount of skin shown, my tattoos are on view. Everything else is shrunk down and placed inside my usual bag. I leave the aeroplane toilet and head back to my seat.
Yako has changed out of her school uniform. She is wearing an orange shirt that is open, a white top, beige shorts, black thigh socks, beige shoes, and a brown shoulder bag.
Akane appears on Yako's phone and is typing. "What's wrong, Akane-chan?"
I looked to see what Akane had typed. ' Is it really alright to hide this from Neuro?'
Yako and I share a smile before looking back at Akane. "Thanks, Akane-chan. But, since my Kaa-san is involved in this case, I want to solve it myself, with Yuuki-Nee's help. Let's go."
We leave the plane and split up to find the prison. When I find Yako again, she has just been thrown out the prison gates. "Ouch...What's that for!? Let me see my Kaa-san! I told you I'm her Musume, right?!" The guards walk away. "Honestly, what's going on?"
I walk up towards Yako at the same time a young woman does, holding out a yellow handkerchief. "Are you alright? You're the female high school detective and her Ane, Katsuragi Yako-san, and Katsuragi Yuuki-san, right?"
The woman has a white t-shirt, a green shirt, a brown pouch around her waist, light brown trousers, brown boots, and a pair of black sunglasses. She has red hair in a ponytail and brown-green eyes.
Yako takes her hand and stands up. "Eh? How did you know me and Yuuki-nee?"
"Because you're pretty famous. Besides, I'm here to see your Kaa-san, Katsuragi Haruka-san, too." She admits.
"Our mother?" We question.
"I'm Kakei Mio, a Japanese magazine reporter situated here in South America. You can say that I'm in the same line of work as your Kaa-san." She admits.
I look at Mio and sense a certain energy I am familiar with. "A female this time, huh?" I mutter. Mio hears me and looks at me with wide eyes before she goes back to normal.
Mio takes us to a cafe where Yako is quick to eat a lot of dishes. "Wow, this looks really delicious too. Can I really eat this?"
"Y-Yeah, go ahead." She agrees hesitantly before snapping out of it. "Well then, let's continue from where we left off just now. The victim is Rarita Jones, 51 years old, male. The cause of death is the contamination of his internal organs due to poisoning."
Yako pauses in her eating. "Poisoning?"
"According to the police, the motive of the murder is that Haruka-san got angry when she felt that she got cheated in the trade." She adds.
"Impossible! It's impossible for our Kaa-san to kill someone because of that! Right, Yuuki-nee?" Yako says angrily.
"Hmm, yeah. She wouldn't do such a thing." I state.
"Yes, that's what I felt, too." Mio agrees.
Yako leans back. "Besides, just what was that trade about?"
"Photos of the witch," Mio states.
"Eh?" Yako says surprised.
"They were the photos of the witch. Haruka-san met up with Rarita just to get them." Mio adds.
"A Witch?" I query.
"There's an ancient legend that there's a witch in the area, and she assaults the villagers...Lately, there's been a rumour that a real witch has appeared. In reality, this rumour is due to the photos Rarita had. While he was investigating with the archaeologists of the country, he apparently saw the witch. Haruka-san said she wanted to buy those photos he took." Mio comments.
"Why did Kaa-san want the photos of the witch?" Yako questions.
"I don't know," I admit softly.
"However, according to the police, the photos weren't found in Rarita's belongings. But I suspect that Haruka-san must have acquired those photos." Mio admits.
"Eh? Do you mean that our Kaa-san is hiding those photos?" Yako queries.
"Might have got them in the confusion." I point out.
"If I tell the police about them, they will definitely be confiscated, right? I felt that even if she was suspected of murder, she would want to protect the photos. So, do you want to confirm this?" Mio queries.
Yako looks up, and we share a look before looking at Mio. Mio takes out her notebook that has areas drawn out. She taps her pen on the large L-shaped building. "At 6 PM, the prisoners will move to another building for dinner. At that time, they will be walking past the metal fencing surrounding the prison. If we're lucky, we might be able to see your Kaa-san."
"Is that true?!" Yako exclaims happily with a large smile on her face. "Alright then, if so, I'll have to eat more!"
~~~Back Near the Prison~~~
Yako and I look through the fence while Mio leans against the wall, looking at her watch. "It's about time."
Yako rests on her feet. "Mio-san..."
Mio looks at Yako. "Eh? What is it?"
"What...is a witch?" Yako asks hesitantly.
Mio looks away and crosses her arms over her chest. "About that...All these things started about 20 years ago."
"20 years ago?" I repeat.
"At that time, there was a very young woman named Seiren living here." Mio continues. "Even though she was working in the town's office, she would sometimes make some prophecies as if she had some extraordinary powers. So, people started thinking that she was some kind of witch and spread rumours."
"Extraordinary powers...Where is that woman now?" I question.
"She's dead," Mio replies darkly.
"Eh?" Yako exclaims surprised.
"She should have been dead. Seiren suddenly disappeared one day. One year after that, her bones were discovered, fossilised." Mio admits.
"Bones..." I trail off, blinking my eyes.
"There's the rumour that the people who feared the witch tortured and killed Seiren." Mio looks down at us. "But in the end, it seems like there's no proof to that."
"Humans are always scared of the unknown and lash out." I point out in a cold voice as I close my eyes.
"Tor...Torture..." Yako stutters, shaking slightly. "Well then, what about the photos of the witch this time?"
"That's kinda unclear, too." Mio shrugs her shoulders. "It seems like Rarita has met Seiren in person, but since he's dead already, there will be no way to prove this. Moreover, no one saw any photos yet."
Yako lowers her head and gazes at the wall in thought. She snaps out of it when the prison bell rings. She stands on her tiptoes while I stand to the right. Mio leans to the left. "It's the bell for the walk."
People begin walking by. Our Kaa-san begins to walk by. "It's our Kaa-san! Kaa-san! Kaa-san! Kaa-san!"
"Yako...Yuuki..." I hear Kaa-san mutter before running towards us.
"Kaa-san!" Both Yako and I call out to her.
Kaa-san put her hand through the fence and has something between her fingers. "Yako! Yuuki! Please, take this...Hurry up!"
Yako places her arm through the fence as the two guards rush over. "Hey there! What are you trying to do over there?"
Yako gets the folded-up piece of paper just as one of the guards drags Kaa-san away. "Okaa-san! Okaa-san! Okaa-san!"
"It's useless, Yako-san. It's going to be dangerous if this goes on." Mio warns as we pull Yako away from the fence slightly. "Let's hurry up and go. Okay?"
Yako clings to my left arm. "Okaa-san..."
"It will be alright," I say softly.
We moved away from the prison, of course, me dragging Yako away so she didn't go back.
"Are you alright, Yako-san?" Mio asks, hand on Yako's right shoulder.
Yako, still clinging to my left arm, looks up. "Yes, I'm alright." She looks in front of her before tilting her head back, gazing at the sky.
"Hey, what are you holding on to?" Mio questions.
"That's right, Okaa-san passed this to me." Yako opens her hand to show the folded-up piece of paper.
Mio claps her hands together silently. "Is it the photo? She has indeed taken it from that Rarita guy."
"Huh? That means this is the witch?" Yako exclaims before unfolding the photo. We crowd around it when it is fully opened.
"The most important part of the face got worn out and can't be seen, huh? Mio points out with a sigh.
Yako sweatdrops. "You've folded too much, Okaa-san..." She sighs and lowers her head. Yako snaps out of it and opens her bag, placing the photo inside. "Anyways, we might be able to find some clues with this."
"That's true. Let's continue the investigation tomorrow." Mio agrees.
"Yeah, with a clear head." I point out with a soft chuckle.
A car drives by, and Yako screams. Mio and I look to see the person in the car grab hold of Yako's bag and drag her along as she hasn't let go. "Yako!/Yako-san!"
The car suddenly stops, and Yako falls to the floor. I see men get out of the car and surround her. Mio runs after Yako while I stay hidden. Yako and Mio are forced into the car and driven away.
I quickly disillusion myself and fly after them using my wings. I see Yako and Mio standing at the edge with guns pointed at them. Mio faints due to the shock, and Yako closes her eyes. I undo the illusion and make myself visible. I knock out three men while Godai knocks out the other two with a metal bat.
Yako opens her eyes. "Yuuki-nee! G-Godai-san? What are you doing here? Why?"
Godai lowers the bat. "Who knows? It's obvious that someone forcibly dragged me here."
The car door opens, and a man steps out holding a gun, pointing it at Godai's back. "Godai-san, behind you!" I warn.
I sense Neuro's powers flare just before the man flies through the air into the trees. Neuro lands on the roof of the car. "Honestly, you're always dragging me down."
A smile appears on our faces. "Neuro!"
The car door opens, and the last man runs off into the woods. I see Neuro kick Yako's phone into the man's pocket before stepping off the car roof and landing on the ground.
"Neuro, you came," Yako states, surprised as she walks closer. I do the same and stand near Neuro.
Neuro folds his arms over his chest and has his eyes closed, his usual smirk on his face. "Hmm. For a servant to take action by herself..." He opens his eyes and lifts his left hand, which doesn't have his glove in, showing his true hand.
Yako laughs awkwardly, eyes closed and sweating. "Anyway, you actually found this place."
"That's because I have a very good secretary." Neuro comments.
"Eh? Akane-chan did it? My bag..." Yako spins around, looking for her bag.
"You don't have to be worried about Akane," Neuro states.
Mio stirs and regains consciousness. Yako goes towards her. "Mio-san, are you alright?"
I walk over to help her up. I hold out my hand as Mio holds the side of her head. "Are you injured?" I ask as she looks up.
"Eh? You're..." She says as she looks behind me. I look to see that Neuro is standing right behind me. I help Mio up as she grabs a hold of my hand.
"Um...He's..." Yako stutters.
"Famous female high school detective, Katsuragi Yako-sensei's assistant." Neuro points his hand at Godai, who is trying up the knocked-out men. "That one is a trainee."
"Who are you saying is!?" Godai denies.
Mio stands up. "That means you guys came here with Yako-san and Yuuki-san?"
"Yes, we've been told to do some other investigations." Neuro agrees.
"You've got to work on your social skills, Yako-san." Mio scolds. "If so, you should have told me from the beginning."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Yako apologises sheepishly.
~~~Next Day~~~
We sit at a table outside and have something to eat; Yako eats a lot, as usual, of course. Due to insufficient seats, Neuro pulls my arms, and I fall and land on his lap. He has his arm across my stomach, resting on my right hip. He is covering my stomach with his arms for some reason, not to mention his grip on my hip is tight.
"Even so, it's really a pain that our bags got stolen, right?" Mio states.
"Yes." Yako agrees with Mio.
"Hey...What's going to happen over there?" Neuro asks, looking at the crowd of people around the purple van.
Mio looks at the van. "Oh, that? A talk conducted by those opposing the pipeline project. The next worksite, according to plan, will be the ruins where Seiren's remains were found."
"Is that so..." Yako trails off. The ground begins shaking. "What's going on?" Yako panics.
Godai stands up. "An earthquake?"
"Not a natural one…manmade?" I mutter softly.
I see Neuro narrow his eyes. He must know what is going on already.
The shaking stops, and Yako sits up. "It's been really frequent lately. Everyone said that this is the curse of the witch. But in reality..." Mio is cut off.
The speaker on the van is turned on. "This earthquake is caused by the inhuman government's act, which is causing the earth to sink! Everyone, let us fight together in order to protect our remains." The crowd surrounding the van cheers after the man finishes his speech.
"That guy is..." Yako trails off.
"Professor Kamata, the leader of the Ancient Ruins Investigation Team, an archaeologist. He must know something about the rumour of the witch 20 years ago. No matter what, Rarita was under him." Mio points out.
Neuro leans over and pushes Yako's head against the table. "This is pretty interesting. Please let us talk to him."
Mio agrees, and Godai drives us to the address. "This is his house?" Yako questions, her face pale.
"Probably..." Mio agrees hesitantly.
Godai looks to the side. "I'll wait over here...O-Ouch..."
Neuro, with his arm still around my waist, grabs hold of Godai's head and pulls him towards the front door.
We go inside. Along the walls, there are artefacts, scary masks, skulls, and other creepy items. Yako is the first to go through the curtains. "There are so many aquariums."
Mio looks inside one of them. "What the hell is he raising?"
Yako walks across the room towards the other set of curtains. Mio screams, causing Yako and the rest of us, apart from Neuro, to look at her. On her face, there is a pink frog. "Get it away!"
"You're overreacting; it's just a little frog, Mio-san." Yako points out.
"Enough of it, just take it away!" Mio yells.
"If you get scared by just a little frog, you won't be able to do any good reporting in South America," Yako comments with a smile.
"Just who the hell is it? It's so noisy!" A voice yells from behind us.
Yako screams. "IT'S A BIG FROG!"
When Yako calms down, we are taken further into the house. Kamata feeds the pink frog a grasshopper. "Eh? You raise them due to your interest, huh?" Neuro states, interested.
"Yeah, these frogs know their mealtime since I've been taking care of them for so long." Kamata finishes feeding the frog and then sits down. "Well then, you wanted to ask about Rarita, right?"
He gives us stools to sit on. "Yes, where were you when the incident happened?" Neuro queries.
Yako pales as she looks at Neuro, her hands clenched in her lap in surprise.
"You're suspecting me, huh?" He queries.
"N-Not really." Yako denies panicking. "We're just trying to play safe."
"It's best to have all the details," I add.
"It's alright. At around 3 PM that day, when Rarita died, I was giving a speech at a nearby city. The speech began at 1 PM and ended at 4 PM; I never left the place at all. The listeners can prove that." Kamata states.
"I see. I'm sorry for asking this." Neuro apologises.
"It's alright. Ever since Rarita met the witch, he has been constantly drinking. It's really sad to say." Kamata adds.
"Hey, how is the witch in the photo connected to a woman called Seiren?" Yako queries.
Kamata looks at Yako. "Seiren? Oh, you even know about something that happened that long ago, huh?"
Neuro places his hand on the top of Yako's head. "Sensei felt that the witch who appeared 20 years ago might have something to do with the murder that happened a few days ago."
"Who knows..." Kamata trails off.
"Huh?" Yako lifts her head, and even Neuro looks surprised.
He looks away. "The main cause of the witch case that happened 20 years ago was a certain man. The priest responsible for the Sharato village festival, which occurs near the remains, was deeply in love with Seiren. However, he got rejected. After that happened, Seiren was rumoured to be a witch. This is how everything began."
"That is to say that Seiren-san isn't really a witch..." Yako comments.
"False claims?" I query.
"Yes. It is undoubtedly just hysteria, and she just fell victim." Kamata admits.
"Well then, who's the woman that Rarita took photos of?" Mio asks, with her notebook and pen at the ready.
"A dead can never be revived; it's got to be some misunderstanding. Witches don't exist anyway." He denies. "That's right, there's another interesting thing. It seems Seiren tried to give birth to a baby before she died."
"A baby?" Yako repeats confused.
"Then, the father of it is..." Mio asks.
"Who knows? I'm not really sure about that. Oh, come to think of it, there's a rumour that it might have been the Japanese architect that came to research about the remains back then." Kamata comments.
Yako's eyes widen as we share a look before looking back at Kamata as Neuro asks about the baby. "What happened to the baby then?"
"It is said that the priest took that baby and the mother and locked them into a stone room inside the remains," Kamata states.
"What?!" Godai leans forward, surprised.
"That's so cruel..." Yako says, shocked.
"Despicable…" I mutter.
Mio covers her mouth with her hand as Kamata continues talking. "Our research team reached here about one year later. We found a skeleton that should belong to the woman named Seiren. But we didn't find the skeleton of the baby."
Yako leans forward. "That means that the one seen this time might have been her child?"
"Who knows? That's all I know." He puts down his cup and clicks away on his computer. "I have some photos of the storeroom that we're researching. These are it."
The room is covered in blood, and Seiren's body has spikes inserted into her arms and legs. Yako lets out a horrified gasp and covers her mouth. Mio makes sounds at the back of her throat and falls to her knees, hands still over her mouth. "Mio-san!" Yako cries out.
I move from my seat, kneel next to Mio, and place a hand on her shoulder while I rub her back with the other.
"I guess they're trying to seal the witch. Since long ago, this stone room was rumoured to have the power to seal magic." Kamata comments.
"To seal magic..." Yako repeated before gazing at Neuro. Neuro senses her gaze and looks back out the corner of his eye. Yako lets out a soft gasp before looking back at Kamata. "Professor Kamata, I want to know more about that Japanese architect who came here 20 years ago."
He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm sorry, but that was all I know about this. If you want to know more about it, you can go find the village head of Sharato village."
"Sharato village..." Yako trails off.
We leave his house. Godai and Mio are the first to get into the car. I'm walking next to Neuro while Yako is walking behind us with her head lowered and her eyes on the ground.
"What are you thinking in that below-frog-levelled brain of yours?" Neuro queries.
Yako stops walking, causing Neuro and me to stop. "I think that the Japanese architect that came here 20 years ago was our Otou-san. Our Okaa-san came here in search of the mystery of the death of our Otou-san. And she got involved in an incident while trying to get the photos of the witch."
"And then?" Neuro queries.
"I'm going to Sharato village. I think that there might be some clues which will link everything together." Yako says, confidence shining in her eyes.
"If you want to, go by yourself." Neuro orders.
"Eh?" Yako exclaims surprised.
"I'm going to take a look at that coffee shop where your mother committed murder." Neuro states before walking forward, taking me with him.
"She didn't do it!" Yako denies. "Hey, Neuro...Is it true that the remains have the powers to seal magic?"
"Who knows..." I see a smile on Yako's face before Neuro appears in front of her and pushes her face onto the ground with a thud. "I think I should tell you this beforehand. I'm afraid that these remains aren't built just to seal magic." Neuro leans close to her face. "Those humans from Ancient times might have built it to connect this world and that world together."
"To connect this world and that world together..." I trail off.
Neuro and I walk to the car as Yako is still on the ground. Godai pokes his head out of his car door. "Hey, what are you doing? Let's hurry up and go back!"
"Hey, trainee...Sensei wants you to accompany her to the Sharato village." Neuro orders.
"Eh? Why should I..." Godai trails off in disbelief.
Mio opens her window. "Let me go, too! I want to find out the identity of the witch."
"Mio-san..." Yako says, surprised.
Neuro doesn't say anything and walks past the car, his arm again around my waist.
"Oh well, there's no other choice, huh?" Godai states as he shuts the car door.
I let out a soft chuckle. "I'll go too."
~~~To Be Continued~~~
/Thank you for reading this chapter. Please leave a review. Your opinions are appreciated.\