So Long... So Lonely
Truth be told, Conan actually agreed with Moroboshi. He, too, remembered what the Hydro Archon had said to them earlier—right down to the name she'd used for their little group—and none of that could have been meaningless.
It was also the main reason he wasn't especially worried about Ran and Xia Yu. That kind of sneak attack that dissolved people before they could defend themselves wouldn't work on "travelers from afar" like them, and if it came down to brute force, he trusted that the two of them could handle just about anything thrown their way.
"Well, now that we've decided, let's get going—to the Fountain of Lucine!" Xia Yu declared, rising to her feet.
The children cheered. "Yeah! Let's move out!"
Conan: "......"
Hey, dial it back a little, will you? This isn't a field trip...
Before long, however, Conan had to eat his words, because the kids really were treating this exactly like a school excursion.
He watched, utterly speechless, as they kept darting off every few minutes to gawk at some exotic new plant.
With a resigned sigh, Conan turned back and called out to the ones clustered around a flower that looked rather like a lily of the valley. "Come on back over here, and don't fall behind! Word is there are strange monsters called hilichurls lurking around this area that attack travelers. If you wander too far off, you'd better hope Xia Yu can rescue you in time!"
"Yes, sirrrr—" the children droned back in exaggerated unison.
But no sooner had they rejoined the group than they spotted a strange fruit hanging from a tree up ahead, and Conan's warning went right out of their heads as they swarmed around it.
Ayumi, reminded of the bubble soufflé they'd eaten earlier, said, "I bet this is one of the bubble oranges they use to make Bubble Soufflé! It looks just like a mandarin orange!"
"Actually, it looks more like an orange than a mandarin," Mitsuhiko corrected primly.
"Can we eat it?" Emori asked.
Genta was already staring up at the fruit, mouth practically watering. "It's growing right by the road, so it's probably fair game, right?" He jumped up, trying to snatch one down for a taste.
"It should be fine—anything growing wild with no markers around is usually free to pick," Xia Yu said, walking over. When she saw the children couldn't reach, she plucked a few down for them herself.
There weren't many—only three or four in all—so once the kids split them up, each of them barely got a taste.
Xia Yu got a small share too, and honestly, the bubble orange was sweet and tart in just the right way. Not bad at all.
Amid the children's playful squabbling, the group finally arrived at the Fountain of Lucine.
"So this is the Fountain of Lucine?" Moroboshi said, tilting his head. "It looks kind of ordinary. Honestly, I can't tell it apart from any regular fountain."
"Are you blind? It's gorgeous!" Genta shot back. "A fountain this big is really rare, you know!"
Kikukawa sniffed with disdain. "Well, that's just you. For the rest of us—Moroboshi and me—this sort of thing is nothing special. The Moroboshi estate has a fountain just like it, only prettier."
Genta bristled. "Why, you—"
Sensing a fight brewing, Conan hurriedly cut in. "We can't see much from way back here. Let's get up close to the Fountain of Lucine and take a proper look." Now was hardly the time for a shouting match.
At Conan's words, Genta let the argument drop. With an indignant "Hmph," he stomped off toward the fountain.
Kikukawa shifted uncomfortably and muttered, "But I was only telling the truth, right, Moroboshi? Your family really does have a fountain just like that one."
Moroboshi sighed, exasperated. "Enough. What's the point of arguing about this now? Come on, let's all go take a look at the fountain."
Kikukawa and Emori could only mutter an "Okay" and trail after him toward the Fountain of Lucine.
The group circled the fountain several times, examining it top to bottom—and no matter how they looked at it, it seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary fountain.
They regathered in front of it and stared at it, lost in thought.
Suddenly, Xia Yu spoke up. "Did any of you hear something just now? It sounded like it was coming from the fountain."
Conan knew Xia Yu's senses were sharp. If she said she'd heard something, then there really had been something to hear, so he stilled himself and listened carefully. Sure enough, after a moment he could faintly make out a voice drifting from the direction of the Fountain of Lucine—a woman's voice—but the words themselves were impossible to catch.
(It wouldn't make sense for only the Traveler to hear the voice, so let's say that in this game, all the players can hear the Fountain of Lucine.)
Even Ran, once she strained her ears, could hear it—and her scalp immediately prickled. She clutched Xia Yu's arm and asked in a trembling voice, "D-does this game have ghosts in it?!"
Conan shot her a worried glance at the sight of her fear. "Ran-neechan, are you okay? Don't worry—I'll protect you!"
"There probably aren't any," Xia Yu said soothingly. "The people of Fontaine never mentioned anything about ghosts, and if they haven't, then the game probably doesn't have any. There must be some other reason the fountain is making sounds." Then she added with a confident smile, "And even if there *were* a ghost, I doubt it could beat me. Don't worry, Ran—I'll protect all of you."
Ran looked at Xia Yu with complete trust and nodded, then glanced down at Conan. "Conan, don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself, okay?"
Conan: "......R-right......"
Haibara looked on with undisguised glee. "Well, well, Great Detective. It seems your dear Ran-neechan believes *Xia Yu-neechan* is the one who can protect her now. So tell me—how does it feel to be treated like a little kid?"
Conan's mouth twitched. "......"
This girl—wasn't *she* being treated like a little kid too? How on earth did she have the spare energy to mock him?
Hoping to catch the fountain's voice more clearly, Xia Yu edged closer to it.
After a while, the words finally came through. "So long... so lonely... how much longer must I wait..." She turned back to face the others. "That's the voice I heard from the Fountain of Lucine."
"What does it mean?"
"Who's saying it?"
"......"
Now that they knew what the voice from the fountain had actually said, they put their heads together—but after all the discussion, they were just as baffled as before.
At that point, Moroboshi made a suggestion. "Then let's go check out the Opera Epiclese up ahead. Our courtroom showdown with the Hydro Archon is in three days, and since we've got no leads right now, it couldn't hurt to go learn how they run their trials here."
"Hold on—opera house?" Conan's expression flickered with surprise. "We're being *tried* in an opera house three days from now?"
Moroboshi looked at him oddly, wondering what there was to be surprised about. "Uh, yeah? Didn't the Hydro Archon say she'd meet us for a courtroom showdown at the Opera Epiclese? You heard her too. Why the shock?"
"I heard her, all right—I just assumed I'd misheard, or that *she'd* misspoken." After all, that Hydro Archon had seemed a bit... unreliable, to put it kindly. "So we really are being tried in an opera house?! And why an opera house in the first place? Isn't Fontaine supposed to be the nation of justice? Why on earth don't they have a proper courthouse building?"