The Hydro Eidolon
Focalors studied the expression on the little boy's face and knew he hadn't given up yet. She gave an indifferent shrug. "Fine. I can see you're all determined not to admit defeat. I do admire your persistence and that stubborn spirit of yours — but very soon, you'll come to understand that every ounce of this effort has been wasted."
Genta groaned. "This water goddess is so annoying."
The others, having overheard, nodded along vigorously.
"Since you refuse to give up, then by all means, stay here and comb the place for clues at your leisure. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."
After that, Neuvillette departed as well, called away by business with the Maison Gardiennage, leaving Xia Yu and the rest of the group to continue their search through the Opera Epiclese on their own.
At last, thanks to their relentless, leave-no-stone-unturned efforts, they unearthed a notebook the magician's assistant had hidden away in a secluded spot — and with it, they learned of the Primordial Seawater: the glowing blue liquid capable of dissolving the people of Fontaine.
The notebook also mentioned a name — Marcel, president of Fontaine's Cabriere Chamber of Commerce. (The case had been simplified somewhat.)
With the investigation finally moving, everyone agreed to press their advantage. There was still light left in the sky, so they resolved to go question the chamber's president that very day.
They had just left the Opera Epiclese and were on their way across the Fountain of Lucine when it happened.
"Wait!" Xia Yu suddenly caught a voice rising from the fountain — different from the one they'd heard before — and called the others to a halt. "The Fountain of Lucine just spoke. It sounded like it was calling out someone's name. Let's all get closer and listen."
At Xia Yu's words, Ran stiffened. Fear prickled through her, but she forced herself to step forward anyway, coming to stand right beside Xia Yu and clinging close.
The children, by contrast, overthought nothing at all. The moment they heard there might be a new clue, they crowded in eagerly.
"It's true! There really is a voice!" Genta, having stilled himself and listened carefully, heard it — and shouted in excitement.
"Mm..." Mitsuhiko nodded too, signaling that he'd heard it as well. "It sounds like a woman's voice, calling something like... Vacher?"
"I hear it too. It's calling 'Vacher.' Who's Vacher?" Emori leaned in toward the fountain, straining to catch the words more clearly.
Moroboshi watched his friend practically press himself against the fountain and grew uneasy. "Careful! Don't get too close — you'll lose your footing and fall in!"
At Moroboshi's warning, Emori gave an "Oh" and moved to step back — and promptly collided with Genta, who was standing right beside him. Both lost their balance. Mitsuhiko and Moroboshi lunged to grab them, but they were too late; instead, the two stumbling boys dragged them all down together, and in an instant, all four children tumbled into the fountain pool.
At that sudden catastrophe, Ran forgot her fear of the fountain entirely. Together with Xia Yu, she hauled the four children out of the water.
But strangely — even though the pool was hardly deep — all four of them slipped into unconsciousness the moment they'd fallen in, and no amount of shouting could rouse them. Just as the others grew frantic and were about to run for help, all four woke up again, simultaneously.
Between Genta and Emori's excited, overlapping accounts — with Moroboshi and Mitsuhiko chiming in from the sidelines to fill the gaps — the others finally pieced together what had happened.
While unconscious, the four of them had found their awareness drifting into a blue, waterlike expanse of space, where they had met a creature who called herself a Hydro Eidolon.
According to her, she had once been human, but she had lost most of her memories — even her own name — and so had no idea how she had become a Hydro Eidolon. All she vaguely remembered was being wrapped in pale pink-blue water, after which everything blurred away.
The Fountain of Lucine was where all the waters of Fontaine converged, and that was why she had appeared there.
As for "Vacher" — the name they'd heard — that was her beloved. They had traveled far and wide together on their adventures, and neither of them had ever imagined that their parting would come so suddenly.
"So... the Hydro Eidolon wants us to bring Vacher here so they can see each other again?" Conan guessed.
"That's what we thought at first too," Genta said. "But no. She told us that if we ever find Vacher, we should pass along a message — he must never come looking for her."
Emori nodded. "The Hydro Eidolon lady said there's no meaning in the two of them meeting again. Mm... she said that even though she misses him terribly, her longing would do him no good at all anymore — so she'd let that longing stay at the bottom of the water forever..."
By the time Genta and the others finished their telling, everyone had already reached the same quiet conclusion: this Hydro Eidolon had to be one of the girls who had been dissolved by the water.
"So that pale pink-blue water must be the Primordial Seawater," Haibara mused. "I'd love to know how it differs from ordinary water. And if being dissolved by it turns you into one of these Hydro Eidolons, I'm actually rather curious to see what one looks like."
Conan could only stare. Now is really not the time to be curious about something that trivial.
He laid out his analysis. "From what you've told me, this Hydro Eidolon doesn't know anything about the disappearances — which means she must have gone missing early on. But what about the other victims? If they were all dissolved in water too, and the Fountain of Lucine is where every current in Fontaine converges, then the others should have become Hydro Eidolons and appeared there as well. So why have we only seen one?"
Conan had delivered quite the lecture — but at that moment, some people's attention was elsewhere entirely.
Ayumi couldn't understand why the Hydro Eidolon had made such a request. "Why can't the lady's love come find her? She's been calling his name all this time — she must miss him so much. And maybe that Vacher never forgot her either! Even if it was just one last meeting to say goodbye, that would be something, wouldn't it?"
Conan could only stare again. Seriously? I just explained all of that in detail — was nobody listening?
To his surprise, it was Ran who picked up Ayumi's question.
Ran crouched down and gently patted Ayumi's head. "I think... maybe it's because the Hydro Eidolon has no future left, while her love still has a long road ahead of him. She doesn't want him drowning in the grief of losing her — doesn't want her death to hold up the rest of his life."
Ayumi tilted her head up to look at her, eyes bright with curiosity. "Then if it were you, Ran-onee-san — if something like that happened to you — what would you do? Would you skip seeing your love one last time, too?"
Ran went very still at the question, and something seemed to flicker behind her eyes, tinged with sorrow. "I... I don't know..."