The Sacred Sakura and the Divine Fortune Slip
Passing beneath the last torii gate and rounding the bend, the group found themselves gazing upon the Grand Narukami Shrine, nestled in the heart of a dense grove of cherry trees.
Yet even among so many blossoms, one tree towered above them all: the great sakura behind the shrine grounds. Though part of it was hidden behind the buildings, it still rose unmistakably into view — vast and luxuriant, its canopy stretching toward the clouds like an enormous pink parasol, lending the entire shrine an air at once romantic and sacred.
A soft breeze drifted through, and pale pink petals came swirling down from on high like a dreamlike rain of blossom. They danced and wheeled in the air before settling gently to the ground, weaving a beautiful carpet of flowers. Walking across it, everyone felt as though they had stepped straight into a fairy tale, wrapped in the wonder and beauty of nature itself.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" the children cried out in delight.
Sonoko seized Ran's hand, practically vibrating with excitement. "Ran, can you believe it? The Grand Narukami Shrine was built on top of water!"
"Mm-hmm." Ran nodded along. "A pond all the way up here on the mountain — and the water is so clear!"
When Ran went down to the water's edge, she discovered that although it looked like a pond, it was actually quite shallow — the deepest part barely came up to the waist, so even elementary schoolers would be perfectly safe. Satisfied, she let the impatient Detective Boys run off to play.
"Well? What do you think of my scenery?" Yae Miko strolled over to Sonoko's side, a teasing lilt in her voice. "Surely it hasn't reached the point where you'd like to tear it all down, little miss?"
Sonoko could only give an embarrassed little laugh.
Nearly everyone was busy admiring the view. Hattori Heiji and Edogawa Conan, though momentarily stunned by the beauty around them, quickly recovered and remembered why they had come to the shrine in the first place.
"Miko-neechan, do you know where Ayato-niichan and the others are? We've got something we need to ask him. Could you take us to him?" Conan made his move first.
"What unfortunate timing," Yae Miko said with feigned regret. "The two Kamisato children are speaking with Ei right now. It may be a little while before they can see you."
Seeing the disappointment spread across Hattori and Conan's faces, she let out a light laugh and offered her consolation. "Now, now, no need to rush, you two. Relax a little — enjoy the scenery, draw a fortune slip and see how your luck is treating you today. The moment they finish their talk, I'll send for you. How does that sound?"
With no other options, they could only follow Yae Miko into the Grand Narukami Shrine proper.
"Wow! Up close, this cherry tree is even more breathtaking!" Sonoko marveled, though one thing still puzzled her. "Only... why is the trunk shaped like a fox? Can a tree even grow like that?"
"What's so strange about that?" Yae Miko replied with an airy smile. "This is my shrine, after all. Naturally it grew into the shape I like best."
"R-Right... of course," was all Ran could manage.
Conan said nothing.
His mouth twitched. That thing was definitely cultivated into that shape on purpose.
Then again, the Teyvat Syndicate had all sorts of bizarre reagents at their disposal — it wouldn't be surprising at all if they could pull something like this off.
Afterward, hearing that the shrine's fortune slips were famously accurate, everyone made a point of drawing one.
Even Conan, who insisted loudly that this was all superstition and that fortune slips were never actually right.
But he still remembered Mona's divinations — uncannily, infuriatingly accurate. And so, egged on by Hattori Heiji, he drew a slip too.
And then...
Conan stared at the two huge characters on his slip — GREAT CURSE — his mind a tangle of conflict.
So which is it — accurate or not?! He couldn't tell anymore.
Everyone else, Conan included, had drawn at least a Small Blessing. Xia Yu, meanwhile, had pulled the Great Blessing, earning a long stretch of Sonoko's envious wailing.
While the others were busy taking photos beneath the Sacred Sakura, a shrine maiden suddenly appeared at Hattori Heiji's side and informed him that the head of the Kamisato clan had finished his business and would see them now.
Without a moment's hesitation, Hattori and Conan followed the maiden's footsteps.
Unfortunately, the meeting yielded almost nothing for either of them.
This time even Conan's playing-cute-as-a-kid act was useless. Forget coaxing information out of their host — faced with Kamisato Ayato's gentle, unchanging smile, Hattori had nearly blurted out his list of suspects, and only Conan's timely intervention had stopped him.
On the walk back toward the Sacred Sakura, Hattori Heiji's face was grim. "Tch. That head of the Kamisato clan is a tough nut to crack. Kudou, d'you think he already knows which family was behind it?"
Conan replayed the expression on Kamisato Ayato's face when the old case had come up, and nodded with certainty. "Nine times out of ten, he does — and I'd bet he's already made arrangements. The match is tonight, after all. If he weren't already prepared, there's no way he'd still be sitting there looking that calm."