Chapter 31

At the same time, Koizumi Akako had not yet slept. On a whim, she took out her tarot cards.

A moment later, a smile suddenly appeared at the corners of her mouth:

"How interesting. That guy Kuroba seems to have taken the fall for someone else."

"However, the person who framed him is no simple character. Who could it be?"

Waves of curiosity surged in Akako's heart.

Akaso Kaze was very displeased.

All four black cats had been finished off by the man in black.

The ground was covered in blood.

The bloodstains were easy to handle; a water-type magic spell washed them clean.

The Water Pillar Technique was truly a great method for cleaning.

But how should he deal with the cat corpses and their souls?

Hirota Kenzou, inside the space, became excited.

He had long been hoping for cats to come and keep him company.

He jumped up and down, waiting for the cat souls to be collected into the soul space.

Akaso Kaze used his Space Eye to take a look; the souls of the four cats were still there, right on their own corpses.

Just as he was about to use his Mind Hand to put them into the space, his heart stirred, and he stuffed one of the cat souls back into its body.

[Ding, Host has self-taught and created a Possessed Cat Puppet. Obtained reward: Spell of Possession (Basic).]

[Spell of Possession (Basic): Allows the soul of a human or animal to possess the corpse of a human or animal, enabling the soul to control the corpse for free movement, or to control it using magic threads.]

Akaso Kaze’s eyes lit up, and he took Hirota Kenzou out and threw him into the body of a black cat.

You wanted to harm cats, did you? Let’s see how you like being a cat.

The possessed black cat wore a look of utter confusion.

It stood up, raised its two front paws, then helplessly put them back down.

It took a few steps with a cat’s gait, feeling quite strange.

Then, suddenly remembering something, it lowered its cat head in terror.

It’s over, it’s gone, completely gone!

The soul inside the cat body instantly swelled, exceeding the size of the black cat’s body.

Yo, it’s angry.

Akaso Kaze smiled slightly.

Magic Absorption.

Zzz.

The soul shrank again.

After a few back-and-forth attempts, Hirota Kenzou finally resigned himself to his fate, revealing a look of despair.

"So what if I possessed a female cat? What’s the big deal?"

Akaso Kaze curled his lip in disdain.

"Who else wants to become a cat?"

Akaso Kaze glanced at the space.

All eight souls shook their heads.

"Heh, since there are no volunteers, I’ll have to make it mandatory."

Kishida, who had lost his head, and Chikako, who had been turned into a puppet, couldn't be used, leaving only five souls...

Perfect, let’s use the three father-in-law and son-in-law of the Hatamoto family.

Four black female cats stood side by side in front of him, looking blank.

Akaso Kaze dropped a pile of rags.

"Go on, clean the room, one cat each. Whoever finishes first can return to the soul space to rest."

Although the bloodstains had been washed away, the task of wiping things dry still needed to be done.

Looking at the four cat puppets with zero motivation, Akaso Kaze revealed an evil smile.

"If you don't finish, I'll throw you outside. I hear there are many stray cats nearby, and they're all males..."

The four cats immediately took action, grabbing rags and starting to clean.

Watching them run back and forth, Akaso Kaze was very satisfied.

This is great; from now on, I don't even need servants.

Inside the classroom of Class 2-B at Teitan High School.

"What? You happened to encounter a case again? And with Mr. Akaso?"

"Damn it! Damn it! Ran, you are just too hateful! Why didn't you call me and tell me to come over?"

"I am super into Mr. Akaso right now!"

Sonoko transformed into a fangirl, reaching out to slap Ran’s desk "pa-pa" in protest.

Ran gave a sheepish smile: "Sonoko, you’ve been obsessed with Kaitou Kid lately, how can you have a foot in two boats?"

"As for Kaitou Kid, I’m just his fan."

Sonoko emphasized.

"But it’s different with Mr. Akaso. He’s an Onmyoji, he can solve cases, and most importantly, he’s so handsome... Wow, he’s just too handsome. Whenever I think of him, I can’t help but get excited."

Ran looked at Sonoko and thought to herself: With you being such a fangirl, I’m definitely not introducing you to Mr. Akaso.

At the neighboring Teitan Elementary School, Conan was distributing Detective Badge.

"Wow, this is awesome."

"With these badges, we can officially become a Detective Group and accept commissions."

"Then we’ll have endless money and endless eel rice." This was the gluttonous Genta.

"I will become the famous detective Ayumi, and many people will ask for my autograph." This was the cute Ayumi.

"I will become the cold-case terminator publicly praised by Interpol." This was the dreaming Mitsuhiko.

"I really shouldn't have given these guys badges..." This was the regretful Conan.

"Can you guys help me find my missing cat?"

This was the squinty-eyed classmate who came to commission the Detective Group.

In the evening, as usual, Akaso Kaze continued to walk the cats.

Although these cute little cats had become cat puppets and no longer needed to eat, drink, or excrete, they had to exercise frequently.

Otherwise, their limbs would become increasingly stiff, eventually turning into zombie cats that could only jump stiffly on four legs.

There were no souls in the cat puppet bodies following Akaso Kaze.

The possession spell requires a large amount of magic support.

Either use the soul's own magic, or Akaso Kaze has to provide it.

Therefore, when walking the cats, he used puppet control.

Maintaining magic threads is more economical than the possession spell.

His left hand controlled the eight left cat legs.

His right hand controlled the eight right cat legs.

Left foot, right foot, left-right-left.

The four cat puppets walked down the street with neat but stiff steps.

After walking a few streets, several police cars were blocking the street ahead.

A police officer came up: "Sir, the road ahead is temporarily impassable, please... uh, are you Akaso-san? Sorry, I didn't recognize you for a second, my apologies!"

Akaso Kaze was now quite famous in Tokyo.

He was not only rich, but also a very powerful Onmyoji and had close ties with the Hatamoto family.

More importantly, he had a good relationship with Inspector Megure and had helped solve several cases.

So many police officers recognized him.

"What's going on here? Has another case occurred?"

Akaso Kaze asked curiously.