Otherwise, you can find another savior.

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"So what's your reason for coming to this singularity, mage?" Shiomi continued to ask.

“I feel like I’m being interrogated…” Aoko’s face darkened slightly with displeasure, then returned to normal. “Actually, I observed a singularity and thought it might be related to me, so I jumped from the future to here in 2001.”

“But you are indeed dead. Even if we send our future selves from different points in time to this place to resolve the singularity, once the singularity ends and the human reasoning calculations begin, wouldn’t your death be certain?” tide Jian said.

“Your observation is correct. It seems you have a good understanding of some details of human nature,” Aoko said. “However, the singularity has not disappeared yet, so the deaths that occur here will not affect my future self for the time being. My future self lost information when I saw that I was here, which is why the ‘second Aoko,’ that is, me, came here.”

As she said this, she revealed a confident yet slightly foolish smile: "As for my death here, consider it a temporary debt. Once the singularity is resolved, this debt will disappear, and there's no need to worry about the human reasoning problem!"

“Magicians are really convenient. I really hope that those humans who died in the singularities can also survive like this.” Shiomi chuckled to herself. “Anyway, I think I understand now. Your method is similar to the Stand called D4C in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Except that Stand pulls in your parallel world self, while you capture your self from different timelines vertically. In the end, you can bring them to the singularities one after another, continuously.”

"No, no, this should be described using a rocket pencil analogy, or at the very least, a vertical version of Zelrich's magic," Orange suddenly retorted, her glasses reflecting a strange light.

"What are you talking about? Back in the 80s and 90s when we were young, JOJO was already very famous!" Shiomi insisted.

Aoko looked tired: "...Although I'm a little reluctant, I also think that my older sister's analogy is more appropriate..."

Yu-chu, on the other hand, looked speechless and did not comment on the disagreement.

The only non-mystical ordinary person and detective, Tsukiji, was completely bewildered, though he seemed to be trying very hard to understand.

"Tsk..." tide Jian clicked her tongue as if admitting defeat, then raised her eyelids, "Compared to this, don't you guys think someone is missing? I noticed it when we were in the hall earlier."

“You mean—” Orange thought for a moment.

"Shizuki-kun?" Arisu looked at Tsukiji. "I haven't seen him today either. Do you know where he went?"

Chapter Seventy-Six: Orange's "Further Progress"

Shiomi refers to the young man named Shizuki Kusajuro.

When I arrived at the hotel yesterday, among the guests resting in the lobby, there was only one young man who didn't say a word and quietly and calmly observed everything that was happening in the lobby.

Judging from Kuonji Arisu's reaction, the young man was an acquaintance of hers, and it seemed that he had been called over to help Arisu.

But in the hall, apart from Ryougi Shiki's husband and daughter who remained in the room, Shizuki Sojuro was another absent person, and no one reported his whereabouts.

"Oh, you mean him? He said he'd help me look around the area, and then he never came back." Tsukiji said quite calmly, "Don't worry, even if Aozaki died ten times, that guy wouldn't necessarily die once. He'll probably come back on his own in a few days at most. After all, he's always been the type who can live on without a care in the world, no matter what happens."

"...Huh?" Aoko's face darkened again.

Arisu also agreed: "In a sense, Tsukiji's view is not wrong."

"Is that some kind of large dog that likes to run around everywhere?"

Shiomi wasn't doubting Kusajuro; she was just wondering if there was a second dead person or something.

Based on Shiomi's intuition honed on the battlefield, Shizuki Kusajuro is actually the type least likely to kill.

Even though he could tell at a glance that the young man's body had undoubtedly undergone countless trials and tribulations, and if it were used to kill, Kusajuro could easily become a first-rate assassin.

"Forget it, since I'm coming back and I'm not worried about dying out there, then it's nothing."

So Shiomi gave up on pursuing this matter and turned to continue questioning Aozaki Aoko.

"You just said one after another, does that mean that Aozaki Aoko, who appears in this singularity, can only exist at any given time... no, should it be that only one of her can be alive?" Shiomi leaned against the armrest of the sofa and asked with narrowed eyes.

Aoko acknowledged this: "Your judgment is correct. Putting aside things like parallel worlds, I, who traveled through time, cannot participate in events where 'I' already exist. If it's possible to jump, it must be in a situation where I no longer exist. Death is just one manifestation of this."

“And what about people other than you?” Orange asked. “Like us?”

This question stumped Qingzi: "Big sister, I'm not sure I can answer this question. After all, I didn't understand what you just said about spirit particle transfer. Anyway, it's not the same as my jump, so the rules should be different too."

"Is that so?" Shiomi responded faintly, and then fell into thought again.

When Aoko was explaining her situation, Shiomi immediately thought of herself.

If it was Chaldea's spiritual transfer that caused the phenomenon to saturate, leading to the disappearance of "Shiomi and Morgan in 2001," then it's actually not so bad.

Once the singularity is resolved, "Shiomi and Morgan from 2001" can return here, without even remembering what happened.

But if it's unrelated to spirit particle transfer...

What caused the disappearance of "Shiomi and Morgan in 2001"?

Thinking of this, he glanced at the blue spots on his eyes again, then lowered them once more.

Orange, who was continuing her discussion with Aoko and the others, noticed Shiomi's subtle reaction in her silence, but she remained expressionless and continued talking to Aoko and the others.

"But I didn't expect my older sister to be here too. Did you really fight with 'the first Aoko' and then take advantage of the chaos to kill me?" Aoko began to suspect her older sister again.

Because there is no information exchange between the first and second instances, Aoko has no idea what happened yesterday.

For her, these are just the companions she's met with Orange.

Orange laughed heartily: "You've played against me before, haven't you? Back then, you were just a fledgling magician, and you utterly defeated me. How could I possibly beat someone who has improved?"

"To admit so easily that you're not as good as Aoko, Miss Orange has really changed a lot compared to before." Ayumi quietly expressed her opinion, she was also somewhat surprised by Orange's casualness in this matter.

"Well... how should I put it, sis, didn't you have a bunch of helpers this time? I noticed just now, those two pairs of twin friends of yours aren't ordinary people, are they?" Aoko looked bewildered. "Especially this one over here who's a suspect... what's his name again?"

She realized she had forgotten to ask Xijian's name earlier.

"My fiancé, Shiomi Tenki." Orange suddenly started talking nonsense.

This left Xijian speechless, but she held back from complaining. It was obvious that Chengzi felt that since Qingzi had already "refreshed" things, teasing her sister like that yesterday wasn't enough, so she had to add some more excitement.

“Wait a minute, Miss Orange, didn’t you just say yesterday—” Yuzhu was about to correct him.

“That was just so as not to scare you.” Orange pushed up her glasses, the lenses flashing eerily. She looked at her sister with a smug and mocking expression. “Actually, I’m already planning to give up the name Aozaki and change my surname to Shiomi Orange.”

"Abandon... how can you just say something like that so casually..." tide Jian suppressed a laugh and complained in a voice only she could hear.

Aoko instantly turned into a cat with its fur standing on end: "Huh? What the heck is Weiweiwei's fiancé? And what's with that smug look on your face? Are you making fun of me?"

Then Aoko also had no reaction to "giving up the name of Aozaki". Instead, she was shocked because her older sister had a fiancé and could not accept the reality of being left behind.

"This Qingzi is surprisingly quick to react." Orange's smile deepened.

Yuzhu let out a slight sigh: "As expected, no matter how many years have passed, Aoko is still not mature enough in some aspects."

"Wait a minute, Yuzhu! Which side are you on?" Aoko turned around and asked Yuzhu again.

Tsukiji is now in a real bind.

He felt a mix of joy and worry that Aozaki Aoko's personality was still the same as it had been in her student days.

As the orange was lit, the topic of discussion completely veered off course.

After a while, the commotion finally subsided. Aoko was taken to a room by Arisu, while Tsukasa went downstairs to continue questioning the others and searching for clues.

"Sorry, I said that without your permission." Orange lit a cigarette and leaned against the balcony doorway to smoke.

tide Jian smiled and said, "I wish it were true."

"Really..." Orange remained noncommittal. "So what are your thoughts on this? Is the person who could kill Aoko with the Rune of Death among us, or is it someone else entirely?"

“Who else could it be?” tide Jian simply turned her head naturally, looking at Chengzi with a hint of helplessness. “You may not have any clue, but I saw it at a glance. The person who killed… ‘your first sister’ is undoubtedly ‘me’.”

"what?"

Orange thought she had misheard, and the burning cigarette almost slipped from her hand.

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Brainstorming

The cigarette burned slowly, and when the ash was about to break off and fall, Orange shook off the remaining ash from the portable ashtray and took another puff.

The cigarette butt glowed brightly for a moment before resuming its original burning state.

"You're the one who killed 'the first Aoko,' why do you say that?" Orange asked Shiomi slowly, still leaning against the French windows on the terrace.

Even if she had considered the possibility of taking Shiomi back to Misaki to fight, she never imagined that one day she would hear Shiomi say, "I killed your sister."

Hearing these words, Orange didn't feel sad; instead, she felt an incredible surprise.

“The technique.” Shio thought for a moment. “Although I haven’t examined the body carefully, judging from the state of death of ‘the first Aoko’ and the way it was done, it was clearly my doing.”

Orange smiled, pursing her lips: "But didn't you say before that you weren't the only one who could use the Primal Death Rune, and that we were all suspects?"

"That was just a joke. No matter what, I don't think you would actually do such a thing," tide Jian chuckled. "Even if it were you, Orange, there would be no need to take action in such a singularity. Besides, you don't seem to have any attachment to your sister anymore, do you?"

“That’s true.” Orange was glad that tide Jian trusted her so much.

"It might be a bit of hindsight to say this now, but your sister has already proven that she wasn't killed in the singularity and that we can just wait for the results of the human reasoning calculations," tide Jian said calmly.

"Assuming your judgment is correct, when did you make your move?" Orange asked. "You spent very little time alone yesterday, and during that time, 'First Aoko' was still alive. Besides, Morgan looked after you when you first fell asleep last night..."

Orange wanted to say, "Could it be that Shio-mi secretly slipped out and killed Ao-ko before Morgan woke up, and then returned to the room?"

But Morgan, who slept on the floor with Shio last night, would have been the same even if it were anyone else. Being held like that, Shio couldn't possibly have done this without alerting him.

Things suddenly became interesting.

Although Orange still doesn't believe that Shiomi killed Aoko, since Shiomi has said so, she's happy to have a brainstorming session with Shiomi.

After stubbing out her cigarette and closing the ashtray lid, Orange went back to her room, sat down next to Shio, and continued speaking while looking at his profile:

"Let's put feasibility aside for now. Why did you want to kill Aoko? Was it because, as you said yesterday on the mountain road, you saw a living mage and wanted to try killing her?"

"Not necessarily. What if it was 'me' who was lustful and had ulterior motives, and then your sister resisted, so I accidentally killed her?" Xi Jian put forward an even more outrageous statement.

Orange paused for a moment, as if processing the lame joke. After a long while, she burst out laughing, leaning affectionately against tide Jian, trembling as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“This is too outrageous. Let’s assume that’s a possibility… Do you really think Aoko suits your taste?” Orange asked.

“Not at all.” tide Jian shook her head and answered frankly, “To be honest, it’s the type I’m least interested in.”

"Oh?"

“Actually, after meeting your sister, I found that Chengzi is indeed more charming. Just in terms of appearance and demeanor, even now without makeup, Chengzi has a natural charm that your sister could never imitate in several lifetimes.” Xijian helped Chengzi sit down and told her her thoughts, “That’s why I’m so fascinated by Chengzi and can’t forget her even after thousands of years.”

Orange looked thoughtful: "I hope you can repeat that sentence to Aoko later."

"Hey, is this the point...?" Shio grinned.

"So lust at first sight is out of the question. If it were me, maybe there would be some justification." Orange snapped her fingers. "I don't doubt your ability to kill Aoko, who appeared in the singularity, but—"

"—Even I don't know why I killed her, right?" Shio nodded.

"You lack both the motive and the timing. Even if someone wanted to pin the crime on you, it would be more difficult than what happened at the Twin Towers," Orange continued. "So even though, in terms of the method, it's entirely clear that you killed 'the first Aoko,' and you yourself believe it, this hypothesis can still be ruled out... Hmm?"

Just as she was about to reach a conclusion, Orange suddenly noticed something and narrowed her eyes.

When Shiojian mentioned that she killed Aoko, she deliberately emphasized the first-person pronoun "I," as if she were talking about... someone else.

Coincidentally, there is indeed a second Shiomi Tenkei at this singularity.

"Shiomi Tenkei in 2001".

They are still missing.

"You finally noticed? Actually, up until now I've been talking about 'me in 2001'." Shiomi looked at Touko slyly.

"They're actually using this kind of psychological manipulation?" Orange began to think again. "So, let's rethink this: if the missing 'Tianxi from 2001' is the murderer who killed Qingzi... there's plenty of time and space, but what about the motive?"

“That’s also a question I want to know.” Shiomi shook her head.

"Hmm, it seems there's no answer." Orange sighed helplessly. "And this possibility has another flaw: could 'you from 2001' really kill Aoko from the future?"

Using the experience of fighting Shiomi at the Twin Towers at the end of 2003 as a reference, he was indeed a much more powerful magician than Touko at the same time, but compared to the magician Aoko, there was still a gap.

“If I use the Noble Phantasm that my master bestowed upon me when I graduated, killing your sister wouldn’t be difficult.” Shiomi thought for a moment, “But if I only rely on the Primal Rune, especially the Rune of Death… even a sneak attack wouldn’t be able to kill your sister cleanly.”

“We’ve hit a paradox,” Orange said.

Shiomi now has the ability to kill Aoko quickly and effectively.

However, Shiomi in 2001 did not possess this ability.

There is a 6000-year gap in cultural heritage between the two periods of "Shio-mi Ten-kyu".

“So we still need to verify this. I’ll discuss this with Morgan and the others later.” Shio-mi put her arm around Orange’s waist. “But you should focus on enjoying your hot spring trip. I’ll handle this.”

"I might not be able to concentrate completely," Orange said with a helpless smile, but she still agreed to Shio's request.

She could feel tide Jian's hand moving upwards along her waist, and he gently pushed her down onto the sofa.

"If I'm not mistaken, you did it just before you came to the bathhouse, right?" Orange asked.

"So what? Isn't that what a hot spring trip is all about?" Shiomi frankly expressed her desire.

She smiled sweetly and hugged him.

The brainstorming session is over; now it's time for the physical exercise.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Resting in the Cedar Tree

"Tianxi, you've come at the right time. The mutton soup here is delicious. Why don't you try some?"