Alisa left.
Players returned to their daily routines some attending classes, others exercising before all logging off.
The chat group exploded with messages.
Blank (Sora & Shiro): [This is strange; is there something wrong with the recent temperature?]
Demonic Hero: [What's the problem?]
Guitar Hero: [Winter is here, wear more clothes. Sportswear is always a must-have.]
Chiba's Fallen Saint Black Cat: [Winter? Wasn't it spring yesterday?]
Black Cat was the most surprised. she woke up to find her sisters in cotton padded jackets while she wore short sleeves. It felt like more than half a year had passed in the blink of an eye, and her worldview had become fragmented.
Miko: [Yes, yesterday was spring, now it's winter, that's normal, is there a problem?]
Girl, don't you feel awkward saying that?
Thunder Hammer User: [Found death! A way to observe the invisible boundary line!]
Kotoko Iwanaga: [This isn't about whether there's a problem or not! @Shaka! @Shaka!]
Shaka was also in a panic. He quickly checked the situation and soon discovered that the timeline for everyone who hadn't had their blessings inscribed was completely messed up. Or rather, those who had their blessings inscribed would never know what day it would be tomorrow.
Based on the anomaly, he created a small group for the younger players.
Shaka: [Okay, let me ask you a simple question: what was yesterday's date?]
Minoru Kageno: [Sunday, April 2, 2022.]
Shaka: [What about today?]
Off-screen, Shadow was utterly confused: That's of course...
Shaka: [I just checked my online time—it's December 25, 2021. Friday.]
Should I say, "Merry Christmas?"
Merry Christmas my foot!
This is insane.
ULTIMATE EVENT!
Shaka was no stranger to this situation. Or rather, it was already 2022, why were there still strange anomalies in Detective Conan's world of supposed science?
After seeing news about the Dorobiga Park incident, Shaka had a vague feeling something was wrong.
As expected...
"Damn Conan..."
At that moment, Kotoko Iwanaga sent a message.
Kotoko Iwanaga: [We have news about the person you asked me to investigate before.]
Shaka: [So fast?]
Kotoko Iwanaga: [With the help of a yokai, there aren't many secrets in the world that can be kept from me.]
To put it simply, the person behind the "Kamehameha-kun" alias is a frequent participant in academic forums and considered a minor celebrity. After investigation, their identity was confirmed:
[Makise kirisu, an 18-year-old genius researcher. Her father recently announced a press conference to launch his time machine. Given the current situation, I cannot provide a specific date.]
"Makise Kurisu? It's actually her?!"
A jumble of thoughts exploded in Shaka's mind.
He'd originally assumed time distortion was an anomaly caused by the Detective Conan world Shinichi Kudo's ingestion of APTX-4869 triggering a strange mechanism that birthed the "Death God Elementary School Student" anomaly.
But now it seemed the time issue wasn't just from Conan's intrusion, it was also from Steins;Gate! Or perhaps both.
In this bizarre, whimsical world of "everyday life," nothing felt ordinary anymore.
Shaka closed his eyes and rubbed his temples: "Let me think. When Shinichi Kudo took the shrinking pill, the world had its first person to reverse physical time. This destabilized global time flow. The second to interfere with time was Rintaro Okabe or Hououin Kyouma whose accidentally created PhoneWave which triggered a qualitative shift."
"Could there be a third? Like Homura Akemi? Dio Brando? Or... Yuu Otosaka?"
"No thinking about every 'everyday' character with time-altering abilities is too much!"
"Regardless, in today's world, each day seems to jump between different timelines!"
"No, that's not right. The world hasn't split into parallel universes yet!"
Shaka opened the small group chat and messaged Black Cat.
The black cat was clearly panicked: "What on earth is going on?!"
Shaka calmly replied: "Don't rush ask your family about their travel plans and dates for the next few days."
He then instructed Kotoko Iwanaga: "Check the list of victims from the Slit-Mouthed Woman case in recent days see if any have been resurrected!"
The group chat grew busy.
A moment later, Black Cat replied:
My family doesn't seem to have anything unusual. Plans made yesterday are still being done today. They can "predict" what day of the week tomorrow will be, whether they'll have work off, and arrange travel accordingly…
"Yeah?"
Next came Kotoko Iwanaga:
[Previously deceased individuals remain listed as deceased time hasn't been reset. This seems more like cognitive impairment than actual time reversal.]
Blank (Sora & Shiro):
We've reviewed the chat history. Here's our analysis: When we logged off, we were covered with blankets, and we confirmed no one else was around. This means the world is now regulating actions like a program. If parallel universes are involved, that would fall under the eighth dimension, currently what's happening is only explainable withina 4.5-dimensional framework.
Shaka added:
[The timeline converges. Regardless of the previous day's weather or environment, everyone seamlessly adapts to the next day as if it were logical.]
This was good news for now, the only major issue was being unable to determine the date; daily life wasn't significantly impacted.
Blank: [Indeed, I hardly go out anyway I've long forgotten what day it is.]
Tachibana Kanade: [The payment date has disappeared.]
Yui: [What are you guys talking about, meow!]
Minoru Kageno: [This is interfering with my training. I mean, not using AC in summer? Today it's 37°C, tomorrow it'll be 10°C—what season is it even now?]
Shaka suddenly thought crops might be affected, but quickly dismissed it. In the Detective Conan worldview, apocalyptic scenarios like mass crop failure didn't exist.
Thunder Hammer User: [I just asked Master tomorrow is winter break death! The day after tomorrow is spring break! The day after that is the weekend! No school death!]
Shaka brightened: "Today was supposed to be my manuscript deadline! Does this mean I'm no longer late?"
Feeling great.
Black Cat seemed troubled: "Does this mean my parents will never see payday?"
Shaka: [Maybe they'll get paid several days in a row instead...]
Kotoko Iwanaga:
There will be impacts. [Travel planning requires confirming departure dates for flights; long trips will need both spring and winter clothing.]
Shaka paused, then asked:
I just want to know one thing do you still think those tennis players are ordinary people?
Everyone: ...
Black Cat was silent for a moment before replying: "It seems not..."
Now that the world's anomalies were clear to her, she suddenly realized something:
[Then... you... you're saying...]
Shaka: [Yes, that's right. I said from the start I'd been transported to another world. Welcome to the Otherworld, Chiba's Fallen Saint.]
Black Cat: "..."
She stopped sending messages.
Shaka mused to himself: "We know the falna system can interfere with these anomalies. Could the 'gods' of this 'everyday' world also be immune? It's plausible maybe this was created by some god who just didn't want to go to school."
In conclusion, the current time distortion had little impact on daily life. For younger players, it was a bit troublesome, but most were either shut-ins or had chuunibyou tendencies so their fear was low. Some had even fantasized about such things before, only deepening their adolescent delusions.
Shadow types surely felt a sense of pride, as if everyone else was blind while only they saw the truth.
Shaka took a deep breath: "There's only so much I can do. The real solution lies with that 'god', maybe she'll tire herself out and things will return to normal."
He frowned: "The key is to prevent further deterioration. We must prohibit any attempts to adjust the timeline or travel to the past to avoid large-scale convergence. Makise Kurisu is critical. We also need to find professionals to solve this time problem."
...
"The first step is to stop the time machine's development. Then we need to secure the PhoneWave before Hououin Kyouma discovers what it can do!"