Chapter 293: You Wanted to Soak

BONUS CHAPTER#1

In the dining room, everyone was enjoying dessert while taking turns for the bath.

Before long, "Uncle Yoshifusa" returned, all steamy, with a towel draped over his shoulder.

Jiangxia Tongzhi's gaze lingered on him—a freshly brewed shikigami clung to the fake Yoshifusa Yabuchi's short, sturdy legs like a well-trained calf ghost.

Once the bathroom was empty, the rest began taking their turns to bathe.

Around ten o'clock, Jiangxia strolled into the warm, steamy bathroom. The moment he stepped in, his foot landed squarely on a solid chunk of killing intent.

He instinctively scanned the room. Seeing no one else, he casually scooped up the killing intent and tucked it into his arms like an old friend.

Jiangxia wasn't surprised—he had seen this coming ever since spotting the ghost hanging off the fake Yoshifusa Yabuchi's leg.

As he recalled, the stepmother who'd shown up for the wedding banquet earlier had plotted to kill "Uncle Yoshifusa" during his bath. But what she didn't know was that this "old uncle" was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert. When suddenly stabbed in the back, he didn't scream—he counterattacked.

One move later, the stepmother found herself impaled by the kitchen knife still clutched in her own hand. First kill achieved—tragic, but ironically efficient.

The fake Yoshifusa Yabuchi stared dumbly at the body for a bit. This… this could count as self-defense, right? Probably not even jail time.

But also, if anyone found out, he'd definitely have to go to the police station. And if he left now, the real Yoshifusa Yabuchi's son—the Brazilian lad—would have to stay home alone tomorrow. That wouldn't do; he had to be present for the inheritance handover.

To make things worse, they'd already received two anonymous threats, and the dead stepmother only accounted for one of them. That meant there was still another shady character out there. The fake uncle couldn't just ditch the Brazilian and run to the cops.

So, after a bit of soul-searching, the fake uncle dragged the poor stepmother—who'd basically offered herself up as a sacrifice—to the courtyard well, tied her up with the rope, and dumped her inside. His plan: reveal everything after the will was read out tomorrow morning.

Thinking through this, Jiangxia decided it'd be best if the corpse showed up sooner rather than later.

From what he could tell, "Murderer No. 2" was a bit of a coward. With a little push, Jiangxia figured he could extract her killing intent easily.

If he wrapped this up tonight, he could catch the early train back to Tokyo—and maybe ride the coattails of whatever case Mami Endo stumbled into next.

Sure, he hadn't thought of any crimes specifically related to "live-action deduction games" yet, but those things practically begged for something to go horribly wrong. Like someone getting too into the roleplay and accidentally making a real corpse... and summoning a real ghost.

…

Jiangxia let his mind drift for a moment, then tucked the killing intent away and looked at the nearby wooden tub, full of hot water.

Technically, he should rinse off first before soaking.

But the idea of at least three uncles having already marinated in that tub made him hesitate. The water looked clear, sure—but emotionally, it wasn't.

Jiangxia leaned over and stared at the tub for a while, then slowly turned his head to look at the Tengu ghost floating beside him.

Ignoring the Tengu's slightly fluffed-up feathers, he whispered, "Go take a soak. Test the water temperature."

They were both from the same island. Culturally, communal bathing shouldn't be an issue for ghosts. Even the aunties earlier had soaked in the same tub.

Normally, without killing intent to fuel them, ghosts couldn't influence physical matter much.

But they could still sense a few things—like airflow, temperature, or resistance when passing through solid objects. That's why mermaid was always so happy swimming through various liquids.

Sure enough, the mermaid ghost beside him leapt into the tub, hugging the piece of killing intent she'd been playing with like a pool float, paddling around with glee.

Jiangxia: "…"

The Tengu, meanwhile, looked like it wanted no part of this.

It didn't like water. At all.

But even so, remembering Jiangxia's words, it didn't dare slack off. It slowly descended, wings beating gently as it hovered above the water, stretching out one ghostly leg and carefully dipping a translucent toe in.

The Tengu was clever. It had caught on that the real instruction was "test the water temperature," not "go for a soak."

Close enough.

Jiangxia, seeing the Tengu's extremely reluctant performance, sighed. He shifted the responsibility to the mermaid, letting the Tengu off the hook.

Gratefully, the Tengu zipped away from the water, shaking its foot in midair like it had touched a haunted puddle.

Jiangxia pulled a small stool over and sat down. After a while, the mermaid reported that the water was getting cold.

So, Jiangxia used the handheld shower head that still had some hot water left, letting the steam rise and cloak him like a diligent bath-goer.

Soon after, he returned to the dining hall, now also steaming like a freshly boiled dumpling.

When the host asked politely how the bath had been, Jiangxia answered honestly: "The water was a bit cold."

On the way back, Jiangxia had constructed a puppet and positioned it just outside the courtyard's side gate. It crouched behind the doorframe, sneakily peeking into the yard—striking the exact same pose Yusaku Kudo had used earlier.

When Hiromi Yabuchi heard Jiangxia say the water was cold, she immediately rose to go reheat the bath like the good host she was.

Jiangxia, still drying his hair, slipped past her and went back into the house.

But just as he was about to sit down, Hiromi Yabuchi's startled scream rang out from the courtyard—she'd spotted a "suspicious figure" peeking in from the side gate.

Thanks to the accumulated energy cores and the mermaid's assistance, the ghosts could now operate puppets to do very basic tasks on their own.

The moment Hiromi screamed, the puppet sprang to the side and vanished behind the doorway.

Jiangxia gave it a mental nod and dissolved the puppet.

Then he turned and ran toward the sound with everyone else, finding Hiromi Yabuchi sitting on the corridor floor, staring wide-eyed at the side gate.

In the original timeline, a similar event had occurred—but back then, the "suspicious figure" had been none other than Yusaku Kudo, sneaking around in full detective mode.

But for some reason, this time Yusaku was still snoring in the warehouse.

So Jiangxia had stepped into the role again—naturally.

He followed Hiromi's trembling finger to the empty side gate.

Then quickly shifted his gaze to the nearby well—the well where someone had already died—and asked with perfect confusion:

"Why is the water bucket tied up there?"

*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.

Progress: 6/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.

Progress:2/10*