Chapter 116: The Master of Modern Deception

After briefly testing out the Soul Lotus body, Fujino had gotten used to controlling this new form. He examined his slender hands, stroked his chin, and murmured, "This body's coordination and flexibility are excellent... It's just a bit lacking in strength."

After all, it was a newly grown Soul Lotus, so its physical capabilities were naturally quite different from his original body, which had been enhanced by the system.

But these weren't major issues.

According to the Soul Lotus Cultivation Guide, the Soul Lotus could be upgraded. The resource required for upgrading was soul power...

Soul power could be obtained from the deceased through the Lotus Badge. Upgrading could enhance the Soul Lotus's physical abilities and, with a small probability, allow it to learn some of the common knowledge skills possessed by the deceased.

And those skills could be inherited by Fujino. After all, the Soul Lotus was also considered another incarnation of him.

In the Conan world, where people died every day, obtaining soul power was obviously much easier.

"How is this getting more and more mystical..." Fujino pondered and sighed softly. This concept of souls and such reminded him of a certain spirit medium transmigrator senior.

But this wasn't bad either. Having a substitute would make it much more convenient when carrying out dangerous missions. And since the Soul Lotus was strictly speaking a part of Fujino, the system's items and some functions could still be utilized.

Moreover, due to the "Soul Lotus Immortality" characteristic, he didn't need to worry about his own safety when using this form. After all, if the Soul Lotus died, it died. At worst, he could just throw it back into the bathtub and cultivate it for a few days.

...

Miyano Akemi gradually opened her eyes and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling above, looking a bit dazed.

"Awake?" Fujino stood by the bedside, looking down at the bewildered Miyano Akemi.

After some manipulation using the Puppetry skill, the current Miyano Akemi didn't resemble Miyano Akemi anymore.

Apart from slight adjustments to her height, her face and pupils had also been modified accordingly. Her pupil color had changed to the same jet black as Fujino's.

And her face had transformed into that of a young girl somewhat resembling Fujino.

Upon closer inspection, it was impossible to tell that this person was Miyano Akemi.

"Where am I... Who am I, and who are you?" The confused Miyano Akemi furrowed her brow. Looking at the unfamiliar man before her, she clutched her head and asked the three philosophical questions.

"Hmm... seems like amnesia?" Fujino stroked his chin.

The Soul Lotus Cultivation Manual did mention this. After the Soul Lotus was fully grown, it would lose all memories except for basic consciousness.

These memories could be recovered through upgrading...

But Fujino didn't intend to restore Miyano Akemi's memories. After all, an amnesiac Miyano Akemi was much easier to deceive than one with memories.

After pondering for a moment, he began his deception: "You're at my house now. My name is Fujino Doji, and your name is Fujino Akemi."

"My name is Fujino Akemi?" Miyano Akemi frowned upon hearing this.

Although the name felt somewhat familiar, why did she feel that it wasn't her name...

"That's right." Fujino nodded, continuing his deception: "Your name is Fujino Akemi... you're my cousin, my father's brother's daughter."

"Cousin?" Miyano Akemi was stunned, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.

Despite her doubts, she suddenly felt a sense of kinship with this stranger before her. That familiar feeling of blood connection couldn't be wrong.

Could it be that she really was this guy's cousin?

"But why can't I remember anything?" Miyano Akemi gently touched her forehead, looking dejected. "Not just you, I feel like my entire past is a blank slate."

"That's normal." Everything seemed to be within Fujino's expectations.

He picked up a medical record from the bedside and handed it to Miyano Akemi, saying, "You were in a car accident a while ago, and you've been in a coma since then... I only received the news a few days ago and brought you back from the hospital."

"The doctor said there was a chance of amnesia, but I didn't expect it to actually happen."

This medical record was forged by Fujino using the Virtual Identity Card. As the description said, the Virtual Identity Card had the abnormal ability to tamper with reality.

Not just the medical record, even household registration information, driver's license, and bank cards were all conjured up.

"I... was in a car accident?" Miyano Akemi took the medical record and examined it.

Lost in thought, she looked up at Fujino's sincere expression and was stunned again.

After a moment, she sighed and asked, "Besides you, do I have any other relatives?"

"Well, apart from my father who passed away a year ago, you don't have any other relatives for now. I only recently learned about you as my cousin, otherwise, I wouldn't have been the one to pick you up from the hospital..."

Just like that, under the persuasion of the master of modern deception, Bruce Fujino, who had been a lecturer in a pyramid scheme in his past life, Miyano Akemi accepted her new identity.

Although she still had many doubts in her heart, she took out her driver's license from her pocket, saw the name Fujino Akemi, and chose to believe Fujino.

As for her previous house...

She heard that it had been destroyed in an explosion. There were no survivors in the entire building...

Now, homeless and penniless, she could only temporarily live with her cousin Fujino, whom she had no memory of, in his four-story house.

...

Meanwhile, at the Mouri Detective Agency.

"Ran-neechan, you're not inviting Fujino-niichan over for dinner again, are you?"

"That's right."

At the door, Conan looked at Ran with a speechless expression. It seemed that in his memory, Fujino coming to the Mouri house for a free meal had become a regular occurrence.

He came here every few days...

Conan was already numb to it.

As for why Fujino often came to the Mouri house for meals, the only explanation was that why bother cooking yourself when you have a place to freeload!

Moreover, he could use Ran as a shield for his sudden improvement in cooking skills.

Besides, Ran's cooking was indeed good. Although Fujino had knowledge about cooking and could even make dishes glow with background music, in practice, his cooking wasn't as delicious as Ran's.

Maybe it was due to some kind of cooking soul?

Arriving at Fujino's house and taking the elevator to the fourth floor, Ran and Conan knocked on the door of Fujino's bedroom.

"Coming!"

After a moment, an unfamiliar woman with a mature appearance, wearing a red shirt and a white short skirt, opened the door.

"Excuse me, are you..." Ran stared at the unfamiliar woman, stunned.

Miyano Akemi looked at the girl outside the door, also curious.

Seeing the school uniform Ran was wearing, she asked with doubt, "Are you Fujino-kun's classmate?"

(End of Chapter)