So?

"…"

The flames were leaping, the ashes were flying, and Ichijō Mirai was silent.

In the silence, for a few moments, he was quietly thinking: Is it possible that she has more than one 'fox'?

Could it be that she was too afraid of the horrible devil to speak ill of him?

It can't be that she really thinks he's kind, can it?

Ichijō Mirai was happy to accept this kind of talk, both from Gin and Morofushi Hiromitsu. After all, one of them took the initiative to invite the god, even though it was a big invitation, but it was a self-inflicted pain in the ass, and he had to eat it as much as he wanted to eat it, and had never complained about it, and he was quite diligent and conscientious.

The other is not too serious by his scourge, and ignore the fact that not to talk about, just say that he has not helped his classmates it!

And they've all been with him for a while now, and they've long since passed the red-hot state of hate and have steadily moved into the orange-hot stage of zero negative comments.

But Suzuki Sonoko...

Shouldn't she be in the red?

How did she manage to associate 'kindness' with a word that is not exactly the same as Ichijō Mirai's, but two words that have nothing to do with each other?

Ichijō Mirai turned around and carried the child over the obstacle, then helped the old man to sit over it, and so on several times, crossing the obstacle point and continuing to clear the obstacles on the intended route.

He didn't seem to notice the conversation between the trapped people at all.

So after a few moments, the children and the old man who noticed him turn his head and consciously stop started talking again, the latter being skeptical, feeling it was not polite to assume that the good Samaritans who had intruded into the danger to help them were not human beings.

Given that Neko is more of a youkai than a god... it does seem that the person who saved their life is not a human being.

Besides, how old is my kid?

Even if it's true that 'Suzuki-san worships a fox', it's probably just a child's serious playful behavior, which doesn't mean it's the same for adults, or that Suzuki's family worships a fox, or that the most important thing for a child is to stay away from it, instead of poking their head in curiosity.

The right tone of voice and distrust are the best motivators for those who want to talk, and the child immediately appealed in a low voice: "No, Suzuki-san isn't about the same age as me, she's our senior, and we know her because she's the one who was kidnapped by the robbers a while ago!"

"The news has been on TV for a long time, and the teachers have hired someone to talk to us about how to protect ourselves in such situations, and after analyzing what happened to Suzuki, the teachers trust her! She's not a child who doesn't know any better!"

He added, "And it's not just Suzuki-san, recently Suzuki-san's sister and brother have been picking her up and dropping her off at school, and they were the ones who said that Suzuki-san's family was making offerings to the foxes, and that they were trying to protect the animals, and that it wasn't just childish play behavior."

The child's words were repeatedly ambiguous, and when he said 'older sister and older brother', he was clearly confused as to whether or not they were Suzuki Sonoko's older siblings, and when he said 'protecting animals', he was also confused, and clearly didn't understand how to protect animals, but when he said that it wasn't childish playfulness, he was proud of it, and proudly lifted up his chin.

He choked again and immediately retracted.

The child moved up the wet shirt covering his mouth and nose, maintaining his pride, "Suzuki-san emphasized the 'very' several times when she said that 'Fox-sama' was kind!"

He mimicked, "Very, very... very kind!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that Ichijō Mirai in front of him turned his head and glanced at himself, and in the smoke, those red eyes seemed to be gazing deeply into his own, and it was suddenly so eerie that one could savor the subtle, unspeakable threat: I'll always be looking at you, all the time.

Like he'd said something wrong.

"Uh," the child subconsciously scrunched his neck again, then snapped back to his senses, thinking it was probably just an illusion, and held out his arm curtly, 'Thank you, 'Fox' brother."

Ichijō Mirai carried him to the other side of the barrier and smiled, "You're welcome."

Adding fuel to the fire, he could only announce the only good news, "Three minutes tops, and we'll be out of here."

The trapped people's spirits were lifted by these words.

After carrying the men, Ichijō Mirai continued to clear the obstacles, and without looking back, instructed caution, "When we get out, I'll lead you to the seventh floor, and if it's about time, someone will meet you on the seventh floor, and you'll follow him as he continues to retreat downstairs, or, if the time doesn't quite work out, you'll be on your own down the stairs," he said.

"There are no objects stacked in the hallway, there is no fire at the moment, only smoke, be careful to minimize smoke inhalation when you go downstairs."

"Is that okay?"

Letting themselves down the stairs was fine, the trapped people were just trapped, not just chicks who followed in their footsteps, and even though they felt uneasy about leaving Ichijō Mirai, who had protected them so well, they could accept it because the blessing was an unexpected blessing.

The old man who had just spoken to the child hesitantly responded, "Yes, I'll keep that in mind."

He looked at Ichijō Mirai, who didn't refute being called 'Fox' and simply acquiesced, and inquired in a low voice, "That, my lord...?"

I'd rather believe it than not, "If you need an offering..."

Halfway through his sentence, just as he said the keyword, the old man realized that Ichijō Mirai, as if he had triggered an activation word, almost immediately looked back with a smile.

He was smiling.

Smile, generally speaking, is a sign of goodwill, but sometimes it's not the same, and people who are in danger are always a little bit sharper than usual, in the first moment, the old man smelled a sense of danger that seems to have no source, but pervades the sense of danger, like walking through a temple and seeing a statue of a god that is high up and looking down with its head hung down, the statue of the god is of course smiling, but that kind of inhuman sense of pressure is also there.

At the same time, the old man's mouth was already moving, "So you have a companion?"

Smoothly changing the subject and skipping a section, he immediately nodded once again, "Yes, yes, yes, we'll definitely do as we're told."

Ichijō Mirai: "..."

Never mind.

He turned back and hastily cleared the last bit of obstacles, "Come on over."

This 'rescue through the window into the depths of the supermarket' was just an attempt, but it was a success.

Not only did he manage to get out of the supermarket in one go, but he even managed to get out in about the same amount of time as Ichijō Mirai had originally estimated, and when he arrived at the seventh floor with his men, he was just in time to hear the sound of rapid footsteps, followed by Morofushi Hiromitsu, who came rushing up the stairs.

Morofushi Hiromitsu had not been seen for some time, his clothes were dirty and torn, and the part of his face that was exposed was a mixture of red and black, black where the ash had rubbed on him, and red where his cheeks had been smothered by the long hours of being in the fire.

He ran all the way up the stairs, slowing down only when he saw that there were people on the seventh floor.

Soon, he found Ichijō Mirai in a crowd of dusty people and handed him three respirators.

Ichijō Mirai only took two, "They're not in good shape, you should get them some oxygen and take them down, I have to go."

I've got to go." And then he disappeared down the stairwell in a hurry.

Ichijō Mirai was always like this, Morofushi Hiromitsu had gotten used to it, and was relieved to see that his hands didn't stop for a moment, skillfully putting on the respirators of the trapped people, while his eyes glanced in the direction where there wasn't a single figure left.

Those injured...

After quickly replenishing the oxygen for the two trapped people, he started to replenish the oxygen for the old man, when Morofushi Hiromitsu's corner of the eye suddenly caught a flash of black color, he subconsciously looked up, and saw the corner of a black coat flashing in the stairwell about one floor above, and the edge of the staircase revealing the edges of a black leather shoe.

*

"A man in black."

Conan repeated.

When he mentioned the man in black, he thought of the organization, so he was quite puzzled, "Who in the organization is petty and hates Mr. Mirai, and is seeking revenge?"

When he was asked about words like petty-minded, hating Mr. Mirai, and bad guy, which all carried negative buffs, he immediately answered: "Gin!"

It's not like Gin's so bad that he can't do such a thing!

"Is Gin trying to pick a fight with a good police officer because he has a grudge against him for something? He's the kind of cold-blooded, ruthless guy who would burn down a Beika department store!"

Akai Shūichi was silent.