T.A series Volume 2: The Illegitimate Extra

Chapter 3 - Cruelties of fame

As all of them headed down another slope, there were only 5 minutes away from Mr Muniko Tomio's residence.

"Neh Ranran."

"Yes, Shinichi?"Ranran was pushing her scooter, skating alongside the bicycle Shinichi and Emiko are on.

"About the movie we were talking about earlier, Ranran isn't into those kinds of FL characters, nah? The ones that are bright and intelligent."

"Eh?"Neither of the children was staring each other in the eye, as they had to pay attention to oncoming traffic."What makes you think of it that way?"

"The way you analyze the ML and FL was so well thought out, it sounded as if you are preparing to gather facts to expose one of the case suspects."Emiko couldn't help but notice.

"You ain't wrong, "Ranran hummed, "I do dislike them."

"Why?"

"If you ever come across meeting people like her, are you willing to sacrifice everything for her? Your dreams as a Tantei, even as far as to put their lives on the line before the dream could even begin.....all for a naive annoying girl who can't think for herself?"

"Hah!? Why would I do that!?"Shinichi became annoyed at that thought.

"Now you know. If anything, she is worst than the villainess in the movie."

"Eh!? Why do you think so?"Emiko questioned, "I read the synopsis of the movie, so far, the villainess had been nothing but cruel to separate them because of her unrequited feelings for the ML. Gaslighting his parents of the FL's true identity when the FL and the ML tried to keep their relationship a secret."

"Can you blame her? Before they took over the estate, she had the whole family fortune. Not to mention, she is a sensible person; after all, the will states that if the ML marries someone who would become his wife, the 'anyone' who becomes the lady of the manor gets to govern the estate. She is hardly qualified based on her infantile nature. The villainess had good cause to do so. There was no indication or evidence that she harboured romantic feelings for him."

Ranran listed out point after point as if she was is a lawyer.

"To be certain, the Villainess is a wicked character in terms of the things she committed, but the heroine is considerably worse. She is continuously playing the damsel in distress, without caring if this irritates and stresses the male protagonist or even the people around her. Perhaps villains deserve appropriate punishments, but it isn't ethically fair for characters in a story to die for a shrewd, horrible, exploitive, manipulative, and high ego male lead, as well as an innocent naive bright female lead, just to make both of their characters look good at the expense of other people's lives."

Shinichi and Emiko ain't going to argue with that, Ranran was right. The movie itself has some flaws of its own. Far too evident thanks to Ranran's observation. Ranran clicked her lips many times in disapproval before lamenting. "Why do people love watching these kinds of movies, are people with more brain cells becoming extinct in this world?"

Shinichi believes it to be the case.

.....

Soon, they finally made it to the hilltop estate. Shinichi gazed out at big houses in tree-lined streets. At last, they came to a stop in front of large metal gates supported by two stone pillars. Everyone got out and peered through the gates into a dark garden. The large house was almost lost to view behind thick trees and dense shrubbery.

"What a creepy place," Ran shuddered, "Are you sure Muniko-san lives here?"

Michio pressed a button on the gate and a woman's voice answered through a small, metal speaker. "Muniko residence."