Not a detective

Page 5

"That's impossible. Even someone with low intuition can still be affected by the existence of monsters to some extent. For example, the former members of the mystery club left because they felt uncomfortable, even though I didn't have monsters attack them. Asakawa-kun, don't you feel anything at all?"

"No," Asakawa Riku answered decisively.

"But... the mountain child is attacking you!"

Chizuko's voice trembled.

In her eyes, the mountain child clinging to the sole of the shoe was opening its sharp teeth and biting Asakawa Riku's fingers.

Logically speaking, the mountain child is a gentle and friendly yokai. Even if it sometimes acts up, it only stays within the realm of pranks and will not actively attack humans.

This reaction was completely unexpected, which is why she was anxious and told Yama-tong "you can't do that" to stop him.

"I don't feel anything."

Asakawa Riku frowned.

If Chizuko-senpai is a fraud, then her acting skills are just too good...

For example, that reaction of almost falling down in a moment of panic just now is something that absolutely cannot be faked.

Either she is truly terminally ill and deeply convinced, or it really... exists?

He shook his hand, and the grimacing mountain boy slammed onto the floor with a thud, his fingers completely intact without any wounds.

Chizuko gasped.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing today.

The earlier statement that the Yamawara is friendly does not mean that it is a harmless monster, as it also possesses immense strength.

Every mountain boy who grows arms and legs is a champion-level strongman who can help the woodcutters in the mountains carry timber, thus easily lifting Chizuko's weight.

Even a young kitten, when it fights seriously, is no match for hunting dogs and wolves.

Although I don't know why it went berserk today, logically speaking, if it had bitten down like that, it would have definitely been able to break Asakawa's finger.

But... Asakawa was completely unharmed, and didn't even feel any pain...

Chizuko felt like her brain was about to explode. In the year since the mystery club was founded, this was probably the closest she had ever come to fulfilling her club duties, aside from making tea and reading every day.

She finally came to a conclusion, pointing at Asakawa Riku:

"Asakawa-kun, I think you probably have the same constitution as me, but in two extremely opposite ways."

"Your inspiration isn't just 'low' like most people, it's completely 'zero'!"

The Spring of the Earth Spider: Chapter Eight - Proof of the Devil

Zero inspiration?

"It means you have absolutely no inspiration, which means you can't sense the existence of monsters, and you are completely isolated from this aspect."

"That's really disheartening to hear."

Asakawa Riku frowned and countered, "In other words, there's no way to prove what you're saying is true, is there, Kazamatsuri-senpai?"

He put down the shoe he was holding; it felt strange to talk while holding that thing up.

"If there really aren't any monsters here, then you could say that."

"Um……"

Chizuko was stumped by the question, but she tilted her head and racked her brains for a while, but couldn't come up with a good solution.

Even the mountain children couldn't touch him, so what kind of great demon's power would be needed?

She stretched her foot out, her toes, encased in white socks, slowly hooking the leather shoe over, then tucking it in, hefting it a couple of times to tighten it.

At the same time, the mountain boy emerged from underground and supported the position of the shoe sole.

"I see... This predicament is like 'proof of the devil'."

"Proof of the devil?"

Riku Asakawa was drawn to the term.

"Yes, the proof of the devil, in Latin it is probato diablolica, a trick often used in rhetoric and sophistry."

Chizuko's accent when speaking foreign languages ​​was adorable. She stood up and wrote these words on the blackboard in a serious manner:

"Origin is a religious term. Long, long ago in ancient Europe, someone sold their soul to the devil, but later wanted to go back on their word and tried to reason with the devil to get their soul back. The devil then said: How can you prove that this soul belongs to you?"

She turned around, lowered her voice, and earnestly imitated the hoarse devil.

"A person's soul should have its own unique mark or symbol, right?" Asakawa Riku tried to answer.

"No, no, no, that won't do. Don't discuss the essence of the soul. This is not a religious question, but a logical one."

Chizuko wagged her finger: "The proof of the devil means [an insurmountable problem], a problem that is difficult to confirm, a problem that cannot be directly stated. Let's take another example. I just mentioned the devil. Asakawa-kun, do you think the devil exists?"

"Since you say there are monsters, then there must be demons too, right?"

Asakawa Riku did not give a direct answer, instead throwing the question back at her.

Chizuko smiled and said, "The answer is, I don't know."

"You do not know?"

"Yes, I have seen monsters, but I have never seen demons, those winged creatures with red skin and horns on their heads."

Chizuko finally revealed the answer: "But, although I have never seen one, I cannot deny the existence of demons."

Asakawa Riku seemed to have grasped the key point.

"You mean..."

"Yes, its original intention is that in logical argumentation, proving 'non-existence' is much more difficult, or even impossible, than proving 'existence'."

Chizuko lifted her foot again and pointed to the sole of her shoe: "For example, if I want to prove that 'youkai exist,' I only need to find one youkai, a flawless argument; but if I want to prove that 'demons do not exist,' that is impossible."

Asakawa Riku seemed to understand something, and picked up where she left off: "Because even if I searched every corner of the world and didn't find the demon, it doesn't prove that the demon doesn't exist. The demon might be hiding in a place we can't see, or it might have just missed our schedule, or maybe I just don't have enough inspiration to see it."

"That's right!" Chizuko smiled happily, clapping her hands. "Asakawa-kun, you grasped it very quickly!"

Riku Asakawa understood the implications of this theory, but he wasn't so easily convinced:

"Kazamatsuri-senpai, you yourself said it's just a paradox of sophistry. You're not trying to prove the existence of demons, but rather to make me believe that monsters exist, right?"

I almost fell for her trick.

Chizuko said confidently, "It's not that I believe it, it's that you can't deny it."

"I can't see or touch any monsters, and I don't even feel those uncomfortable sensations you mentioned. Isn't that enough proof?"

Faced with Asakawa Riku's rebuttal, she curled her lips into a smile: "Unfortunately, no matter how well you prove your 'non-existence,' I can still say that monsters exist; you just haven't found them yet. No matter how hard you try, as long as I stick to my point, you will never be able to provide a logically complete proof."

So that's how it is... Is this proof of the devil?

When it was Asakawa Riku's turn to be speechless, he experienced the power of sophistry for the first time.

Seeing his silence, Chizuko hummed smugly and pressed her advantage:

“But I have proof, Asakawa-kun. If there were no yokai, the mountain child wouldn’t be able to support the soles of my shoes. How would I walk and run like a normal person?”

This was throwing Asakawa Riku's question back at him, since he was the one who first raised the question.

Without the presence of yokai, Chizuko would indeed not have such powerful mobility.

What seemed like a decisive blow to the general, after a moment of silence, led Asakawa Riku to devise a countermeasure:

"No, it's still possible."

"Oh?"

"With training, you can imagine a leg out of thin air and use it as a fulcrum to move. Martial artists who have adapted to this power can turn the 'phantom limb' into a real thing. Even if they lose the limb, they can still move freely and even use it as a weapon. For example, even if I cut off one of my legs now, I can still walk normally."

Asakawa Riku seriously proposed a possibility.

Chizuko was taken aback: "Don't say such terrible things."

Asakawa Riku's expression remained serious: "Kazamatsuri-senpai, you may have secretly undergone training and gained the ability to walk freely. You can't fool me."

"Asakawa-kun, I feel that your knowledge of the human body... or rather, medicine, might be a little off..."

"Of course it's a joke."

Chizuko finally breathed a sigh of relief: "What? You should have said so earlier."

She almost started to worry about Asakawa Riku's brain.

"It's just sophistry like yours. You can't imagine what a martial artist can do, so you can't disprove it, right?"

Asakawa Riku laughed. Sure enough, the only way to deal with sophistry was to use the same logic: "This is proof of the devil."

"You... haha."

After saying this, Chizuko paused for a moment, then covered her mouth and laughed.

Then the two of them burst into laughter in the activity room, and it went on for a long time.

This mystery club, which had been quiet for a year, hadn't had this kind of atmosphere in a long time. The eerie ghostly aura had been mostly dispelled, and it was no longer so frightening.

Of course, what Chizuko, who was slapping her thigh and laughing uncontrollably, didn't know was that Asakawa Riku's words weren't entirely a joke.

The Spring of the Earth Spider: Chapter Nine - I Want to Invite You to Join the Mystery Club

The two of them stopped laughing.

They exchanged a glance and knew at the same time that continuing the debate would be pointless.

Sophistry is just a game of logic; it can't prove anything in the end. Asakawa Riku still doesn't believe in the existence of monsters, and Chizuko can't believe that anyone can walk on one leg.

The proof of the devil is actually a dilemma, a stalemate.

"Asakawa-san, may I make a request?"

"Please speak, senior."

"I'd like to invite you to join the Mystery Club."

"I've already refused once, haven't I?"

"But, Asakawa-san, you're quite interested in strange things, aren't you?"

Chizuko blinked and revealed a sly smile.

Asakawa Riku realized that his discussion had been a bit too enthusiastic and didn't reflect the behavior of a typical student.

"……I don't."

In his youth, he had a fervent pursuit of such "extraordinary things," whether it was superpowers, psychic abilities, or special skills, or anything like that.

Strange phenomena and spirits are also part of this vast series, and Asakawa Riku once searched for them one by one with his own list.

His transmigration had no system, nor any innate talent; he felt that there must be something strange about this world.

Unfortunately, nothing came of it; he discovered nothing. It was just an ordinary parallel Earth.

In the end, he gave up external support and began to train himself, but that's another story.

Asakawa Riku didn't want to recall these things; it was awful and shameful.

He had already decided to be a regular high school student, so why has he become interested again now?

"Being tsundere is cute, Asakawa-kun, but you can't be too dishonest. I'd like to propose a deal, what do you think?"

Chizuko spread her arms out on the table: "I will gradually show you the truth about the dark side of the world of yokai. I will tell you everything you want to know. But the condition is that you have to join the mystery club and work with me to solve the problem of the 'murderous love letter incident.' That's all I ask."

The murder-foreshadowing love letter incident... I almost forgot about it.

Today is Tuesday, and there are still five days until the scheduled time. Asakawa Riku doesn't even remember where he threw that piece of paper. Could it have been put in the washing machine?

He was indeed completely uninterested in the incident, but Chizuko seemed very interested in it.

Conversely, the information about "monsters" that Chizuko possessed also piqued the interest of Asakawa Riku.

It's a fair deal, where everyone gets what they need.

"Temporary member."

With a sigh, Asakawa Riku extended his hand.

If demons truly exist, he still cannot resist the demons within himself.