After the village office on the island sent people to guard the warehouse, another clerk accompanied the detectives and Shimabukuro Kimie back to the shrine.
The night was deep, and the distant roar of the waves mixed with the howling wind made it clear that this was going to be a sleepless night.
"Huh? Why are you guys still following us?"
The clerk, seeing Naoko and Kotobuki, asked curiously.
Junhui gave a cold laugh.
"Because they finally know why Saori died."
"It's...it's a mermaid!" Sumi suddenly screamed, "You're a priestess, you have to avenge the mermaid, right!"
She trembled as she hugged Naoko, and the two of them burst into tears again, completely out of control.
"Enough!" Junhui turned and glared at them, shouting, "Are you still talking about mermaids?!"
"You all know the truth, but you're just using mermaids to cover up your crimes!"
“My mother…my mother…she loved everything on the island…”
"I never imagined I'd die at the hands of a bunch of people who were also born on the island!"
Now that we've said this, there's nothing more to hide.
Kimie Shimabukuro recounted the story of how her mother and she, representing two generations, played the role of a longevity grandmother.
Junhui should have called the police on the day her mother died in the fire.
But her mother called her before she died, asking her to continue playing the role of the longevity granny so that the legend on the island could continue to be passed down.
If the police are called and it's reported that the mother was burned to death while disguised as the Longevity Woman, then the whole legend will be ruined.
This is the reason why Junhui endured for three years.
"I'm sorry," Junhui sincerely apologized to the clerk, "I've been deceiving everyone all along."
"In the end, because of my hatred, I exposed all of this."
The clerk suddenly became hesitant to speak.
“I think many of the elderly people on the island already know,” Yoruichi Toyama said.
"After all, everyone is very familiar with the longevity matriarch, Miss Junhui's mother, and Miss Junhui herself."
"When someone plays two roles for such a long time, there will always be oversights."
"They just don't say it out loud."
Hearing these words, Junhui's originally calm face gradually turned pale, and her eyes filled with tears.
The clerk knelt down with a thud.
"Yes...yes, Junhui...everyone has let you down, and your mother too..."
He banged his head against the tatami mat repeatedly.
Junhui finally burst into tears.
"Mom... what... what are we doing... it turns out we're the most ridiculous ones..."
Amid her sobs, Naoko and Sumi also collapsed to the ground, wailing incoherently.
No one cared about them, and no one forgave them.
“Miss Junhui is not ridiculous!” Xiaolan suddenly said, tears welling up in her eyes. “Miss Junhui, and your mother, you are both very kind!”
"It is because you all love this island so much that you are willing to dedicate everything to it!"
Shinichi Kudo opened his mouth, but since it was his girlfriend speaking, he ultimately did not refute her.
Yoruichi Toyama sighed.
Mingmei looked at him and squeezed his hand.
"Gentleness should not be misplaced," she said softly.
Xiao Lan looked at her blankly.
"Miss Akemi?" She had just opened her mouth when she noticed Shinichi nodding beside her, and her blankness turned into contemplation.
"Because Miss Kimie, and Miss Saori, you are all highly educated people," Yoruichi Toyama continued, "you are the ones who should most firmly believe that there is no such thing as immortality in this world."
"If it's just about promoting traditional culture and turning it into a tourist resource on the island, that would be fine."
"Yet you keep spreading and instilling this nonsense, letting it awaken greed in people's hearts."
"The tenderness that is given even at the cost of one's life, even at the cost of self, is what sustains this lie."
What good can possibly come of it?
...
Back at the hotel, the group found Kogoro fast asleep on the sofa, but the two little ones they had forced to stay behind were nowhere to be seen.
In her anxiety, Xiaolan grabbed her father by the collar and shook him wildly.
"Ouch... Don't, don't shake me... I'm so dizzy... Help, help me..."
"Dad, wake up! Do you know where Ai and Conan went?"
"Huh? What? Who?"
Kogoro rubbed his face hard, forcing himself to wake up, and then pointed.
"Conan? Isn't he over there?"
He was referring to Shinichi Kudo.
The person next to him coughed a few times, then laughed.
Ran blushed when she realized she had fallen into a fixed mindset, walked back to Shinichi's side and punched him.
"What are you laughing at! And why aren't any of you in a hurry?"
"First, they are not real children; they know how to take care of themselves."
As Yoruichi Toyama spoke, she took out her phone and smiled.
"Secondly, they will definitely need to bring their mobile phones when they go out."
Not to mention his phone, as he scrolled through his contacts, he thought that if Gao Yuan hadn't been carrying a knife, he would have wasted his life all those years.
Yoruichi Toyama nodded to Toru Amuro over the phone.
"It's on the mountain over there by the waterfall. Let's go pick it up."
Amuro Tooru followed without saying a word, only muttering something under his breath.
"What are you going there for..."
...
"...First quarter moon, 1:00 AM, 30° north of west..."
Ignoring Gao Yuan's questions, Xiao Ai kept muttering to herself as she walked on.
Gao Yuan followed for a while, then suddenly ran a few steps up and grabbed her hand as they walked side by side.
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