Not only Kōyū had this question, but even Uncle Mōri and Heiji were puzzled. Benzō explained, "Don't you know? The legendary Yaobikuni was someone who ate the flesh of mermaids hanging on nets."
Before leaving, the words of the old woman echoed in Kazuha's ears. Those incomprehensible words lingered in Kazuha's heart like a nightmare, and she clutched her chest, trembling all over.
Regardless, with the Fukui Prefectural Police handling the matter, Uncle Mori can't get involved for the time being. In short, according to Uncle and Aunt, Uncle Mori has decided to set off early tomorrow morning to look for Saori.
Heiji had witnessed Kazuha trembling all along. As he passed by Kazuha, he said earnestly, "Kazuha, you must never leave my side."
Suddenly, a warm feeling flowed through Kazuha's heart, and a blush rose on her face. The fear in her heart was forgotten for a moment. Ran also leaned close to Kazuha's ear and teased, "You still dare to say that? See, Heiji is interested in you, isn't he?"
Kazuha's face turned even redder. She didn't answer and simply jogged to catch up with Heiji, comforting herself inwardly, "I'm not shy, Heiji asked me to stay by his side."
Whether it was because the people who came to keep vigil were kind-hearted or something else, they were leisurely eating snacks despite the death.
While eating his rice ball, Guangyou remarked, "The ingredients in this rice ball are pretty good."
While everyone was eating, the police in Fukui Prefecture also questioned those who had come to keep vigil, asking if anyone had any motive to steal the Dugong Arrow.
Benzo's face looked drunk, but a shrewd glint flashed in his eyes. Kouyu had long suspected that there was something wrong with Benzo. After all, of the three people who won the lottery, one was Kazuha, another was Kotobuki, and the third one could not be identified yet.
If both Naoko and Benzo possess the Dugong Arrow, then one of them must have some issues. Furthermore, the current three-dimensional victims all seem to deeply believe in the legend of mermaids, and among the island residents encountered so far, only these three hold this attitude.
Heiji scratched his head: "It would be great if we knew who bought which number."
“Sure, I’ll record the holder of each number in a notebook. In that case, shall we take a look at the list?” Junhui replied.
He hadn't expected that such a casual remark would lead to a breakthrough, so he readily agreed. By this time, everyone had almost finished eating, and Uncle Mori was quite drunk.
Heiji helped Uncle Mori up, while Kōyū and Ai followed behind. Kimi walked at the very back, and the three women chatted idly.
It has to be said that the forest at night was quite eerie, but thankfully there were many people around. The three women were chatting a step behind, and through their conversation, they learned that Junhui, Sumi, Naoko, Saori, and Rokuro were all university alumni.
Furthermore, because they love movies so much, they joined a film study group. Based on the mermaid legends of their native island, they even made a movie called "The Tale of the Bhikkhuni," which won a gold medal.
They chatted all the way back to Junhui's house. After leaving Uncle Mori to fall asleep on the ground, Junhui suddenly said with a puzzled voice, "The roster seems to be missing. Just to be safe, I should go and look for it."
"We'll go too." Xiaolan and Heye also wanted to find the roster to help solve the case.
There were many tourists, so there was more than one register. Conan and Heiji casually picked up another one and flipped through the names of the visitors.
The names of many well-known high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen were listed on the page. When Conan turned to the next page, he suddenly called out to Ai Haibara, "Haibara, you've been to this island before?"
Ai sat on the ground, flipping through the fashion items she had brought with her, and replied without turning her head, "Yeah, how could we not come to a place like this?"
Kōyū moved closer to Conan, and looking at the names Uozuka Saburo and Kurosawa Jin next to him, a smile appeared on Kōyū's lips: "Gin, Vodka."
When Conan heard the two code names, his pupils contracted sharply, and he shouted to Mitsuyu, "These are their real names? Then I can go find them, and then I can..."
Sitting there without turning her head, Ai said, "Then you can follow the clues? Great detective, you're thinking too simply. Do you think the organization will let you find it so easily? If you investigate, you'll either find nothing, or they'll be dead."
These words completely snapped Conan out of his reverie, and he sighed, "Never mind, let's take it slow."
After saying that, Ai tugged at Kousuke, pointed to a new bag in the magazine, and asked, "What do you think of this?"
"It suits you well, shall we go and buy it later?" Guangyou answered after only glancing at it. To be honest, he had no idea what kind of bag to buy or what kind of bag looked good, but he just wanted to buy it.
Suddenly, Ran and Kazuha's shouts from outside shattered the peaceful atmosphere in the room. Conan and Heiji immediately jumped up and rushed out the door: "What's wrong?"
Xiaolan's chest heaved slightly, clearly quite frightened, but she still pointed to the door and said deftly, "There was a woman with brown hair and glasses staring at us."
With brown hair and glasses, she shared the same features as the nowhere-to-be-seen Saori. Heiji and Conan instinctively mistook the woman peeping outside the door for Saori.
Guangyou stared at the glass door, his eyes narrowing slightly: "The glass door is broken."
He then looked up at the back of the shrine. At that moment, the orange-red light seemed out of place against the silent night sky.
Conan and Heiji also noticed something was wrong. By the time everyone rushed over, the warehouse was already engulfed in flames, and thick smoke was rising into the sky. Kazuha quickly called the fire department.
Fortunately, the island was equipped with a fire brigade. Within minutes, firefighters arrived at the scene with firefighting equipment. However, the fire was fierce and was not completely extinguished until the sky began to lighten. The warehouse then creaked and groaned as it was overwhelmed by the fire.
The already fragile warehouse collapsed with a loud crash after a gust of wind, turning into ruins. Firefighters found a charred body in the ruins. The body was unrecognizable, with only a vague human shape visible.
However, upon closer inspection, it can be discerned that the corpse was wearing glasses, and upon careful examination, it can be determined that the corpse was dressed in blue clothing.
The island is only so big, and most of the neighbors and villagers know each other. The disappearance of Saori has been one of the topics of conversation among the uncles and aunts these past few days. After the glasses and blue clothes were confirmed, everyone believed that the charred body was the missing Saori.
But Ran and Kazuha clearly saw a figure with brown hair, wearing glasses and blue clothes, staring at them!
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