The group turned around and cast strange looks at the hotel owner.
The hotel owner sensed that something was off, but did not think much of it.
"Phew, good thing I found you. I forgot to give you the binocular weights earlier."
"What are you doing here?"
"Ah... bones?!"
The hotel owner pretended to scream after seeing the bones scattered across the ground, then immediately turned and ran, intending to return to the hotel and raise the alarm.
That acting deserved a zero from Fujino.
He immediately rushed forward, tackled the hotel owner to the ground, and locked him down with an armbar.
Fujino's armbar was remarkably effective.
The pain made the hotel owner cry out for his parents. He immediately gave up any thought of running away, while also failing to understand why he was being attacked.
"Mr. Amado, why did you lead us to the body?"
"And why did you deliberately chase after us?"
"That's right, that's right! We already know! This was all part of your plan!"
"How did you figure it out?!"
"Hehe, how could something this trivial possibly fool our Junior Detective League!"
"How did you know?"
The hotel owner froze, an astonished expression appearing on his face.
How had his plan been exposed?
Could there have been something wrong with his acting?
The hotel owner sank into self-doubt.
Fujino felt that his self-doubt was entirely justified.
The kids chattered away as they repeated the deduction, standing tall as though they had figured it all out themselves.
Fujino was not surprised by their behavior. He simply asked the hotel owner, "Mr. Amado, tell us why you did this."
"Well..."
Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, the hotel owner began explaining. "Not long ago, I found Kawano's body, along with those codes and the ring,