"Really strange..."
"I've clearly come here a few times before, so how did I never notice there was a villa here?"
Suzuki Sonoko walked along the road, rubbing her chin as she stared at the villa not far ahead, her eyes filled with puzzlement.
Ran, beside her, wore a somewhat worried expression. "This villa feels so creepy, and it's so run-down... Could it have been unoccupied for a long time?"
She had actually wanted to add that it was even creepier than Sonoko's family villa.
But then she remembered how her best friend had just suffered a critical hit from the two kids' remarks.
So she kept those words to herself.
Ran did not say it, but if she had, Fujino would have wholeheartedly agreed.
Indeed, Sonoko's family villa stood in front of a cliff, surrounded by trees, with even more trees behind it. Who knew which sham shaman of an onmyoji had picked that feng shui? The place had absolutely no human warmth to it and felt downright underworldly.
Conan followed behind everyone, arms folded as he studied the villa. He suddenly spoke up, "There should be people here. I saw tire tracks on the dirt road leading here, and when I looked through the windows, the inside of the villa didn't seem rundown either. The lawn out front also looked maintained. Someone probably comes here from time to time to take care of the place!"
Ai Haibara gave him dead-fish eyes as she listened to his confident deduction. "So they just happened to come by at exactly the same time as us?"
"Even if they aren't in the villa right now, it doesn't matter."
"Isn't Brother Fujino here?"
Conan chuckled and said, "As long as Brother Fujino picks the lock or kicks the door open, we can get