The Mermaid's Ghost Haunts?

"Ah-le-le!"

Conan glanced at the burn wound, then stood up and said in his classic childlike tone, "How strange, this lady has such a mark on her neck."

"Aren't these burn marks?"

Hattori Heiji glanced at Conan and leaned forward to take a look.

"It's probably something like Electric Baton, right?"

Fujino glanced at it and replied without hesitation, "They should first use Electric Baton to knock her unconscious, and then break her legs."

"It seems that's how it is..."

Hattori Heiji face.

For a living person to have both legs broken in broad daylight, and right in front of him.

This made him, High School Detective, feel that it was a provocation.

Conan, standing to the side, didn't look much better either.

Although no murders occurred this time, the 'criminals' methods were far too cruel.

This made him somewhat unable to stand it.

"But speaking of which, Miss Kuroe..."

Fujino glanced at their composed faces, then turned to Kuroe Naoko to change the subject. "Why did you just say that this is dried mermaid?"

"The mermaid's graveyard is in this forest!"

Kuroe Naoko's face turned deathly pale, and she stammered, "It must be the ghost of the mermaid that has come back to life and is causing trouble!"

"The ghost of a mermaid?"

Mori Kogoro stared at him wide-eyed. "How could that be? Ghosts don't exist in this world. Besides, mermaids don't exist either... When she was hanging from the waterfall, someone jumped down from above. If you ask me, it must have been that person who did it."

"This is definitely dried mermaid meat!"

Naoko Kuroko remained steadfast in her statement. "The mermaid who was burned to death in the shrine's warehouse three years ago looks exactly like her now!"

"She came here because she wanted to find the mermaid's grave... but she was discovered by the mermaid's ghost and was punished by the mermaid!"

As she spoke, her voice trembled slightly. "Am I right, Junhui?"

"Well, come to think of it, I think I remember now."

After thinking for a moment, Shimabukuro Kimie suddenly realized a loophole in her plan.

That was the incident where she lured Sumi into the forest...

It would be better if Kotobuki were dead, since the dead can't speak.

But she's still alive. If she regains consciousness, she'll definitely become a prime suspect.

So, Shimabukuro Kimie chimed in, "It seems like Sumi has always wanted to find that grave. She asked me about it several times before, and she asked me again before the festival. So I just told her that if I drew the Arrow of the Dugong, I would tell her... Actually, I don't know where that place is. Only my great-grandmother knows... But I waited in the forest for a long time, and she never showed up."

"Mermaid, mermaid..."

Hattori Heiji frowned. "You guys keep talking about mermaids. Is that mermaid corpse real?"

"I'm not quite sure either."

Shimabukuro Kimie shook her head innocently. "Although everyone on the island says so, the police who came to investigate said that it was just the corpse of a middle-aged woman."

"Middle-aged woman?"

Kuroe Naoko was sitting next to her, couldn't sit still any longer. "That's only true under normal circumstances, when the bones below the waist are still intact, right?"

"The bones below the waist have all disappeared?!"

Mori Kogoro was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Two or three large, burnt-out pillars from the warehouse crashed down around the body."

Fukuyama Rokuro explained, "So the body was crushed."

"So that's all there is to it."

Hattori Heiji was speechless upon hearing this. "What's so surprising about that? Isn't it normal? How could it possibly have anything to do with mermaids?"

"The key lies in what happened after our island's firefighters moved the pillar..."

Fukuyama Rokuro was also somewhat shaken. "Generally speaking, if the bones in the foot were broken, there should be some remaining. But the key point is that there were absolutely no remaining bones in the foot of that corpse."

"What?!"

Hattori Heiji and Conan were both taken aback by what they heard.

Generally speaking, even if the lower body is smashed, the distribution of the remaining bones should be normal.

That should be the case, but if it's really as the other party says...

So, the only possibility that the broken bones, besides the absence of lower limbs, are that there was no leg at all.

Fujino, however, was well aware of this point of doubt.

The reason the corpse was smashed so badly that even the lower half was gone was because when Shimabukuro Kimie's mother was burned to death, she was still maintaining the disguise of Life Lord.

Bound your legs together and move forward in a kneeling position.

When he was hit by the large pillar, it created the illusion that he had no lower body.

The reason why the Life Lord Shimabukuro Kimie was impersonating had poor coordination was because of this.

"It was because of this incident that even the TV station got involved."

At this moment, Fukuyama Rokuro snorted coldly, as if he were making fun of something. "After investigating, they said it was a mermaid's corpse and started spreading the word... We also became famous overnight, just like Life Lord."

Conan couldn't help but ask curiously, "But didn't the police say that it was just the body of a middle-aged woman?"

"The police said that tourists who didn't get the Arrow of the Dugong thought there were backups in the warehouse, and while searching, the candles accidentally set the warehouse on fire..."

Shimabukuro Kimie recalled, "But a year has passed, and the police still haven't identified the deceased, so we buried the bones... But then, some problems arose..."

She stopped there, as if she had something difficult to say.

Fukuyama Rokuro chimed in, "Some annoying tourists believed the mermaid's story and just ran over and dug up the buried bones, intending to take them away secretly."

"I've heard that mermaid flesh can grant immortality..."

Hattori Heiji asking, "But why would anyone want to steal a mermaid's bones?"

"That's because there's a rumor that's been around since the Edo period."

Kuroe Naoko explained, "They say that the bones of mermaids can also be used to make elixirs of immortality... Those people heard this rumor, which is why they wanted to steal the mermaid bones."

"That's outrageous..."

Hattori Heiji and Conan both frowned upon hearing this, saying, "To actually go and dig out someone's bones is going too far."

"This is what is called feudal superstition."

Fujino, standing to the side, seemed unsurprised. "Although there are feudal legends all over the world, it's really rare to see people like Japan who rob graves like this... It can only be described as immoral."

"Yeah, that's really despicable."

Shimabukuro Kimie nodded in agreement, showing her approval of Fujino, "To prevent those unscrupulous people from continuing to steal the mermaid's bones, my great-grandmother secretly moved the so-called mermaid's grave to this forest last year..."

"Let's get Miss Sumi down the mountain first."

Fujino glanced at Ebihara Sumi and changed the subject again. "Although she is not in any life-threatening danger, the injury on her leg still needs to be treated as soon as possible, in case it may require amputation... although judging from the current situation, amputation is unlikely."

"That's right!"

At that moment, Hattori Heiji realized that there seemed to be an unlucky guy here whose legs had been broken.

Kuroe Naoko glared at Fukuyama Rokuro with annoyance. "Your fiancée is already injured like this, and you still have the leisure to chat about this."

"That was just my parents' decision."

Fukuyama Rokuro glanced helplessly at Kuroe Naoko, then reluctantly picked up Ebihara Sumi: "Besides, my parents are no longer here..."

"Is he engaged to this woman?"

Conan glanced at the two of them curiously, somewhat surprised.

He didn't realize that these two were reacting in the way that an engaged couple should.

"Yes."

Kuroe Naoko glanced at the two of them and explained, "They were betrothed as children when their parents were still alive, but that guy doesn't seem to like the marriage very much. I really don't know what he's thinking."

"..."

Shimabukuro Kimie silently frowned, watching the two departing figures, a strange look flashing in her eyes.

Fujino glanced at Shimabukuro Kimie and shook his head helplessly.

On the way down from the waterfall.

"What's on your mind?"

Seeing that Hattori Heiji was deep in thought, Conan couldn't help but ask a question.

"Yes, I do have some doubts about the candidate."

Hattori Heiji nodded, recalling the previous Kadowaki Benzo: "I remember that Sumi's wooden plaque was supposed to be the Arrow of the Dugong, but it inexplicably ended up in that drunk man's hands..."

"That person is indeed highly suspicious."

Conan nodded, but then said his thoughts, "The previous Kadowaki Saori involved Kadokawa Saori, who also had the Arrow of the Dugong and then disappeared. This time, Ebihara Sumi drew the Arrow of the Dugong, but was then knocked unconscious and had her legs broken... I feel that this case is inextricably linked to the Arrow of the Dugong."

Although some people mentioned that the mermaid's spirit was at work, neither of them considered the possibility of it being related to mermaids.

The idea of mermaid spirits causing trouble is just too outrageous.

That's absolutely impossible.

Although Conan has encountered many ghost stories, such as mountain gods and mushroom gods, he firmly believes that there must be someone behind them.

Fujino followed behind, eavesdropping silently.

He wasn't too worried that the two of them would target him.

After all, he had a firm grasp on what his alibi proved.

He wanted to see how these two people could clearly see the murderer, but couldn't catch him no matter what they did.

One hour later, Mermaid Waterfall.

"Kazuha, how's it going? Have you found the person who jumped off the top of the waterfall?"

After descending the mountain, the group returned to the waterfall and Hattori Heiji asked Kazuha a question.

As for Ebihara Sumi, she was sent to the hospital on the island by Fukuyama Rokuro.

"No, some villagers from the island have already gone down into the lake to look for that person, but there's no sign of him at all."

Toyama Kazuha shook his head, somewhat helplessly. "Besides, no one has come out of the lake nearby, it's as if they've vanished into thin air."

"What?!"

Mori Kogoro frowned and turned to look at the calm lake beside him. "If that's the case, then that person must have already drowned here."

I don't think so.

Conan suddenly spoke up at this moment, "I think that person must have used some kind of magic trick to fake this, just like Kaito Kid, right, Brother Fujino?"

As he spoke, he turned to look at Fujino.

In his opinion, Fujino should know a lot about magic.

He often performs magic tricks that even he can't understand, and he's Kaito Kid, so he must have figured out some things that he couldn't.

"Well..."

Fujino glanced at Conan helplessly.

He called it magic, but he didn't actually know the principle behind his shadow.

He simply jumped off the waterfall and then retracted his shadow; there was no magic involved whatsoever.

If you're just making things up, that's not entirely out of the question, "He probably didn't jump at all. He used some kind of illusion when he jumped, or he used some heavy object to smash down on him, and then he put on the black cloak or something..."

"If that's the case, then it's quite possible."

Upon hearing this, both Hattori Heiji and Conan seriously considered the possibility of the method Fujino mentioned.

If someone else had said it, the two of them probably wouldn't have cared.

But if it were Fujino, it would be a different story.

After all, this was someone they both agreed with.

"Dad!"

At this moment, Ran hurriedly ran back, panting, "The police just said that the waves around the island are too big right now, and they can't get over there either."

"What the hell!"

Mori Kogoro complained, "Why did it have to be at this time..."

"But that means that guy is still on this island."

Hattori Heiji straightened the brim of his hat, which he had been wearing behind his back, and his expression became much more serious. His previous slovenly drowsiness suddenly disappeared. "It takes less than an hour to get to the top of Mermaid Waterfall from here. If that's the case, everyone here could be a suspect. This person is definitely still on this island."

"Does that mean the murderer is still watching us from somewhere?"

Ran calmed her breathing, glanced around, and looked somewhat worried.

"Don't worry, that guy will definitely be caught soon!"

Kazuha patted Ran on the shoulder with relief. "As long as Heiji puts his hat on properly, it means he's already at full speed and 100% serious."

"I see—"

Ran couldn't help but glance at Hattori Heiji with curiosity.

Suddenly, she felt that Hattori Heiji looked a lot like Kudo Shinichi.

Especially when he's serious.

She couldn't help but wonder, are all High School Detective like this when they're serious?

She turned her head and glanced at Fujino again.

Thinking back a little, it seems that when Fujino- Senior was serious, he wasn't quite as passionate as they were.

That deep and profound feeling seems to be more composed, or perhaps more terrifying.