Outlaw in the World of Conan, Tokisaki Kurumi

A face like a shoehorn, a lewd mustache.

Kurumi, hidden in the darkness, noticed the man in her sight who looked exactly like the one in the photo Narumi had given her.

'One of the murderers—Kawashima.'

Watching one of her targets head towards the Community Center's restroom, Kurumi quickly rushed towards him and, before he could react, had King Crimson knock him out.

Although killing him directly would have been simpler than knocking him out. However, for the sake of the upcoming plan, both Kurumi and Narumi needed this guy alive for the time being.

34 Moonlight Sonata

For the sake of the upcoming plan, Kurumi didn't kill Kawashima directly but kept him alive for the time being.

But!

Keeping Kawashima alive was only the minimum requirement.

This also meant that as long as Kawashima could still breathe, Narumi and Kurumi didn't care what happened to his body.

So, to prevent Kawashima from causing trouble for her actions, Kurumi specifically used a method learned in the Organization to quickly and accurately snap Kawashima's spine.

With a crack, the unconscious Kawashima lost all ability to move.

Although Kurumi didn't take Kawashima's life, the damage she inflicted was probably more terrifying than death to anyone.

The human spine occupies a very important position in the body; standing, walking, and various movements are all inseparable from the spine.

Moreover, Kurumi's move not only severed Kawashima's spine but also directly destroyed his nerves. This meant that from now on, Kawashima would no longer be able to feel any part of his body below his head.

This was probably high paraplegia.

However, what Kurumi did to him would be considered extremely excessive by anyone else. But for a scumbag who would ruin families by selling White Powder, Kurumi wouldn't hesitate to act.

Stuffing Kawashima's mouth with a dirty rag, Kurumi shoved him into a large cardboard box and then concealed him with the room's clutter. Finally, ensuring everything was foolproof, Kurumi left the room to prepare for the next step of her plan.

Actually, Kurumi running into Kawashima in the hallway was truly an unexpected surprise. But even without this pleasant surprise, Kurumi could have waited until after the memorial service and the dispersal of the crowd to directly use King Crimson's Time Erasure and take the person away in plain sight.

Finding the tape recorder prepared by Narumi, Kurumi went to the piano room where Aso Keiji's donated piano was kept.

The second step of their customized plan was for Kurumi to play the tape of the Moonlight piano piece in the piano room while the memorial service was in progress or had just ended, in order to sow panic among the attendees.

And to ensure that the content about the disappearing shadow mentioned in the letter Narumi sent to Mouri Kogoro indeed happened, Narumi and Kurumi had decided to target the culprits when planning.

However, compared to the sufficient shock value of someone dying not long ago next to the piano that the villagers believed was cursed, the disappearance of just one person seemed somewhat lacking in impact.

But this also perfectly matched the meaning of the word 'disappear' in the letter.

Arriving at the piano room, Kurumi placed the tape recorder behind the piano and, with great interest, pressed the play button.

The next second, the beautiful melody, composed by Beethoven and even praised by the German poet Ludwig as "like a small boat swaying on the moonlit surface of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland," filled the air from the tape recorder.

"Done!"

Curious about what the people attending the memorial service in the next room would be thinking upon hearing this piece, Kurumi once again activated King Crimson's ability and quickly left the room where the music was echoing.

Meanwhile, the moment the piano music began, the people in the adjacent room erupted.

Those who firmly believed in the island's legend panicked or grew fearful.

They looked around, and at that moment, they could see the same expressions on the faces of those beside them as they felt on their own.

"This piece... this piece is..."

"It's Moonlight! It's Aso Keiji's soul!!!"

The noisy, panicked voices of the crowd instantly shattered the solemnity and silence of the ongoing memorial service.

Among them, those who knew the truth of past events were likely the most panicked.

'It seems Kurumi really succeeded!' Unlike the panicked crowd, Narumi, who knew the truth, deliberately put on a surprised expression like everyone else, fully demonstrating her acting talent.

At the entrance, Conan, who was pondering the mystery of the letter, widened his eyes the moment he heard the piano music coming from the Community Center.

"It's Moonlight! This is bad!"

Quickly standing up from the stairs, Conan ran straight towards the piano room where the music was coming from.

Behind him, Mouri Kogoro and Mouri Ran, who had also sensed something was wrong, quickly followed.

Reaching the door of the crowded piano room, Conan ignored the people around him and forcefully pushed open the door to the piano room by himself.

In the bright, empty room, the music emanating from the black piano in the center made the once beautiful and elegant sonata seem so eerie and terrifying.

'What in the world is going on?'

Conan, who had expected someone to be in danger, was momentarily stunned when he saw no corpse in the room.

With his sharp vision, he noticed that the piano keys were not moving to the music.

Just then, Mouri Kogoro, who had followed, also entered the room. Never believing in ghosts or curses, he calmly walked over to the piano, observed it for a moment, and found the tape recorder placed inside.

"The curse! It's Aso Keiji's curse!"

Outside the door, the bespectacled man who had spoken to Mouri Kogoro earlier said with great fear.

In fact, due to excessive panic, the man couldn't help but take a few steps back, leaning against the people gathered around him.

"Hey, this isn't any curse..." Mouri Kogoro glanced speechlessly at the man who had lost his composure, pursed his lips, and removed a playing cassette recorder from the piano.

"The sound was coming from the recorder," Mouri Kogoro said, turning off the recorder's switch with his hand.

Instantly, the moonlight piano music stopped.

The atmosphere in the room fell silent once more.

"This is probably... someone's prank."

Placing the recorder on the piano, Mouri Kogoro looked speechlessly at the group of people outside the door who seemed terrified, finding it a bit amusing.

Hearing Mouri Kogoro's explanation, the people who realized the music wasn't coming from the piano calmed down. Then, someone asked, "A recorder? Who would play such a joke at a time like this?"

As the extreme panic subsided, it was replaced by anger at being fooled.

"This is outrageous!"

"Exactly! Which scoundrel would do something like this?"

"But, speaking of someone who might do such a thing..." Amidst the angry outbursts, a man's words stood out jarringly.

35 Mouri Kogoro: "Eat my fist!"

Following the direction of the voice, the surrounding people turned to look at the man who had spoken.

Suddenly being stared at by so many eyes, the man looked uncomfortable. But thinking about how some despicable guy used the legend of Aso Keiji's vengeful spirit haunting the island to play such a prank, his expression shifted to one of indignant anger: "This must have been done by a villager! Or someone participating in the former village chief's memorial service tonight!"

Hearing the man's furious words, the surrounding people began to whisper amongst themselves.

And as people cast suspicious glances at each other, Conan, who felt the incident was too coincidental, disagreed with the man's initial statement.

After all, during the memorial service, he, Mouri Kogoro, and Mouri Ran had been sitting right in front of the entrance. Moreover, after examining the room, Conan found no signs of forced entry on the doors or windows.

This meant that if a villager wanted to do something like this, they couldn't have entered through the back door facing the sea, as it was too close to where they were sitting. Therefore, they would have had to come through the main entrance, where the three of them were.

Is it someone here? Conan asked suspiciously, "Besides the main entrance and this door, is there any other way to get into the Community Center?"

In the noisy room, Conan's childish voice was incredibly abrupt.

"There's another door on the other side of this hallway," an honest-looking person replied.

Hearing this, Conan looked at Mouri Kogoro. Seeing that his uncle wasn't annoyed by his casual question, Conan grew bolder.

Leaving behind a "I'll go take a look," Conan dashed out.

In the room, Conan's departure didn't draw much attention.

At this point, Mouri Kogoro, believing the incident was a simple prank, felt it was dragging on too long. Not taking it seriously, he didn't want to deal with people who still believed in superstitions like evil spirits and curses.

So, just as Mouri Kogoro was about to suggest everyone disperse, Conan's voice suddenly echoed from down the hallway, getting closer.

"Bad news! The lock on the door down the hallway has been broken!"

Shortly after his voice faded, Conan ran in, panting.

"What did you say? The lock on that door was broken?"

"Could it really be a villager causing trouble?"

"Damn it! Who the hell did this!"

At Conan's words, the room became even more chaotic.

Seeing the reactions, Mouri Kogoro's face darkened slightly.

"Kid! This is nothing more than a villager's prank!"

Noticing Mouri Kogoro about to hit his head with his fist, Conan instinctively flinched.

"But!"

Just as Conan was about to explain, the people around them suddenly became agitated.

Among them, a man with braided hair, wearing a gray sweater, small sunglasses, and a hat, stepped forward and asked, "A prank, a prank, you've been saying that for ages, but who exactly are you?"

Standing beside the man, a woman in a black suit also looked at Mouri Kogoro unpleasantly.

Hearing that someone had finally asked about his identity, Mouri Kogoro closed his eyes, tidied his suit, and introduced himself with immense pride and confidence: "I am the Great Detective from Tokyo! Mouri Kogoro!"

Although his eyes were closed, Mouri Kogoro imagined everyone's astonished faces upon hearing his name.

But was it really as Mouri Kogoro imagined?

Quite the opposite.

The islanders had never heard of Mouri Kogoro. So, after hearing his confident self-introduction, they all looked at the embarrassed Great Detective with skeptical eyes.

Honestly, Uncle... sigh...

Seeing Mouri Kogoro's awkwardness, Conan, who had caught his breath, felt speechless.

Even Mouri Ran beside him couldn't bear to watch and averted her gaze.

Just as the atmosphere in the room became awkward, Narumi, standing in the crowd, noticed a wristwatch that had suddenly appeared on the floor.

Huh? Was this watch here before? Narumi wondered. She didn't recall seeing a seemingly expensive watch dropped on the floor since she arrived.

Bending down to pick up the watch, Narumi asked loudly, "Excuse me, whose watch is this that was dropped on the floor?"

Faced with Narumi's question, the people who turned around instinctively looked at their wrists, while those without watches simply shook their heads.

A few seconds later, everyone there stated that the watch wasn't theirs.

Seeing that everyone claimed the watch wasn't theirs, Narumi looked confused. "Huh? Then whose watch is this?"

Among the crowd, a bald man!

No, it was the current village chief, Kuroiwa. This short, stout man with a fierce expression felt a sense of familiarity with the watch in Narumi's hand.

"Isn't this watch Kawashima's?"

Village Chief Kuroiwa had a distinct impression of this watch, which Kawashima favored and often showed off.

Upon hearing the village chief mention Kawashima's name, everyone's expression changed instantly.

"Could it be that Kawashima is the one who pulled this prank?" Mouri Kogoro, feeling that the truth was within reach, drew his conclusion. "If this watch truly belongs to Mr. Kawashima, then it means that Mr. Kawashima left in such a hurry after setting up the scene here that he dropped his watch?"

Conan did not agree with Mouri Kogoro's conclusion.

"I don't think so. If it was just a prank using a tape recorder, would Uncle Kawashima really need to take off his watch?"

Seeing Conan openly disagreeing with him, Mouri Kogoro hardened his heart and punched Conan directly on the head. Conan let out a yelp and clutched his head in pain.

"Dad!" Seeing Conan get hit again, the kind-hearted and beautiful Mouri Ran couldn't stand it.

She quickly pulled Conan over and began to examine his head.

As expected, a lump had formed on Conan's large head.

It looked painful.

"Ahem!" To ease the awkwardness, Mouri Kogoro looked seriously at everyone and began to change the subject. "Well, since this watch belongs to Mr. Kawashima, has anyone here seen him?"