Conan looked at the enormous mystery before him and interjected with righteous seriousness, "Ran, if you're scared, take Brother Jiang Xia home first. I'll help you uncover the truth, so you won't have to be afraid anymore."
Jiang Xia: "...?"
Mouri Ran was suddenly jolted awake by those words. Come to think of it, this apartment wasn't all that far from Beika Town, and she had to pass nearby whenever she went to school.
Nobody said all ghosts were Earth-bound Spirits. If those ghosts liked wandering around nearby, they might wander through places she occasionally passed.
In other words, if they didn't solve this today, then whenever she went to and from school alone in the future, especially during the dark winter evenings...
Thinking of those pitch-black roads at night, goosebumps crept up her back one bump at a time.
"Um, how about we stay and take a look before it gets dark?" As an educated high school girl, she knew that short-term pain was better than long-term pain. Drawing a deep breath as if throwing caution to the wind, she slapped Jiang Xia hard on the shoulder. "I'll leave the mystery here to you!"
As for Dad and Conan... she didn't know why, but lately, Dad would occasionally seem possessed by some divine being, turn into "Sleeping Kogoro," and become vastly better at deductions. But that seemed to happen very rarely.
And if she and Jiang Xia weren't around, and Dad fell asleep alone with only Conan watching over him, then those two would probably be wiped out before he could expose the truth.
After giving herself a serious mental pep talk, Mouri Ran clenched her fists and made her final decision. "I'm not leaving!"
Conan looked at Jiang Xia, who was now staying too. "...?"
Why? Why had