What kind of people would come to a deserted island in a group, neither swimming nor combing the shore, only to hole up in a dilapidated villa and sit around smoking?
No matter how they thought about it, the only image that came to mind was a group of outlaws secretly plotting something.
Combined with the topic they had just been discussing, the same suspicion surfaced in many of their minds.
The Deputy Captain walked to the door and pulled it open a crack. Peering outside with a cigarette clenched between his teeth, he said indistinctly, "If you ask me, the so-called 'Messenger of the Underworld' is those people who killed a woman, then hid on this island all this time to evade capture."
The long-haired man went pale with fright. "Those criminals are really here?"
The Deputy Captain glanced at him. "I'm just saying it's possible... You're way too timid."
The long-haired man flushed. "Who's timid?! Aren't you scared too? They're vicious demons who killed one—no, two people!"
The Deputy Captain rubbed his chin. "True. Maybe they've already spotted us and are figuring out how to send us to the underworld too."
Mouri Ran: "!!!"
Suzuki Sonoko had an even more terrifying thought. "Didn't we circle the entire coastline when we were looking for Miss Taira not long ago?—There wasn't anyone on the island then. Later, we rested outside the villa, and when it got dark, we came inside..."
The others understood at once and shuddered in unison. "So that means those people might still be inside this villa? They saw us come in and hid for the time being?!"
The atmosphere instantly became incredibly tense. Everyone pricked up their ears, as though they could hear someone pacing through the villa, ready at any moment to pounce and take