The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

Page 163

Tanaka Kikuhui: "..."

"But if that's the case, why didn't we see those devices you mentioned at the site?" Mr. Arayoshi asked in disbelief.

"It's all very simple. I think when Ms. Tanaka was tying the rope, she simply passed the arrow through the hole at the end of the shaft. So after completing the steps of moving the body, all she had to do was untie the rope wrapped around the balcony, tie it to a crossbow bolt, and fire it into the distance. Then, no evidence would be left at the scene."

Just then, Conan, who had been sneaking down the stairs, looked at Aragaki Yu with a puzzled expression.

"When did this guy discover all this?"

Even he himself only roughly guessed Ms. Tanaka's method of committing the crime after he was reminded by Aragaki Yu and after secretly entering Ms. Tanaka's room and finding the key evidence.

"As for the evidence, I think that sneaky Conan over there has probably already found it in Ms. Tanaka's room."

Conan: "..."

Tanaka Kikue: "!!!"

Xiaolan: "???"

Ran looked around in surprise, only to find that Conan, who had been standing next to her, had disappeared without a trace.

It wasn't until Yuu Aragaki reminded them that Ran and the others looked towards the stairs and saw Conan carrying something, tiptoeing down the stairs.

"Hehehe..."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Conan, whose thoughts had been exposed by Yuu Aragaki's words, chuckled awkwardly.

"Conan!"

Conan looked at Ran's gloomy face, gave Aragaki Yu a reproachful look, and quickly stepped in front of everyone before Ran could get angry, showing them what he had in his hand.

That was a crossbow!

"It was thanks to Aragaki-nii's suggestion that I found it in Tanaka-san's room." Conan promptly shifted the blame onto Aragaki Yu.

Upon seeing the crossbow, Kiku Tanaka's expression changed drastically, and he could no longer maintain any composure.

In her original plan, she intended to use the excuse that it was too cold and she needed to go back to her room to add more clothes, and then use a pre-arranged trap to make it look like someone was attacking her from the outside with a crossbow.

Then you can take this opportunity to pretend to be furious and chase them outside, and then take the opportunity to deal with these things.

But who knew that someone at the scene would not play by the rules and would expose him directly, leaving him no chance to deal with the evidence.

"Well?" Aragaki Yu glanced at Conan with a smile, then turned to Tanaka Kikue. "If you still don't admit it, we can try to see if we can do all of this using the methods I just described."

“Of course we should give it a try,” Doi Takaki said seriously, looking at Tanaka Kikue. “Ms. Tanaka, what do you think?”

However, Kiku Tanaka fell silent at this moment. She sat blankly in her chair, her lips pressed tightly together, looking at Yuu Aragaki not far from her, without saying a word.

Seeing Ms. Tanaka's appearance, everyone else present immediately understood what was going on.

"This, how is this possible!" Mr. Araki Yoshinori looked at Tanaka Kikukei and jumped up from his chair in surprise.

Naoko Kuroda, standing nearby, couldn't hide her tears as she questioned Kiku Kei Tanaka, "I don't believe it, Ms. Tanaka! Please tell us that none of what he said is true!"

"I..." Tanaka Kiku Kei clenched his hands in front of him, his voice trembling slightly, "I'm sorry, Ms. Kuroda..."

Araki Yoshino looked at Tanaka Kiku, unable to hide his shock: "This... but why did you kill Hamano-san?!"

Conan, who had been pulled back to Ran's side, was somewhat dazed as he looked at Tanaka Kiku, who had already confessed to the murder.

According to the normal procedure, shouldn't we find more and more clues little by little, then slowly deduce the criminal's modus operandi, and finally bring the criminal to justice?

But this time, it was only after someone reminded him that he had just gotten a clue, and before he could even make a quick escape, the case was already over.

What Conan found even more baffling was that Aragaki Yu seemed to have witnessed Tanaka's entire crime-solving process, without showing a single trace of reasoning throughout.

Although I'm used to getting the short end of the stick around Aragaki Yu, what happened today is just too much.

Who is this guy?

……

Seeing that Aragaki Yu, who had finished solving the case, was now silent and seemingly lost in thought, Conan breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Thankfully, this guy only saw through Ms. Tanaka's crime-solving process. If he could even guess her motive, that would be too...

"I……"

Just as Tanaka Kiku was choking back tears, trying to explain something...

While Conan was frozen in shock, Aragaki Yu seemed to suddenly come to his senses and spoke up for Ms. Tanaka: "I think the reason why Ms. Tanaka Kikue did this is probably because of Mr. Harui Fuden."

“Hmm…” When Tanaka Kikuhisa heard this name, she was clearly stunned for a moment, until she looked at Aragaki Yu’s deep eyes, which seemed to see through everything, before she silently nodded.

"What!?"

"Mr. Harui Fuden?"

"But what does it have to do with him?"

"..."

The other people in the living room also showed expressions of surprise or confusion when they heard the name.

Conan, however, didn't have much time to pay attention to the name that Aragaki Yu was talking about.

There was one thing he couldn't understand at all: Aragaki Yu, who had come with him and the others.

He was only invited to this gathering by Sonoko.

Where did they learn all this from?!

Could it be that there really are people who are "born with knowledge"?

If that's the case, what's the point of having detectives in this world?

Chapter 203 Could you please pour me a cup of tea?

Seeing Conan's bewildered expression, Aragaki Yu decisively dropped an even bigger bombshell: "Didn't the Shadow Mage once say in the chat room, 'The death of the escape magician Harui Fuden was all your fault'?"

Mr. Araki Yoshino hesitated and nodded to confirm what Aragaki Yu said: "No... that's right, but we have no idea why the Shadow Master would say that, nor do we know what Harui Fuden's death has to do with us."

Yuu Aragaki glanced at Kiku Tanaka beside him out of the corner of his eye. Noticing the sadness and surprise in her eyes, he replied to the group, "Of course it's related. While we can't say that Harui Fuden's death is directly related to everyone in the chat room, it's certainly true that you guys caused it."

"Garden."

"Ah... um!?" Sonoko, who was listening intently to the story, was startled by the sudden call to roll.

She looked up at Aragaki Yu in surprise, wondering why he had called her name.

Yuu Aragaki suddenly asked, "In your chat room for magicians, has anyone ever discussed Mr. Kazeki Harui's escape magic tricks, and expressed a desire to see him perform again?"

"Hmm...yes, that's right." After recalling for a moment, Sonoko nodded to Aragaki Yu.

“And Ran.” Aragaki Yu then turned his gaze to Ran, who was standing next to Sonoko.

"W-what's wrong?" Noticing Aragaki Yu's gaze, Ran's heart jumped, and she couldn't help but worry about what questions Aragaki Yu would ask her.

But I'm clearly not a member of the chat room.

What should I do if I can't answer the question?

Just as Xiaolan was so nervous that she started fidgeting with her fingers uncontrollably, Aragaki Yu finally spoke up: "Xiaolan, could you please pour me a cup of tea? I'm getting thirsty after talking so much..."

∑(O_O;)

Xiaolan: "???"

Everyone present: "..."

Ignoring the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Aragaki Yu continued, "Didn't you all notice? Mr. Harui Fuden died unexpectedly during his comeback escape magic show, shortly after your conversation."

"Wait, do you mean...!?" Araki Yoshinori and Kuroda Naoko seemed to suddenly realize something, staring wide-eyed at Aragaki Yu.

"Hmm." Aragaki Yu nodded, took the black tea that Ran handed him, took a sip to moisten his throat, and continued, "Ikasama Doji, that is, Mr. Harui Fuden, used his granddaughter's identity information to register a chat account."

"Ikasama-dōji!" Sonoko exclaimed in surprise, her mouth agape. Arayoshi and Naoko Kuroda, on the other hand, wore expressions that said, "I knew it."

Meanwhile, Doi Takaki kept smiling and staring at Aragaki Yu. When he saw Aragaki Yu glance at him, he raised an eyebrow, signaling Aragaki Yu to continue.

Aragaki Yu rolled his eyes at him helplessly. You see, everything he was saying was something this guy had secretly given him after he identified Ms. Tanaka as the murderer of Hamano Toshiya.

The reason I looked like I was spacing out was because I was quickly glancing at the note he handed me.

Unexpectedly, this book contains detailed information about Shadow Master, Ikasama Child, and others.

Clearly, he had done a lot of research on this.

Amid Ran's resentful gaze, Aragaki Yu took a sip of his red tea, giving everyone a moment to process their shock before explaining, "It seems you all understand now. The Ikasama Doji in the chat room is actually Mr. Harui Fuden. He decided to make a comeback and return to the stage to perform escape magic after seeing everyone in the chat room talking about wanting to see him perform again."

Naoko Kuroda seemed very puzzled: "But if that's the case, there's no need to commit murder. Even if Mr. Harui Fuden made a comeback because of everyone's reasons, his death was indeed due to an accident!"

“That doesn’t make sense. If that’s the case, then why is the account ‘Ikasama Doji’ still active in the chat room after Mr. Harui Fuden’s death?” Araki Yoshino suddenly noticed something was wrong and looked at Aragaki Yu with a puzzled expression.

"Wait, could it be because..." But before Aragaki Yu could answer him, he seemed to have thought of something and looked at Tanaka Kiku Kei, who had remained silent, in astonishment.

Immediately, the others also realized Mr. Arayoshi's astonishment and all looked at Ms. Tanaka.

Noticing everyone's gaze and knowing he could no longer hide it, Kiku Tanaka gave a helpless, bitter smile.

After exchanging a glance with Aragaki Yu, she said in a slightly mournful tone, "That's right, the reason why Ikasama is still active in the chat room is because I'm using this account, and my real identity in the chat room is actually Shadow Mage."

"!!!"

Amidst the incredulous expressions of the crowd, Kiku Tanaka looked at Yuu Aragaki with a puzzled expression and began to explain: "Although I don't know how you know these things, you are indeed right. Ikasama Doji is Harui Fuden, and he is also my maternal grandfather. I was surprised when he suddenly said he wanted to make a comeback that day. It wasn't until after his death, when I was sorting through my grandfather's belongings, that I accidentally logged into his chat account and saw the previous chat content in the chat room."