"Sugiyama, Sugiyama! Brace yourself! ”

"Sugiyama-sensei! What happened to you! ”

Minori Nakamura's legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground, and the biting cold temperature and stiff and tight limbs in his hands said it all.

"It's useless...... her face turned pale, "he's dead." ”

"How did it come to this...... Yonehara Koko covered her mouth and looked down at his pale side face, her lips kept trembling, she couldn't tell what kind of mood she was in, her chest rose and fell, and she kept taking deep breaths.

"Why did Sugiyama ......" Shimoda Kohei's fingertips touched Sugiyama's cold legs, and he suddenly lost his strength and fell to his knees, "Yes, was he frozen to death?" ”

"It's not."

A calm childish voice interjected into the conversation of several people, and Minori Nakamura, who was at a loss, raised his head and looked at the person who spoke.

Against the wind and snow that kept blowing in from outside the door, Conan leaned over to the corpse, and while observing, he recounted the conclusion he had seen: "This must have been killed by him." Look at this, there are very obvious traces of rope on his neck, and the body is completely hard. ”

"It's cold to the touch, but it's not the effect of being frozen." I don't know when Toru Amuro, who also came up, carefully pressed the corpse under the fabric of Sugiyama a few times through his gloves, "This is stiffness after death, and at this level, although I don't know the environment in which the body is stored, I tend to think that he has been dead for more than 6 hours...... Right, little brother? ”

At the end, Amuro raised his head, looked at Conan, who was suddenly silenced and looked like his tongue had been taken away by a cat, and squinted and smiled meaningfully.

This elementary school student who lives in the detective's house upstairs is really not so simple, whether it is the reaction speed or the calm appearance in the face of such a terrifying scene, it is not like the reaction of a child of his age.

Amuro turned his head and glanced at the members of the Junior Detective Corps who were clasped tightly behind their legs.

Even if you follow a detective, the reason why you often see this kind of scene doesn't make sense.

"But, but, when I opened the door, his body was leaning against the electric bell......" Kohei Shimoda, who realized what he had seen, shuddered, "That is, someone moved his body over and pressed the doorbell?" ”

"But when the bell rang, we were all eating, all in the living room." Takashi Sakai turned his head and looked at everyone who came out, "Doesn't that mean that the murderer can't be us?" ”

"It should be the same person who attacked Tang Ze." Amuro, who was half-crouched down, braced his knees and looked down at the back of his hand that had faded slightly from the melting snow, "There are words written in lipstick just like when the two of them were attacked. ”

"Ko, is this Katakana's KO?" Conan, who was attracted by his words, didn't care about his suspicious behavior, and reached over to examine the mark, "'Minako', what does that mean." ”

As soon as these three syllables were spoken, the faces of several teachers of the cup household elementary school changed drastically, and they looked at each other a few times, as if they had lost their ability to speak at the same time, and a solemn fear was transmitted between their eyes.

"Wow-" Without waiting for Conan, who was puzzled, to repeat the question just now, Shimoda Kohei let out a terrible exclamation, and stood up straight with his head in his hands, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying, and his eyes widened, as if he could get out of the frame in the next second.

Everyone's attention immediately turned away.

It seemed that the words on the back of the corpse's hand had obviously given him great stimulation, and his already uncontrollable emotions from witnessing the death of someone he knew knew were on the verge of collapse.

"Shimoda? You okay? Minori Nakamura craned her shoulders and looked at him timidly, hesitantly taking a step closer to him, trying to see his face covered by his hands.

"Don't touch me!" Without waiting for her hand to touch, Shimoda Kohei waved her hand away, took two steps back, stared at Sugiyama's body in horror, and then turned his head and ran upstairs without looking back.

As he ran, he kept letting out a cathartic roar from his mouth.

"It's not about me! I didn't, I didn't! Don't come to me! ”

"Shimoda, Shimoda!" Yonehara looked at his back and shouted a few words as if anxiously, but her eyes behind the lenses shone sharply.

You can't be wrong, it's this person.

She's found, the murderer of the child!

The fingers hanging beside her curled up nervously twice, and her eyes flashed with a pair of calm and inclusive blue eyes, as if they had seen through the sea of what she was thinking, and slowly restrained the surging emotions.

She's finally getting a good night's sleep, isn't she?

In the living room, Tang Ze, who had dispelled her anger, opened his eyes, looked at the firewood gently licked by the flames, and sighed silently.

Since when he saw them, Koko Yonehara had already taken the step of crossing the line, and he had already killed Sugiyama, and there wasn't much he could do for her.

Since there is no way to get a good person out of the fate of being mired in the quagmire, it is better to let her stick to her choice and go on unswervingly.

I wish you good luck.

"So, that's why you said we didn't need to be on the scene?" Everyone else had already been passively attracted to the direction of the door, and Hoshikawa Hui, who had always had a thin sense of existence, took the opportunity to come to Tang Ze's side, and when he saw him open his eyes in a daze, he asked in a low voice.

As long as you look at it from the perspective of this group of people's problems, it is not difficult to vaguely guess the general experience.

Even he could see that this incident was probably another case where the deceased had done something wrong, and the murderer had used the most extreme methods to seek justice.

"Hmm." Without moving much, Tang Ze maintained a sleeping position and said softly, "If you can't stop the opening of the tragedy at the beginning, then it's better to be a quiet audience and not ruin the fun." ”

Regardless of other people's opinions, here in Tang Ze, he always felt that the Monster Thieves should be a solution, an external force that pushes everything to the joy of everyone when justice is not served and everything is deadlocked.

And a murderer with motives like Akiko Yonehara, Tang Ze felt that it was an outlet that he had found for a grudge that was difficult to move an inch, and if he couldn't give them a better plan at the beginning, it would be better not to stop it.

"But in that case, in other people's understanding, you'll be an accomplice." Asai Narumi pulled the sunglasses on his face, and looked at Tang Ze with dark eyes.

"Am I an accomplice or not, aren't you the most qualified to speak?" Karasawa smiled, "'...... of Moon Shadow Island'"

Before he could say the name of the middle two, Asai Narumi reached out and covered his mouth directly.

"Keep pretending to be your death, and say less!"

————

"Here, coffee."

"Ah, Yonehara-sensei, thank you." Pressed to her face by the warm teacup, Sonoko Suzuki, who was sitting still, came back to her senses, thanked her, and took the cup in her hand.

"We've called the police, don't worry." Holding her share, Yonehara sat down next to her and smiled gently, "It's just that the situation is special, because the road is closed by the blizzard, I'm afraid the police won't be able to come until tomorrow morning." Hold on a little longer, and you'll be fine soon. ”

Suzuki Sonoko looked at her gentle smile, sniffed the aroma of coffee in her hand, and glanced at the sofa where Tang Ze was still lying, and couldn't help but have a sour nose.

"What about Shimoda-sensei, still won't you come down?" Hanging her head, Sonoko Suzuki carefully picked up the cup and took a sip of mellow coffee, her neat short hair sliding down her cheeks with her movements, blocking her expression.

"Yes, he wouldn't even open the door, and even though we told him it was safer to come down and stay together, he still didn't come out, saying, 'Go farther away, leave me alone' or something. We can't help it. Yonehara shrugged her shoulders, looking very helpless.

"Is this really okay, let him stay on top." Minori Nakamura, who helped her bring coffee to everyone with a tray, heard their conversation and patted her head with a headache, "This murderer may still be nearby." ”

"He's so hysterical, it's better to leave him alone for a while." Takaichi Sakai, who had been persuaded for a long time and only got a series of choking sounds, snorted in displeasure.

"You'd better pay more attention to that man." Sentens, who also got a drink, interjected coldly, "With my intuition from running the news for many years, if you want to continue to have accidents, it can only be him." ”

"You stop talking nonsense." Takaichi Sakai waved his hand and scolded impatiently, "The windows on the second floor are closed well, and his door is locked, where did the murderer attack him." I think you're crazy about wanting news! ”

"Really?" Sentense glanced at him with gloomy eyes and smiled, "Although the more people who die, the more sensational it is, the more beneficial it is for my reporting, but I also have a basic human nature, and I don't want new victims to appear...... After all, if you could have cooperated with my investigation three years ago and found out the truth about that student's death, where would there be so many problems today? ”

"You, you madman, don't bother to talk to you!" Hearing the word "three years ago", Takashi Sakai's face turned pale all of a sudden, snorted, stood up and left.

"Sakai!" Minori Nakamura shouted, hurriedly got up and chased in his direction, "Don't act alone!" ”

"I'm not afraid of shadows, I'm not afraid of murderers who aren't murderers!"

"Sakai!"

Sentense watched them leave and laughed twice: "Hehe, it seems that I am not pleasing again." Forget it, I've already made it clear what I should remind anyway. ”

With that, he took the teacup in his hand and walked slowly in the direction of the fireplace.

"This person is really ......" Yonehara shook her head and stood up as well, ready to continue distributing the few remaining cups from the tray on the table.

Suzuki Sonoko, who had been silent, suddenly raised her hand at this time, grabbed her thin wrist tightly, and used a lot of force, so much that Yonehara shook it.

"Garden, what's wrong?" Stunned, she looked at the former student with concern, "Are you still afraid?" ”

Sugiyama's impactful death scene obviously stimulated a lot of people, and the elementary school students were all in a group until now, and the little girl among them was snorting all the time, and people couldn't help but feel unbearable.

"Teacher ......" didn't dare to look directly at Yonehara Akiko's expression, Suzuki Sonoko tried to tighten her fingers, and whispered like a begging, "You, must you go?" ”

Somewhat surprised, Yonehara Koko looked at Suzuki Sonoko, who was staring at her feet and refused to speak, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

Sonoko Suzuki looked up and looked at Koko Yonehara with eyes with thin tears in her eyes.

Akiko Yonehara, who was still a little panicked, met such a pair of eyes, and her expression softened again.

Although I don't know, why these children are so perceptive now, and they all seem to have become detectives, and they can sense that something is wrong with her so quickly...... But they are all good children who respect others.

The one named Tang Ze, although the method of expression is a little different, but in terms of the result, after he broke his plan and attack, he chose to remain silent, and showed his sympathy and support for himself with his actions.

As for Sonoko Suzuki, she wasn't sure where she showed her flaws, but she seemed to have discovered her own problems, but she just chose to dissuade her without any strong intentions like this.

They are all very good children.

"I'm sorry, Sonoko-san." Slowly but surely, she pulled out her wrist and reached out to stroke the top of her hair, "Rest well, and when the snow stops, it will be fine." ”

Feeling Koko Yonehara's hand break free from her fingertips, Sonoko Suzuki almost cried.

But in the end, she just silently withdrew her hand, looking at the coffee on her lap and was stunned.

"I just want to tell you that you, you are gentle, kind, respectful of your students, and you are the object that all the girls in the class will adore and love." Sonoko Suzuki said slowly, clenching the warm porcelain cup, "You are my most admired teacher, forever." ”

“…… Thanks, I'm just a useless ordinary person who can't even achieve the trust of students, can't do anything. Yonehara Akiko smiled bitterly, put down her hand over her head, turned around, and walked in the direction of the second floor.

"Yonehara-sensei......"

————

"Have you finished reading it, Shinichi?" Wrapping his coat tightly, Dr. Asa squinted at the thick snow at the bottom of the stairs and shivered as he asked, "If you don't go back, you're going to catch a cold." ”

"Right away!" Conan looked at the missing patch of snow on the railing, tiptoed over the ravine on the doorrail, and a vague thought came to him.

Compared with the foreign murderer, he still prefers that the murderer must be someone in the villa.

Moreover, judging from the choice of the other party's attack, as well as the code left behind, and the reaction of that group of people, it is very likely that this is related to the "death of that child" mentioned by the reporter three years ago.

Well, Dr. Asasa and the bear children also participated in this trip, otherwise, he thought that the news of the death of a child three years ago must have been found in his father's newspaper clippings and case file collection.

"Shinichi, okay, no, if you don't go back, Xiaolan is coming to urge you." Caught in another fierce cold wind, his eyes were almost unable to open, and Dr. Asa urged again.

"Well, let's go back......" Sighing regretfully, Conan, who had some conclusions, also trembled, grabbed his collar and followed Dr. Asa back to the villa.

How do you figure it out, what happened three years ago......

Just as his thoughts were still diverging, a series of mobile phone ringtones pulled his attention back.

"Is someone's cell phone ringing?" Touching his pocket to make sure it wasn't his phone, Conan asked Dr. Asa beside him.

"Uh, like, it's a ...... from the second floor."

The two men looked in unison in the direction of the stairs.

"Ahh

"Oops, second floor ......" Conan gritted his teeth and rushed upstairs.

"Shimo, Shimoda-sensei......" The coffee cup rolled to the ground, and the hot liquid spilled on the floor, soaking the corners of the skirt, but Minori Nakamura didn't care about these trivial things, just pointed to the open door in front of him with a trembling finger, "Shimoda he ......!" ”

Conan hurriedly ran to her and looked forward in the direction she was pointing.

Kohei Shimoda, who slipped on the ground in a strange posture, looked straight in the direction of the door without saying a word.

There are two strangulation marks on his neck that are identical to those on Sugiyama's body, which clearly indicate the circumstances of his murder.

The murderer who killed Mr. Sugiyama finally succeeded.

On the first floor, some of the people who heard this voice quickly got up and approached the direction of the second floor, while others sat still, as if they were unaware of what was happening, and they were indifferent.

Suzuki Sonoko falls into the latter category.

With this scream, she hung her head weakly, and the suppressed tears fell into the coffee that had been cooled in her hand.

It still happened, even if it was perceived, even if it was felt that the problem was, the sad thing still happened.

Why, why didn't she have such a firm way to convince Yonehara-sensei?

When she saw Yonehara-sensei's smile, she couldn't even say a pale "It's not right to do this."

The smile was so sad, so resolute, and her eyes were so bright, like a cluster of crazy flames, faintly but resolutely burning silently.

So she backed down.

Everything is your own guess, and even if you tell it to Xiaolan and tell others...... It is an unshakable fact that Sugiyama-sensei is dead.

It's irretrievable, it's too late, she can't do anything.

If it was that reasoning maniac, if it was a wise gentleman, would they, the detectives, be just like themselves and powerless against everything that had happened, or would they firmly reach out and hold her unwaveringly?

In the face of drastic changes, why are you so weak and powerless......

"Tang Zejun ......"

So, when Karasawa opened his eyes, pretended to have just woken up, and sat up slowly with the back of the sofa on his back, the first thing he saw was Suzuki Garden, who was sitting by the fireplace with tears rippling in his eyes.

"Tang Zejun, did you find out too?" She looked at the fire in the fireplace and said in a small voice, "Yonehara-sensei's state is not right, and you have already found out...... That's why you're deliberately pushing me away? ”

(End of chapter)