Mouri Ran and Conan heard gunshots just as they were approaching the hotel entrance.
At first, Conan thought it might be fireworks—some festive atmosphere thing—but then he remembered: Jiangxia Tongzhi is still inside. His face changed immediately.
—With Jiangxia around, a shooting suddenly seems… statistically inevitable.
Conan rushed into the hotel. He wasn't sure where exactly the gunfire came from, but he spotted Amuro Toru hurrying upstairs and immediately chased after him.
…
A moment ago, Amuro had been sitting calmly downstairs, waiting for Jiangxia to lead out the elusive writer.
He hadn't expected a gunshot instead of a novelist.
Startled, Amuro jumped to his feet. In his mind, the only two potentially dangerous people in this hotel were himself… and Jiangxia. So upon hearing gunfire, his first thought was: Did Jiangxia somehow sneak a gun in here?
But on the second floor, what he actually saw was this: a masked man pinned under Jiangxia's foot. Nearby, a gun and a weird-looking wallet lay on the ground.
Ah. So not Jiangxia going rogue.
More likely: a robbery gone wrong, and Jiangxia just doing his usual hero-civilian routine.
…Come to think of it, Jiangxia does usually follow the law. Amuro admitted he might've overreacted a bit.
He crouched, slipped on gloves, picked up the gun, and examined the camera the thief had dropped. "Was this the loot?"
Because honestly, what kind of robber carries a camera?
And if it was loot…
Amuro glanced at Room 202, whose door was wide open. That might be where the robbery happened. Could this camera belong to Imatake —the person I've been trying to track down?
That would be convenient.
Jiangxia, noting Amuro hadn't yet realized the unconscious robber was Sasai, nodded. "Maybe."
He then prodded Sasai with his foot. The man's eyes rolled back in his head, totally out cold. Jiangxia shrugged and left him sprawled on the floor. He walked over to Room 202, peeked in, and frowned.
Amuro sensed something was wrong and joined him.
Inside, they saw Imatake collapsed in the room, a bullet hole in his forehead. Very dead.
Amuro sighed with a complicated expression.
He'd originally been thinking about how to avoid killing this innocent author for the mission. But now someone else's already done the job for me… Guess that's one pot I won't be carrying.
…
As soon as she saw the body, Ran quietly stepped aside to call the police.
Afterward, she remembered Yumi Horikoshi and knocked on her door. No answer.
Jiangxia put on a thoughtful expression and nudged the plot forward: "With all that noise outside, if Aunt Horikoshi was in her room, she should've come out to check. Did she… leave?"
That made Amuro glance at Room 201—the door had been knocked open by the falling camera earlier. Something felt off.
He walked over and pushed the door open.
Inside, Yumi Horikoshi was slumped on the floor, leaning against the wall. Alone.
Conan immediately ran in. Jiangxia followed.
Just as they were approaching, Nakamichi Kazushi appeared in the hallway, still steaming from a bath, wearing only a towel.
He had just killed Yumi Horikoshi, staged the scene in a rush, escaped through the window, and then casually looped around through the hallway to pretend he was just "passing by."
Now, he stood at the door and looked in.
Seeing everyone gathered around Yumi's body, he dramatically shouted, "Step away! Don't touch her! Secure the scene and call the police! No one is allowed in until they arrive!"
As an active detective, Nakamichi figured this was the right blend of grief and professionalism for someone reacting to the death of a mere distant classmate.
But then… everyone inside turned and stared at him.
He stiffened, heart sinking with a sense of vague doom, but couldn't pinpoint what exactly went wrong.
Jiangxia looked away, slipped on gloves, and brushed aside Yumi's bangs.
A bullet hole was revealed underneath.
Amuro frowned, narrowing his eyes at Nakamichi. "'Protecting the scene'… Pretty confident she's dead, aren't you? Even though you didn't check the body?"
Nakamichi flinched, scrambling for a reply. "I-I mean… there's blood on the wall…"
Conan raised an eyebrow. "But Uncle, you're Aunt Yumi's friend. Even if there's just the slightest chance she's alive, shouldn't you have called an ambulance first?"
Nakamichi gritted his teeth. "I said call the police, didn't I? And I'm pretty sure I said 'ambulance' too. Maybe… everyone was too nervous and didn't catch it."
Everyone stared at him in silence.
Then they quietly turned back and began thinking.
…
Due to the ongoing festival, traffic was congested. It took nearly half an hour for the police to arrive.
Two sudden deaths in the hotel had left the owner in a full panic. Still, under guidance from the detectives, he sent in a few brave employees to help preserve the scene.
Meanwhile, Amuro hadn't forgotten today's mission.
While everyone's attention was still on Jiangxia—the now-legendary corpse picker—Amuro took the chance to inspect the camera.
He remembered it falling from the robber when Jiangxia tackled him. And if the person being robbed was Imatake, then this likely belonged to him.
It was a Polaroid. Instant-develop photos, tucked in a little case on the side.
Amuro opened the back, took out a stack of prints, and skimmed through them.
No sign of the "organization bombing scene" he'd been searching for.
But then—on the final photo—he paused.
Judging by the room layout, it had been taken very recently. The image was a bit blurry, but still clear enough.
It showed Room 201. Blood spattered across the wall.
And directly beneath the stain… a bald man, back to the door, shoving a gun into Yumi Horikoshi's hand. Faking a suicide.
Amuro stared at the photo, a sigh caught somewhere between exasperation and awe.
How unlucky do you have to be for your crime to get auto-documented by a falling Polaroid?
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 28/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*