Chapter 162: The Piercing Arrow
Mountain Villa - Second Floor
The door opened, and Ran dashed out. She herself had been terrified and really didn't want to stay in that room another second.
"Are you alright, Sonoko?" Ran asked her best friend, trying to comfort her.
She had almost gotten Sonoko killed. Thankfully Natsukawa-san had stopped it in time!
It's all Conan-kun's fault. That kid's loud voice made me lose my grip on the crossbow. I was already nervous, and his shout scared me even more.
With the evidence now conclusive, Kaito and Conan didn't care that this was a lady's room and rushed inside to investigate.
Anya tried to follow Conan, but Natsukawa picked her up at the door and held her in his arms.
Searching the room thoroughly, the two found two crossbows, five metal bolts, and a pile of fishing line of unknown purpose.
Conan and Kaito didn't know the specific purpose of the fishing line, but considering that criminals these days were all highly intelligent, they categorized it as an auxiliary tool for committing crimes.
"Tanaka Kikue-san really is Shadow Mage!" Conan rummaged through items and pulled a dagger from Tanaka Kikue's backpack. "This knife should be the murder weapon that killed Escape King."
"How can you tell?" Kaito asked with interest.
"The blade was wiped clean, but there's a lot of blood on the handle. It's obvious it wasn't noticed when being cleaned. I can tell from the color of the blood that it's within half a day old, so..."
Conan paused, suddenly noticing that Doi Takaki was watching him with keen interest. He was immediately flustered. Oh no! I got carried away again!
"Little detective, as expected of Kogoro Mouri's assistant—you've learned quite a lot of detective knowledge." Kaito smiled and patted Conan's head.
Conan breathed a sigh of relief, scratching the back of his head and laughing. "Ahaha, Uncle Mouri taught me all of this!"
Then Conan looked curious. "Speaking of which, Doi-niisan is amazing! You found out about Tanaka Kikue-san's identity beforehand. Are you a police officer, Doi-niisan?"
"Hehe, use the deductive reasoning skills Mouri-san taught you and take a guess!"
While Aoyama's two protagonists were mutually suspicious of each other, Hamano Toshiya, Kuroda Naoko, and Aragoshi all breathed sighs of relief.
Now that they were certain Tanaka Kikue was the murderer, they could finally get a peaceful night's sleep.
Conan and Doi Takaki didn't continue their investigation. They placed the evidence they'd found on the bed, locked the door behind them, and left.
They would need to preserve the scene for when the police arrived, so it was best not to disturb things too much. Besides, the current evidence was enough to prove Tanaka Kikue was the murderer—especially the dagger. Once the blood on the handle was tested, it would be conclusive.
As for tonight, locking Tanaka Kikue up would be sufficient.
With so many rooms in the villa, locking her in any room and taking turns keeping watch would likely prevent any problems.
Back to the Living Room
"I didn't expect Tanaka-san to be Shadow Mage. So who is she planning to target here at the villa?" Sonoko's sudden question silenced everyone.
It seemed none of them had considered this question.
Sonoko, having joined the group chat last, wasn't aware of Red Herring's previous conversations, nor did she know which people Doi Takaki had mentioned mocking Harui Fuden.
"If I'm not mistaken, it's probably me!" Hamano Toshiya shook his head with a bitter smile. "I thought it was just joking around in the chat room, but I never expected it would lead to such a deadly situation."
He sighed, never imagining that casual remarks in a chat room would result in such fatal consequences.
"Huh? Where are Sukama-san and Tanaka Kikue-san?" Sonoko paused, slightly surprised after walking into the living room to find it empty.
Upon hearing this, Conan and Kaito almost simultaneously changed expressions. Kaito, despite his disguised 200-pound frame, quickly moved past Sonoko and looked into the living room.
"They're gone—just as I feared." Kaito's expression shifted from hopeful to grim as he silently moved closer to Natsukawa. "Where do you think they went? Have you found anything?"
Natsukawa circled the seating area, lingering for a long time at the spot where Tanaka Kikue had been restrained.
"You should ask where they went."
"What do you mean? The guy Aragoshi-san hired is working with Tanaka Kikue?"
Natsukawa nodded, picking up the rope from the ground. "The cut is smooth. There are no signs of a struggle in the living room—it seems Sukama released her voluntarily. It appears we underestimated Tanaka Kikue. We didn't expect her to have an accomplice."
As it turned out, Tanaka Kikue wasn't acting alone. No wonder the silent Sukama had volunteered to guard her.
Just then, the living room window suddenly shattered with a deafening crash, the sound like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's hearts.
Then Hamano Toshiya's screams echoed throughout the villa.
Standing by the living room window, Hamano Toshiya was hunched over, his hands clutching his chest as if trying to block something.
Behind him, a blood-stained bolt had pierced through his chest, dripping crimson.
"Hamano-san!" Kaito's pupils shrank. He lunged forward, tackling Hamano Toshiya to the ground.
The next moment, two more bolts shot through the window with metallic clangs as they embedded themselves in the wall behind where Hamano had been standing.
"Get behind the sofa!" Natsukawa roared, shoving Anya and Conan under cover.
The others followed suit immediately.
Natsukawa rolled to the window, using Anya's camera to film outside at an angle.
"They're gone." Confirming it was pitch black outside with no one visible, he checked the other windows in the living room and drew all the curtains shut.
"How is he?" Natsukawa turned to Hamano Toshiya, noticing blood trickling from the corner of his mouth after Kaito had tackled him down.
Tears streamed down Hamano's face as he reached out and grabbed Kaito's clothes, sobbing painfully. "Save... me..."
His voice was incredibly weak, as if his life was slipping away. Each time he opened his mouth, blood bubbles oozed out, quickly staining his clothes crimson.
Kaito nodded, pressing his hand against Hamano's chest, preparing to pull out the bolt.
"Don't move!" Natsukawa commanded coldly. "That bolt has pierced his lung. If you pull it out, he'll die for certain!"
"Then what do we do?!" Kaito's eyes were bloodshot, blaming himself. If I had discovered Tanaka Kikue's identity sooner, perhaps none of this would have happened.
Natsukawa shook his head and sighed, glancing down at Hamano Toshiya with pity. Under the dying man's expectant gaze, he shook his head again. "There's no hope. The bolt is poisoned."
He'd noticed that the blood flowing from Hamano's mouth was a dark, unnatural red. Combined with the lung puncture, in this desolate, snow-covered mountain where ambulances couldn't reach, it was practically a death sentence.
Hearing the devastating news, Hamano's eyes widened in despair. He coughed violently several times, gripping Kaito tightly as if pleading for a miracle.
"Hey, don't scare him like that!" Kaito felt there was still hope. A pierced lung didn't necessarily mean death—with timely treatment, the man could still be saved.
Kaito had clearly underestimated Natsukawa's medical judgment. Even as he spoke, Hamano coughed violently several more times, his face rapidly turning a purplish-red.
He was already struggling to breathe.
(End of Chapter)
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