After much effort, Natsume reached a spot not far from the Roller Coaster entrance. She happened to see Ayumi and the others, whom she had met earlier, trying to sneak in through a small hole next to the Roller Coaster to get a free ride.
Before Natsume could stop them, the three children quickly slipped inside.
Since these three children were here, it meant Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri had just arrived.
Indeed, Natsume shifted her gaze to the entrance and saw two people who looked like High School Detectives queuing. The boy was talking incessantly, and as he spoke, he suddenly grabbed one of the girl's hands—this should be the culprit of this case. The other girl with horn-like hair looked a bit unhappy.
Natsume couldn't think of a way to stop the case for a moment. She had planned to go up and ride the same Roller Coaster as the protagonists, then act on the fly. If she couldn't stop it, she could at least learn some details, which would make her deduction more convincing.
But just as Natsume was about to act, she suddenly realized—there were no extra seats left on this Roller Coaster. There were eight seats in total: Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri took two, the victim and their companion—one of the three suspects—took four, and Gin and Vodka, making their first appearance, took two. There were no extra seats.
Just then, Natsume looked at the small hole Ayumi and the others had climbed through, recalled the relevant plot, and had an idea.
Natsume turned around and walked to the hole. Taking advantage of no one paying attention, she also climbed inside.
When Natsume washed her hands earlier, she saw her reflection. She looked almost identical to Lumine, the Traveler in the game, just a few years older, enough to pass as an adult. Her athletic ability was also excellent, and she easily and quickly climbed through the hole.
It was pitch black inside, and Natsume indeed found her night vision to be excellent, allowing her to generally see her surroundings.
After walking for a while, she soon heard children's voices ahead.
"Ayumi, is that you?" Natsume called out. She saw the three children ahead, who had been about to run away upon hearing footsteps, stop.
"It's the big sister from before," Ayumi said, surprised.
Ayumi: "Big sister, why are you here?"
Natsume, of course, couldn't tell them her true purpose. Fortunately, she had already thought of an excuse: "I just saw you three children climb into this hole, and I was a bit worried, so I followed you in."
Natsume also prepared to educate these children and stall for time until the Roller Coaster arrived. After all, in the story, these children were always reckless, impulsive, and extremely brave, daring to climb into anywhere.
Natsume squatted down and said to the three children, "Do you know how dangerous it is for you to do this? Right next to you is the Roller Coaster track. What if the Roller Coaster passes by and you don't have time to dodge and get hit?"
Ayumi and the other two looked at each other, then lowered their heads and obediently admitted their mistake.
Natsume saw Ayumi and the others so obediently admitting their mistake, but she didn't know how much they truly understood. However, since they had only just met, it wasn't appropriate to say too much.
Natsume patted the children's heads, stood up, and said, "Alright, it's so dark in here, don't stay inside. Hold my hand, and I'll take you out."
Just then, Natsume finally heard the sound of the Roller Coaster approaching the cave. Paimon also reminded her at this moment: "Traveler, the Roller Coaster is almost here!"
Natsume held Ayumi's hand and pulled her to the side, while also putting her other hand in front of Mitsuhiko and Genta to make them lean to the side: "Be careful and lean to the side, the Roller Coaster is coming."
"Whoosh—" The Roller Coaster quickly passed by and soon left the cave.
Natsume keenly smelled a hint of blood in the cave. "Clink—clink—," just then, Natsume heard the sound of beads falling to the ground.
Ayumi also felt something drop by her feet, bent down, and picked it up, discovering it was a pearl.
Natsume saw the pearl Ayumi picked up. As expected, this should be a pearl from the pearl necklace the culprit used in the crime.
Natsume didn't stay in the cave for long, knowing that the case had already occurred, the next step was to expose the culprit.
Walking out of the cave, she indeed saw many people gathered around something, and from time to time, someone would say, "How terrifying...", "...his head is gone..." and so on. (Some original plot details were changed here)
Just then, a High School Detective suddenly appeared and stopped them. Ayumi recognized him and rushed to him, shouting, "Are you that High School Detective?"
The High School Detective squatted down and introduced himself to Ayumi: "Shinichi Kudo."
Natsume also took the opportunity to carefully observe Conan before he shrunk. He had a confident smile on his face, was natural with attention, not very vigilant, seemed to have never experienced setbacks, and easily ignored things outside of his interests.
So this is Shinichi Kudo. Natsume felt that the current Shinichi Kudo was confident to the point of being slightly arrogant, no wonder he would stumble later.
Seeing Shinichi Kudo asking Ayumi and the others about what happened in the cave, she stepped forward and asked, "Hello, what happened just now? I heard that a case occurred."
Shinichi Kudo looked up at the girl in front of him, slightly stunned. It was his first time seeing such a beautiful blonde girl. He briefly explained what had just happened. Just as he was about to continue questioning, he heard the girl in front of him say, "If what you just said is correct, then I think I know who the culprit is."
"Eh~" Shinichi Kudo was surprised: "How do you know the culprit? Who is the culprit?"
"You just said you were sitting in front of the victim, so the culprit is the person sitting in front of you on the Roller Coaster. When the murder occurred, Ayumi and I were just in the cave," Natsume continued, a little embarrassed: "My night vision is pretty good, and I saw something just now. When the Roller Coaster passed, someone in the first row reached over the second row and did something to someone in the third row. Plus the pearl Ayumi picked up in the cave, thinking about it now, the culprit must have done something then."
Just then, the police, who had just received the report, also arrived.
An officer wearing a brown round hat and a brown uniform saw the situation and immediately asked, "Inspector Megure, you're here too?"
"Inspector Megure," Shinichi Kudo greeted, "This young lady said she witnessed the culprit committing the crime."
Shinichi Kudo was a bit depressed. After hearing Natsume state the culprit's location and even the general method of the crime, he understood the culprit's modus operandi. But this feeling of being spoiled, of not personally uncovering the answer layer by layer, was not satisfying at all. Shinichi Kudo felt a sense of loss and didn't even have the energy to personally reveal the mystery to Inspector Megure.
Inspector Megure was overjoyed to hear there was an eyewitness.
Natsume then repeated what she had just said. Inspector Megure already knew the seating arrangements on the Roller Coaster, so he immediately knew who the culprit was.
Just then, Shinichi Kudo finally perked up and supplemented the modus operandi.
He walked up to the culprit, Hitomi, and asked, "So, can you explain what you were doing in the cave and about the pearl necklace on your chest?"
Hitomi was speechless, covered her face, and burst into tears, explaining her reasons for doing so.
Natsume quietly slipped away while everyone was listening intently. She didn't want to be called to the police station later to give a statement.