As soon as the two children stepped into the guest room next door, Haibara let out a haughty snort.
"You don't actually think I'm afraid of corpses, do you?"
She refused to show any sign of weakness.
Akashi chuckled.
"I know you're tough. You could probably take down a white mouse with just a knife."
"But we came out to have fun, so let's not ruin the mood, okay?"
He smirked. "Besides, if you really think of Conan as a test subject and stick around him long enough, you'll see that this kind of thing is ridiculously common."
"I've been observing that kid for a while now. He's got some seriously bad luck—everywhere he goes, a case follows."
Akashi casually pointed out Conan's bizarre tendency to attract crimes, but Haibara remained skeptical.
"That's ridiculous." She rolled her eyes.
"How could Bacardi from the organization believe in such nonsense?"
Then, narrowing her blue eyes at him, she added, "And since when did you start coaxing little girls?"
Akashi immediately protested.
"Slander! Absolute slander!"
"What do you mean by 'coaxing little girls'? I'm simply doing something that you and I both agreed on."
Haibara's icy blue gaze sharpened, her aura turning murderous.
"Don't forget," she warned, "you still have my sister."
"Are you really being faithful to her by acting like this?"
This little Loli was really hard to deal with.
But Akashi was shameless. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and pecked Haibara's porcelain-white cheek.
Her eyes instantly widened.
Before she could even react, he leaned in and stole another peck on her other cheek.
The cunning shota smirked.
"You said that your sister and I are a couple, right? Then that makes you my sister-in-law."
"Come on, come on, let your dear brother-in-law have some fun~"
Haibara's face flushed crimson in an instant.
Then, with a sharp glare and a burst of speed, she turned on her heel and bolted out of the room, her short legs moving as fast as they could.
Akashi laughed wickedly.
That should be enough to keep her from overthinking things.
Akashi knew Haibara was a deep thinker, prone to brooding. That was why he always kept an eye on her mood.
Haibara retreated to her room to rest.
Meanwhile, Akashi returned to the hallway, his gaze shifting toward the crime scene.
Ran had already called the police, but the situation wasn't looking good.
"Because of the celebrations happening nearby, the roads are completely jammed," she reported, worry evident in her tone.
"The police said it'll take two hours for them to reach the hotel."
Kogoro's brows furrowed deeply upon hearing that.
"Two hours? That's way too long!"
His frustration boiled over, and he quickly turned to his bald friend, Kazushi Nakamichi.
"Nakamichi, help me with the preliminary autopsy."
Then he scanned the group.
"Did anyone bring a camera?"
The slightly overweight man—Jun Omura—raised a hand.
"I have one in my room. I'll go grab it."
Since Kazushi Nakamichi was an active prefectural police officer and Kogoro was a former detective, they had the authority to start an investigation before the official officers arrived.
When Jun Omura returned with the camera, Kogoro immediately began taking photos of the crime scene.
After snapping a few shots, he nodded.
Then, he and Nakamichi stepped forward and began examining Yumi's body.
However, the moment they removed her yukata, Kogoro's expression darkened.
"Wait… why isn't she wearing underwear?"
As the robe fell away, the full extent of her naked body was revealed.
Akashi instinctively wanted to steal another glance, but before he could, Ran's hand shot out and covered his eyes.
"Akashi, don't look at this, or you'll have nightmares tonight."
Ran cast a glance at Conan and saw him leaning in close to the corpse, studying it with unsettling focus.
A shiver ran down her spine.
There is seriously something wrong with this kid.
She tightened her grip on Akashi's small hand.
My Akashi is much better.
We can't let him turn out like Conan.
Determined, Ran took Akashi's hand and led him downstairs, heading toward the women's hot spring.
"Leave the case to Dad and the others. Big Sis is going to the hot spring—you're coming with me!"
It was only natural for Ran to want another soak in the spring.
After all, she'd been drenched earlier, and her legs were still sticky from all the licking Akashi did. The discomfort was unbearable, and she needed to wash it off.
Meanwhile, the case-obsessed little detective was too engrossed in the crime scene to notice that his childhood sweetheart was leading another boy away.
At this moment, Conan's entire focus was on the naked corpse before him.
As for the succubus shota, he had no objections.
He knew when to prioritize things.
Besides, the victim was Kogoro's former classmate—it was only right to let the old detective take the first crack at solving the case.
And if Kogoro couldn't figure it out…well, then Akashi could step in later.
Meanwhile, at the crime scene…
Kogoro's expression was grim as he examined the body, his brows furrowed in concentration.
Determined to uncover the truth behind Yumi's death, he and Kazushi Nakamichi conducted a preliminary post-mortem examination, checking for signs of rigor mortis and other physical clues.
Based on the livor mortis on her body, they estimated the time of death to be around 5 PM.
At that time, only Ran and the kids had been in the steam room and the lounge downstairs.
Everyone else had been in the table tennis room on the second floor.
And aside from Jun Omura, who had stepped out to use the restroom for a minute, no one had left the room at all.
This hotel had been exclusively booked by their group of former classmates.
Other than the two elderly women running the place, there were no other guests.
Upon hearing Kogoro's findings, Noriko Ayashiro frowned.
"So… Yumi committed suicide?"
She suddenly turned to her husband, scolding him.
"This is all your fault, Yukio! Why did you have to say all that stuff!?"
Noriko suspected that her husband's comments about Yumi being single had pushed her over the edge.
Yukio Ayashiro immediately looked guilty.
"I didn't mean anything by it… I was just joking."
"Being single isn't a crime!"
Just then, the sharp-eyed little detective finally spoke up.
"Huh? The wound on Aunt Yumi's forehead is… way too clean."
Conan pointed at the corpse.
"Also, her middle and index fingers are shaped like a seven… but they're not inside the trigger guard of the gun."
Kogoro's expression darkened as the realization hit him.
He immediately rushed forward to examine the body again.
"Nakamichi, do you remember what we learned back at the police academy?"
Kazushi Nakamichi's brows knit together as he searched his memory.
Then, his eyes widened.
"You mean… the standard behavior of suicide victims using firearms?"
He crouched down and examined the wound more closely.
"When someone shoots themselves in the temple, the gun's muzzle is pressed directly against their skin."
"When the shot is fired, the explosion causes burn marks on the wound."
"But look at Yumi's wound—there's no sign of burns at all."
Kogoro nodded grimly.
"She didn't commit suicide."
"Someone staged the scene to look like a suicide!"
Kazushi Nakamichi stood up and walked over to the window.
Pushing it open, he peered outside and saw the black-tiled eaves just below.
"The eaves are really low… and the windows aren't locked. They're also connected to the neighboring rooms."
He turned back to the group.
"It would've been easy for someone to sneak in from outside."
Kogoro's face hardened.
"Let's head to the front desk and ask the old ladies if they noticed anyone suspicious."
No one objected.
Without wasting another second, the group hurried downstairs to question Granny Juzi at the reception desk.
But their investigation quickly hit a dead end.
The answer was the same—no suspicious figures had been seen.
They were the only guests staying at the hot spring hotel.
The two elderly innkeepers had been working in shifts, and neither had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Which meant…
The culprit had to be among them!