Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"right here."

After getting off the car, Kudo Yuji put his hands in his pockets, with the setting sun behind him. At this time, there were still two hours before the meal agreed by Kudo Shinichi and Mao Lilan. After receiving the call, Kudo Yuji, who was planning to watch the fun, immediately decided to come early.

The location is a small hill east of Mount Hakodate. Just like the classic check-in scenes that can be found all over Japan, there is also a shrine on this hill. As the New Year approaches, the shrine has begun to be decorated, and the trees on both sides of the mountain road are almost cut down to facilitate stalls for shops that pay rent to the shrine.

With the driver following behind him, Yuuji rubbed his chin, "What do you think is the reason for this shrine?"

It is true that shrines can be associated with supernatural things, but this shrine is not in the northeast of Goryokaku, but in the east. Moreover, there are some local ghost legends on Mount Hakodate, so how could it be found here?

"After you arranged to look everywhere, Mr. Gojo and Mr. Dequan knew about it."

The driver walked behind Kudo Yuji and explained in a low voice: "Mr. Tokuizumi has seen the list of all the police officers in the Hakodate local police station and knows that Kawazoe Yoshihisa's family runs a temple."

"Temple? Was it his elder brother or younger brother who inherited the family temple?" Yuji buttoned his suit tighter, patted the bulletproof vest inside, and checked the pistol in his pocket.

"It's his younger brother. He has an older sister at home. She said she was better at studying than her brother, so she went to college. His brother inherited the family business after graduating from high school and became a monk. He is already married."

This means that if they encounter any danger later, Kawazoe Yoshihisa will be the first suspect, because Mr. Tokuizumi will definitely pay attention to confidentiality during the questioning process.

"Kawazoe Yoshihisa said that a Feng Shui master was hired when Goryokaku was built. The Feng Shui master believed that among the eight directions of Goryokaku, only the northeast direction had a mountain range and was also a ghost gate. The evil spirits could not be dispersed and it was easy for ghosts and gods to cause chaos, so a shrine was built to suppress the evil spirits."

The two walked past the torii, speaking in low voices, taking in the patterns on the stone slabs on the ground. They first walked to the Mitarashi to wash their left hands and rinse their mouths with their right hands, then stopped beside the prayer board to observe the situation inside the shrine.

"What is the relationship between the shrine to the northeast and this shrine to the east?"

"Of course, it was because of the war that the shrine was destroyed, so a new one was built here, and it has been sixty years."

Sixty years later, this shrine and Afue Keisaburo are contemporary, so if you think about it, they can be put together. Yuuji walked forward slowly, threw in a five-yen coin, and didn't make a wish. His body was tense and his ears were erect.

There were only the sounds of the stream and birds singing. There was a creaking sound inside the shrine. The driver immediately stood beside Kudo Yuji and used the boy's body to shield his hands from his pockets.

"It turns out to be a visitor to worship God."

The beautiful woman in a shrine maiden's costume opened the sliding door and walked out wearing thick white socks and wooden clogs. There was a hint of sadness on her face, but she didn't give people the feeling that she was already used to sad expressions.

"I don't think I heard any sound. Did I pay the money but not visit the temple?"

The witch turned sideways and pointed at the hemp rope hanging from the bell.

"In fact, I don't worship gods casually. Although I will pay money wherever I go, I will ask the worshiper before worshipping to avoid doing something disgusting."

"You can rest assured that this shrine enshrines the orthodox Inari God. It's just that we moved it in a hurry, so we just hastily built the shrine."

Miss Miko narrowed her eyes, and she really looked a bit like a fox.

"But if you come to the shrine for other troubles, it might cause displeasure to the Inari God." The miko held up her arms and said, "Hakodate has been too noisy lately."

"Then you won't have to worry about it."

Kudo Yuji rang the bell, clapped his hands, and looked at the miko who was still staring at him: "I'll come again tomorrow."

"Inari God bless you."

Walking back along the mountain road, Kudo Yuji's eyes kept falling on his feet, his thoughts lingering on the shrine. "Rearrange the information collection?"

"Do not."

The driver sitting in the driver's seat heard Kudo Yuji speak, put his foot down that was about to step on the accelerator, and turned back to look at the boy who was looking up at the mountain.

"This is where we are looking." Kudo Yuuji put his hands on the armrests of the chair: "Sending someone to collect the information will alert the enemy, so it's better for two of us to investigate secretly. It will be troublesome if it attracts other people's attention."

The driver hummed and tried to lower his body to see the condition of the mountain, but was stopped by the teenager.

"The woman said that they renovated it like this because of the emergency of relocation, but after so many years, how come there is no renovation at all?"

Kudo Yuji said: "The stone slabs after entering from the Torii are all old. Although they all have patterns, after passing the Mitarashi, it is obvious that the four stone slabs of the bell are particularly old."

"I remember the four patterns were a five-pointed star, a moon, full dots, and an octagonal pattern."

The driver stepped on the accelerator and drove away after Kudo Yuuji gave the address.

"Are we going to crack the second round of codes now?"

"No rush, at least we are ahead."

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The car drove away into the distance, and as night fell, the figure standing on the torii gate halfway up the mountain grinned after seeing the car disappear from sight. He suddenly turned over and stepped on the mountain road, his eyes fixed on the torii gate where he had just stood.

"You reacted really quickly. You don't look like you're injured."

Stepping lightly on the ground, a magnetic sound rang out from the darkness, two blue lights flashed, and a ghost-faced man in a kimono walked out of the woods and slowly put the knife into the scabbard.

His peripheral vision fell on the tail of the torn cloak, and the Black Feathered Thief adjusted his hat. In a flash, five or six sticky white spheres appeared on the ground, flashing violently in sequence.

"You may not believe it, but this thing was made by one person as a children's firework. I just found out that it can become so powerful after adding alcohol."

"You're mean."

Hei Yu Daoyi covered his mouth with some disdain, but his expression was still that of an unfathomable handsome uncle. He imitated the voice of the Ghost Mask, not caring at all that the Ghost Mask suddenly faced him.

"I see. You can tell my location just by hearing. You're a good swordsman, but this won't do."

The magician immediately opened his mouth, and his voice kept changing like running water. As a result, Ghost Face looked like he had seen a ghost. The swordsman, who judged the position by his ears, only felt that this thief was playing tricks on him with the magic of teleportation.

"With a little imagination, maybe I can actually use teleportation."

A voice that suddenly appeared beside his ear revealed the feeling of Ghost Face. Three cards were inserted into him at the same time. With a click of the tongue, the swordsman immediately returned to the dark woods.

"Did you escape..."

Sitting on the torii gate, Kuroba Toichi waved his finger at Terai and his wife below.

"Those kids need to practice their skills more."

(End of this chapter)