Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"The second torii is the western line, and the third is the northeastern line."

Standing in front of the torii gate at the top of the shrine, the four compared the three directions they had collected, and their reasoning had obviously reached a critical point again.

Looking at the shrine from the front, Hattori Heiji carefully observed the specific structure of the shrine, and finally fixed his eyes on the symmetrical fox statues inside the shrine.

"You don't think it's like the plot in an old movie, where you can successfully open the hidden door by turning the stone statue continuously like turning the knob of a safe?"

Yuji walked over to the statue, knocked on the stone twice, then held the aching stone and affirmed, "Yes, this thing is solid, not a movie prop."

"Hey, that's enough."

Hattori Heiji rolled his eyes, then used his eyes to remind Yuuji that someone was coming behind him.

"Hey, isn't this Kudo-san? Did you hire help?"

Orange looked around at the three people brought by Kuroba Kaito, and his gaze paused for a while on Yuuji and Conan, especially staring at Conan for a long time, before he puffed out his chest with some pride.

"Kudou-san, this is your admission of defeat."

"That's not right. We're only betting on whether I can figure it out within a day. It doesn't mean I have to deduce it myself."

Kuroba Kaito shamelessly put his hands on his hips, not realizing at all that he was bringing hatred to his former girlfriend Aoko. He laughed twice before pointing at the torii gate outside.

"We have written down the directions: south, west, and northeast."

"...Oh...so what."

The girl controlled her expression well. At least Kuroba Kaito did not infer from her voice and face whether they had been doing useless work before, so he took Yuuji and the other two into the shrine.

"It is said on the Internet that the characteristic of this shrine is that there is a blessed land behind it, so the shrine itself is not actually very big, and the only special decorations are the three fox statues at the entrance and in front of the blessed land."

Hattori Heiji held out his cell phone in front of the three men to prove that he was right.

"Even if it's not right, it doesn't stop us from trying."

Detective Osaka's words touched the other three people, and after thinking about it, they confirmed this.

"The problem is, we don't know which direction corresponds to which statue." Yuji scratched Conan's head and was slapped on the hand by him.

"The interpretation of the slate, the starry dots, and the moon is not correct yet."

The four of them walked to the purse box together, surrounded the two stone slabs with stars and the moon, recalled their previous rough analysis, and confirmed the point made by Kuroba Kaito.

"That's right. The previous interpretation was that the moon confirmed the time, and the full star confirmed the direction. But since we are going to turn the four slabs upside down, the meaning of these two slabs must also change."

Yuuji rubbed his feet on the star-studded slate several times, and suddenly an idea popped into his head.

“Is this thing really full of stars?”

"What do you mean?" Conan's eyebrows blinked, and then he suddenly realized: "Who said that anything put together with the moon must be a star."

"I took it for granted before, but it is also possible that the slate surface has been worn away over time, causing it to look like this now."

Yuuji squatted on the ground and covered some marks that were obviously caused by weathering and fission with his hands. The four of them stared at the stone slab through the boy's arms and finally figured out something. "There are more dots on the left and fewer on the right. The dots on the top are a bit irregular. This is a bird's-eye view of the entire mountain."

Kuroba Kaito also placed his finger on the stone slab and traced the only broken line, which was the line that misled Yuji into thinking it was a special constellation, from beginning to end.

"Back, left, right."

According to the layout of the shrine, the three statues were indeed connected. Hattori couldn't help but smile confidently and adjusted his hat under the affirmative gazes of the other three.

"So now we have to get the mission in order."

"Mission? What mission?"

When the other three heard Kuroba Kaito talk about the mission, they were stunned.

"Nonsense, can the people in the shrine still watch you move the statue?!" Kuroba Kaito helplessly covered his face with his hands: "Of course we have to make the people in the shrine not care, and then the rest of you can move the statue."

"That's easy." Conan pushed his brother and said, "Do you have enough money to buy this mountain?"

"not enough."

"Well, we brothers are out of options." Conan spread his hands and rubbed them excitedly, looking at Kuroba Kaito: "Why don't you lead them away, then we can do whatever we want."

“Oh, that’s a great idea!”

Kuroba Kaito grinned, then grabbed Conan's face with both hands and pulled it continuously.

"Did you think I would say that, Detective?"

"This is not a good idea." Yuji's words gave Kaito some comfort, but he was also glared at by Conan, "You traitor."

"Kaito doesn't matter, but the key is that the old ladies and miko in the shrine won't chase after Kid. And even if Officer Nakamori really wants to chase, the local police in Hakodate may not be willing to cooperate with him."

After breaking free from Kaito, Conan rubbed his chin and looked at the other three people: "How about letting Yuuji use his evil power?"

"No, you can never do this. Once you do it, you won't be able to hold it back anymore."

"But you clearly..."

Yuuji, who had violated the rules countless times, first sternly said no, then looked at Hattori Heiji and Kuroba Kaito who were staring at him in surprise and hadn't said anything, and interrupted Conan who was about to say something.

"Oh no, these two guys agree with your idea. Three to one, the noble Mr. Yuji is defeated? Damn it, I can only submit to you..."

[This guy obviously thought the same thing, but...]

"I really want to beat him..."

The corners of Kuroba Kaito's mouth twitched.

(End of this chapter)