The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

"So, what exactly is going on..." Miyano Akemi seemed very conflicted.

Although he didn't understand the concept of a "girlfriend," Aragaki Yu had some guesses about the relationship between Kusano Kaoru and the other two: "Perhaps Ms. Kusano and Mr. Kensuke aren't boyfriend and girlfriend at all, and even this engagement party might be fake."

"Huh? What... what does this mean?"

Akemi Miyano was clearly stunned upon hearing this, and she couldn't quite understand what Yuu Aragaki meant.

"Who knows? Maybe it's for publicity, or for some other purpose. It's normal for celebrities to fabricate some scandals!" Having seen this kind of operation in the entertainment industry in his previous life, Aragaki Yu naturally said it as a matter of course.

"Yes, that's certainly a possibility..."

Miyano Akemi, who was initially somewhat unable to accept this, had to admit that Aragaki Yu made some sense after carefully considering the identities of Ms. Kusano and Mr. Kensuke.

……

While Aragaki Yu and Miyano Akemi were talking quietly.

"So, is the person who slashed Ms. Kusano's throat among this group?" Inspector Megure asked Kogoro Mouri quietly after watching Hoshino Terumi and the others leave the living room.

"I think it's probably not very likely..." Kogoro Mouri said hesitantly.

"But you always say that the first person to discover something is the most suspicious!" Inspector Megure muttered, skeptical.

"what do you mean……"

Kogoro Mouri's eyes suddenly became sharp.

"without……"

"You mean... the murderer is very likely Aragaki Yuu!"

"That's right... uh!?"

Inspector Megure, who had been looking on with approval, suddenly looked dejected after Kogoro Mouri finished speaking.

He smacked Kogoro Mouri on the head with a dark expression and said, "Are you an idiot?! If it was Aragaki, how could he have lured everyone outside the bathroom to save Ms. Kusano? Besides, he wasn't the first person to enter the bathroom where the incident occurred!"

Inspector Megure was feeling a bit weary.

Why does Kogoro Mouri only become reliable when he's "asleep"?

"Please, officer, I don't have any reason to kill Ah Xun!"

Inspector Megure lost his temper and didn't control his volume.

Therefore, his words were also heard by everyone else in the living room.

Kensuke, who instantly realized he was being suspected, put on an innocent face. "Besides, when I found A-Xun in the bathroom, this kid with glasses was also there. I didn't have a chance to destroy any evidence. And it was this kid who told me to open the door, so I opened the bathroom door."

After saying that, Kensuke turned around and looked at Conan behind him.

"Is it true?" Inspector Megure asked Conan to confirm after hearing what Kensuke said.

"Hmm." Since that was the case, Conan nodded and said, "Because I saw a lot of blood dripping from the hallway entrance all the way to the door. When I opened the door, I found that the blood had fallen outside."

"Hmm?" Inspector Megure looked at the item that Conan was pointing to, which had already been taken back inside, with a puzzled expression.

At this point, Kogoro Mouri, who had already identified the items, explained: "It was a raincoat, gloves full of holes, an eye drop bottle, and a handkerchief."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure also walked towards the items placed at the door.

Kogoro Mouri continued explaining the situation while following Inspector Megure, "They were originally outside the gate, and I moved them in before the ambulance arrived."

Chapter 527 The Prisoner is Here

"The raincoat and gloves were covered in blood..."

Inspector Megure crouched down and carefully examined the "evidence" before him. "Judging from these signs, these items must have been used by the murderer."

Then, Inspector Megure picked up the handkerchief and looked at the stain on it, saying, "There's a little bit of lipstick on this handkerchief."

“If this contains anesthetic,” Officer Takagi said, picking up the eye drop bottle from the evidence, “perhaps the perpetrator first covered Ms. Kusano’s mouth with a handkerchief to drug her before committing the crime.”

"Yes." Inspector Megure nodded; he did indeed think so too.

"But who could do something so cruel?" Xiaolan muttered, her face pale.

"I think he must be a peeping tom!" Kensuke's tone sounded quite dissatisfied, as if he was still bothered by Inspector Megure's earlier behavior of treating him as a suspect.

"It must have been the work of a peeping tom who rings the doorbell as a prankster when he lost control."

"Ringing the doorbell? A prank?" Inspector Megure looked at Kensuke Osamu in confusion, not knowing what was going on.

"Hmph! This can't even be described as a prank. Someone left strange letters outside the gate, saying things like 'I will come back, even if I die.' The more times they were left, the more terrifying the contents of the letters became."

Jian Qixiu snorted coldly, and his expression became even more indignant when the matter was brought up.

"So that's how it is!" Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but mutter to himself. "No wonder Ms. Kusano called back like a completely different person when she heard me ring the doorbell."

"Wasn't it locked at the time of the incident?" Inspector Megure pressed.

Conan had already confirmed this when he noticed the bloodstains in the entryway: "The door was open."

"Maybe Ah Xun felt safe not locking the door because there were so many of us!"

"In other words, this peeping tom, after discovering the door wasn't locked, sneaked inside and bumped into Ms. Kusano, who was just coming out of the bathroom. Because she saw his face, he drugged her and then slit her throat with a sharp blade. Finally, he threw the blood-stained raincoat and gloves outside the door and escaped when no one was looking," Inspector Megure explained.

Then, he turned to Officer Takagi behind him and analyzed, "Alright, Takagi, you go around the building and ask if anyone has seen any suspicious people..."

"Wait a moment!"

However, before Takagi could react, Aragaki Yu stopped Officer Takagi, saying, "Don't you find this strange?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Aragaki Yuu, who had suddenly spoken, with a puzzled expression.

"Did you find something, Aragaki-kun!" Inspector Megure became excited as he saw Aragaki Yuu, who seemed to have something to say.

Inspector Megure, who was originally troubled by not being able to explain to his wife that he had come out to work overtime in the middle of the night, now felt like he had seen a savior.

As expected of Aragaki, who "never works overtime"!

"Inspector Megure, if the culprit really did break into the room and bump into Ms. Kusano just as she was coming out of the bathroom, would Ms. Kusano really be naked as we saw her?"

Yuu Aragaki glanced at Kensaki Osamu and Conan, who had rushed into the bathroom immediately, and then slowly explained, "Mr. Kensaki and Conan can also corroborate this. Ms. Kusano, who was lying in the bathtub with her throat slashed, should have been completely naked, and there shouldn't have been anything lying around to cover her body."

"You know, there are quite a few guests here today, not only Mr. Kensaki and Ms. Yoko Okino, but also Mr. Mori and I. I don't think Ms. Kusano would run out of her house wrapped in a bath towel when there are men around.

"Hmm." Inspector Megure nodded, agreeing with what Aragaki Yu said.

"Similarly, Ms. Kusano Kaoru wouldn't leave the bathroom door unlocked while she's taking a bath, so the person who would make Ms. Kusano feel comfortable leaving the door open in the bathroom..."

At this point, Yuu Aragaki did not choose to continue speaking.

But it was obvious that everyone understood what he meant.

The only person who could make Ms. Kusano open the bathroom door was someone she knew, or even one of the people in the room at the time.

Conan nodded silently. Yuu Aragaki was right. He didn't think the culprit was someone who ran in from outside.

Judging from the fact that the bloodstains on the entrance hallway showed no signs of being stepped on, and that the killer had prepared a raincoat, gloves, and anesthetic, the killer must have been a rather careful and cautious person.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the murderer would risk being discovered by others to attack Ms. Kusano Kaoru, given that so many shoes were placed in the entryway.

Therefore, the murderer must have been someone who was in the house at the time.

Although I'm very reluctant to think this way, the fact is that the most suspicious people right now are those three people who went to the bedroom to change clothes separately.

"That's right, the murderer might even be among us!"

At that moment, the living room door was suddenly pushed open, and Hoshino Terumi and Takeno Yuki walked in.

Judging from the calm tone in which Hoshino Terumi said those words, it was clear that every word Aragaki Yu had just said had reached their ears.

At the same time, Aragaki Yu also noticed the fleeting uneasy look in the eyes of Takeno Yuki, who was walking behind.

Based on both Yuki's current statements and the faint smell of blood emanating from her, Yuu Aragaki is basically certain that she is the culprit who attacked Kaoru Kusano.

However, he was unable to grasp either the motive or the evidence in the short term.

That's why he just made a point of stating the theory that the murderer was among them in front of everyone.

The purpose was to provoke the prisoner and see if she would reveal any flaws.

Although Yue Yexue was very flustered, she still forced herself to remain calm and said calmly, "What he said makes a lot of sense. The room where we went to change clothes was indeed not far from the bathroom where A Xun took a bath. It's not impossible that someone secretly went to kill her."

"Huimei, Xue, why are you both..."

Hearing what the two said, Yoko Okino was clearly unable to accept this.

Chapter 528 The Strange Hoshino Terumi

“Even if that’s the case, the culprit couldn’t possibly be Ms. Yoko!” Kogoro Mouri suddenly smiled, his eyes narrowed.

"We waited for Ms. Yoko outside the room while she was changing, and then we stayed in the living room without leaving," Ran testified on behalf of Yoko Okino.

“Then I’m not a suspect either!” Kensuke Osamu chimed in, pointing at Conan. “When I discovered Kaoru, that little brat was right next to me.”

"Yes, that's right." Conan nodded in agreement.

Just as Kensuke breathed a sigh of relief, Conan's next sentence made him feel terrible.

"And when Sister Xun first said she wanted to take a bath, this brother even accompanied her to the bathroom."

"Huh!?" Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively looked in Jian Qixiu's direction.