Everyone rushed upstairs and arrived at Mr. Hiroo Tsuchio's room.
As they pushed the door open, they saw the balding, overweight man rolling on the floor, screaming in agony.
His right hand had been severed cleanly at the wrist.
The group's expressions sharpened at the sight—another incident had occurred.
Heiji Hattori immediately tore a strip of cloth from his own clothing and began applying emergency measures to Tsuchio's stump!
Natsuki Koshimizu's pupils contracted repeatedly.
This wasn't my doing either. Was this also Mr. Hoshimiya?
But Yuu Hoshimiya had been with Ran Mouri and the others the entire time.
If the poison could have been planted in advance, how was this amputation carried out?
To anyone else, it would have been impossible, but for Yuu, it required only a simple mental magic spell.
Natsuki's friend's suicide was tied to all three of these men, but Yuu felt that besides Junya Tokitsu, the other two didn't deserve death—just a severe lesson.
Furthermore, Natsuki wouldn't have been able to kill them all on her own anyway.
With just her strength, attempting a serial murder right under the noses of Saguru Hakuba, Conan Edogawa, and Heiji Hattori was pure fantasy.
Kenzo Kouya's tongue had been corroded by poison, Hiroo Tsuchio's hand had been cut off, and Junya Tokitsu had yet to appear.
Hakuba and Conan reacted quickly and sprinted toward the second floor.
Arriving at the door, Hakuba knocked repeatedly, but there was no response from within.
Hakuba initially thought about looping around to the ground floor to check the room through the window.
But he quickly recalled Heiji's earlier words: this was a matter of life and death.
Without further hesitation, Hakuba slammed his weight into the door, bursting it open.
As they took in the scene inside, both Hakuba's and Conan's pupils shrank.
The long-haired Junya Tokitsu was slumped on a chair by the window.
Countless streaks of blood flowed down through his hair, and a deep indentation was visible on his forehead.
His pupils were dilated—he was dead, beyond any hope of rescue!
The two rushed into the room, and after confirming Tokitsu was deceased, both were in a foul mood.
They quickly began a meticulous examination of the scene.
The room was a mess; all the tools from the toolbox were scattered across the floor.
In just ten short minutes, three major incidents had occurred: two cases of severe injury and one murder.
Conan's and Hakuba's faces were grim under the weight of the sudden chaos.
At that moment, Natsuki Koshimizu and Heiji Hattori arrived at the second-floor room after temporarily stabilizing Tsuchio.
Seeing the grisly sight, both were visibly shaken and hurried inside.
Hakuba spoke with a stern expression, "Heiji Hattori, don't you dare act recklessly. Don't destroy the clues. Every lock in this room is engaged, including the main door and this window. In other words, this is a locked-room murder."
Heiji rolled his eyes at Hakuba. "Relax. I've solved over a thousand cases. I don't need your reminders."
The four detectives began examining the scene together.
Since a real case had occurred, Yuu Hoshimiya naturally couldn't remain entirely silent.
He wandered around with them for a bit, contributing a few classic lines of meaningless filler, before using the excuse of taking care of Ran to make an early exit.
Hakuba spoke up then: "I'm afraid this isn't some TV production. Someone specifically designed this to lure us onto the island. At this point, we must call the police and an ambulance immediately, or Mr. Tsuchio and Mr. Kouya might lose their lives."
Natsuki held up her phone, her brow furrowed. "But there's no signal on the island at all!"
Hearing this, everyone pulled out their phones, and sure enough, there wasn't a single bar.
Thunder rumbled outside as a torrential downpour began to fall, making the island feel instantly eerie and oppressive.
Heiji looked at Hakuba and remarked, "I didn't expect a guy like you to choose to break down the door. Weren't you afraid of destroying the crime scene?"
Hakuba gave a thin smile.
"You were right before. The victim is more important than the scene. It's just a shame we were still a step too late—he's dead."
Conan added, "We should bring Mr. Tsuchio, Mr. Kouya, and Natsuki-nee-san to the dining room!"
Natsuki looked at Conan with surprise. "Kid, how do you know so much?"
Conan smiled but didn't offer an answer.
"It's true. Among those present, the three of us all had the opportunity to kill Junya Tokitsu. Mr. Kouya, who was initially checking deductions with Tokitsu; Mr. Tsuchio, who left mid-meal to get his cigarettes; and me, who went to the restroom later. All three of us are potential suspects!"
"Add to that Mr. Kouya's mysterious poisoning and Mr. Tsuchio's severed hand... looking at it that way, my suspicion becomes infinite!"
Natsuki shook her head, looking quite troubled.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have gone to the restroom. All of this wouldn't have happened!"
Heiji laughed and waved it off. "Oh, come on! We don't suspect you!"
Hakuba stood up. "Let's go. We have two injured people to look after. Let's take them to the dining room, and then we can continue our investigation!"
The group walked out of the room where Tokitsu lay dead.
Hakuba and Heiji supported the one-handed Tsuchio as they moved to the dining room.
Kenzo Kouya had regained consciousness by then, staring at everyone with a deathly pale face.
Heiji questioned Tsuchio.
"Mr. Tsuchio, do you remember who cut off your hand?"
The balding man was drenched in sweat, his lips white as he moaned in pain.
Hearing the question, he managed to gasp out, "I was hit from behind... I blacked out... I didn't know anything until I woke up from the pain and found my right hand... it was gone."
Tsuchio's voice trembled as he spoke, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
"Who hates me this much? To actually cut off my hand... Please, get a doctor! If we're too slow, they won't be able to reattach it!"
Tsuchio's left hand was clutching his severed right hand, the blood already beginning to scab. It was a truly sickening sight.
Heiji, seeing Tsuchio so agitated, could only keep pressing.
"I want to contact the outside world too, but you have to tell us everything you know. What is the real situation here? This is definitely not a TV show. What was the plan for bringing us all here?"
Tsuchio, cold sweat pouring down his face, replied weakly, "I don't know what's going on either! It's nothing like the letter said! I'm just an actor! I received a letter from Nichiuri TV asking me to play a director. I thought it was a station project, so I came. Everything before this was just following the script!"
"The deposit was 500,000 yen. As long as my identity wasn't exposed, I'd get another 500,000. Even if I were caught, as long as the Koshien went smoothly, I'd get 250,000. Where else can you find a deal like that? Of course I accepted it!"
Conan couldn't help but ask, "Then why did you suddenly get up and leave when we mentioned the Lavender Case?"
Tsuchio's expression shifted, but he quickly spoke up, "The punishment has already been dealt, so there's no point in hiding it!"
"At that moment, I had a bad feeling. I wanted to go to the warehouse outside to find the walkie-talkie and have someone from the shore pick me up. But when I got to the warehouse, I found the radio had been smashed."
"Then I went back to my room to get my smokes and was attacked from behind. When I woke up, I was like this. Please, brats... is there any way to contact a hospital? I don't want to be a cripple!"
Hakuba shook his head. "I have to give you some bad news. There is no signal on this island, no radio, and no boat. We are trapped. Getting to a hospital in time is going to be difficult!"
"How can this be?! My hand!" Tsuchio began to wail.
Just then, Heiji brought out the soup from the kitchen that had been taken off the heat.
The moment Kenzo Kouya saw the pot, he backed away in terror, not daring to get close.
As the lid was lifted, a cloud of white steam billowed out. Even Heiji didn't dare get too close.
"This acid mist... it looks terrifying!"
Once the steam cleared, Hakuba leaned in to observe.
"This acid is colorless and odorless. Although it's corroding the iron walls of the pot, it hasn't changed color. No wonder Mr. Kouya couldn't tell!"
Conan stood on a stool, staring into the pot.
"Mr. Kouya only took one small sip and his entire tongue was destroyed. This acid is far more dangerous than concentrated sulfuric acid. It must be a super-acid to be this potent."
He used a spoon to ladle some soup into a bowl and dropped a small piece of tissue into it; the paper was dissolved into nothingness almost instantly.
"Terrifying!" Natsuki Koshimizu cried out from the side.
Heiji rubbed his chin. "But the strange thing is, to enter the kitchen, you have to pass through the dining room. Yet the three of us in the dining room didn't see anyone enter the kitchen."
"Mr. Kouya finished the food and started the soup simmering. After he called us, we were all together constantly. We went to find the bound Director Tsuchio together, then ate together. No one left in the direction of the kitchen!"
Heiji turned to Conan. "Conan, how many windows are in the kitchen?"
Hakuba interrupted: "Don't bother. The windows are 'dead' windows designed only for light. However, there was one other person who had the chance to put super-acid in the simmering soup."
Heiji, Conan, and Natsuki all shared a shift in expression as they realized the implication.
Hakuba said: "The victim on the second floor. Junya Tokitsu, who said he was leaving first!"
Natsuki couldn't help but remark: "Interesting!"
She was actually quite certain it was Yuu Hoshimiya's doing, but she truly didn't know how he had managed it under everyone's watchful eyes.
With Yuu's backing, as long as she wasn't stupid, she would definitely be acquitted even if suspected.
Realizing this, her curiosity about Yuu's methods began to outweigh her need to keep up the act.
Natsuki also fell into deep thought.
Heiji spoke up: "When I was tending to Mr. Tsuchio's wound, I noticed the cut was perfectly clean, severed in one strike. In other words, with Miss Koshimizu's strength, it would be impossible to accomplish that!"
"So, I don't suspect Miss Koshimizu for the attack on Mr. Tsuchio. And since we were all in the dining room, and Mr. Kouya was in the kitchen after Tsuchio left... I suspect there might be someone else on this island."
But Tsuchio spoke up: "That's impossible! This island is tiny. I scouted the whole place during the day. There's no one else here. The only dock is close by; someone landing on the island couldn't have escaped our ears."
"I think one of you has a grudge against me and lured me here!" Tsuchio stared at the group with eyes full of distrust!
Heiji waved his hands. "Calm down, calm down! Your wound was just bandaged. If you get worked up and it reopens, an infection on this island without medicine would be very dangerous!"
Only then did Tsuchio settle down slightly.
Hakuba spoke then: "We won't find any more evidence here. Let's check the crime scene and the warehouse for clues. Miss Koshimizu, please look after them."
"Also, please find some paper and a pen for Mr. Kouya. Since he can't speak right now, have him write down whatever he wants to say. We'll check it when we get back!"
With that, Hakuba, Heiji, and Conan walked out of the dining room.
Heiji whispered, "Kudo, do you think these three incidents were done by the same person?"
Conan rested his chin in his hand, feeling as though he were surrounded by a thick fog. He couldn't give an answer.
The three soon arrived before the body of Junya Tokitsu and began examining the scene.
Hakuba put on gloves and started the examination.
He looked at the blood-stained Tokitsu and said, "The victim is Junya Tokitsu, age eighteen. Time of death was between five and seven this evening. The fatal wound is blunt force trauma to the head. The weapon is the hammer scattered on the floor!"
At this moment, Hakuba was no different from a professional coroner, though without an autopsy, he couldn't be more precise.
Hakuba looked up, but seeing that Conan and Heiji were ignoring him, he fell silent.
Conan and Heiji stood before the window, examining it closely. The screws held the window firmly in place.
Conan spotted some scattered quick-drying adhesive on the floor and his eyes lit up. He hurried to check the seam between the window and the frame, but he was soon disappointed. There was no trace of adhesive there!
Yuu Hoshimiya had already manipulated the scene; naturally, Conan couldn't find a thing.
Heiji finished with the window and moved to the door, examining it carefully, but found nothing unusual there either.
"What the hell?! The window is normal, and the door is normal. This locked-room case really is a locked room. This guy didn't commit suicide, did he?"
Hakuba snorted at the suggestion.
"Suicide? Who commits suicide by smashing their own forehead with a hammer? Even with the strongest resolve, the body's instincts would weaken the blow. At most, it would be a severe injury. He couldn't have died that cleanly!"
Heiji laughed. "But if you can't solve the mystery of the locked room, then suicide is the only logical conclusion. By the way, is it possible that when you burst through the door, you destroyed the key clue to the trick?"
"You...!" Hakuba was infuriated. He hadn't expected the insult he'd thrown at Heiji earlier to be thrown right back at him.
Heiji grinned. "Just a joke! Just a joke!"
At this point, Yuu Hoshimiya had stopped paying much attention to Conan and the others. He only needed to rescue the people on the island when the tide rose tomorrow.
If this Detective Koshimizu still got caught by the other three detectives despite all his "cheating" help, she would be far too useless.
There would be no reason to contract her and recruit her into Angel's Wing.
There were plenty of cute and beautiful girls; Yuu valued her cunning and ruthlessness more than her looks.
Back on the island, inside the room where Tokitsu died, Conan spotted an axe buried beneath the pile of tools.
The axe was stained with fresh blood. He hurriedly called the other two over.
Hakuba and Heiji approached, but neither dared to pull the axe out lest they disturb the scene.
Heiji remarked, "This must be the axe that cut off Mr. Tsuchio's right hand. I didn't expect it to turn up here!"
Conan added, "Is it possible the killer put the axe here after murdering Tokitsu to frame him?"
Hakuba shook his head. "No, that's not it. This axe likely belonged to Tokitsu. and the injury to Mr. Tsuchio's hand... I'm afraid Tokitsu was the one who did it."
"Come over here and look!"
Hakuba pointed to blood droplets on Tokitsu's pants and his right hand.
This wasn't the blood from Tokitsu's own head wound; it was the spray from when Tsuchio's hand was severed. Tokitsu's right hand was covered in it.
The blood on Tokitsu's hand and the blood flowing from his head were two different shades. The blood of different individuals has distinct characteristics, and it was easily distinguishable at a glance.
Heiji furrowed his brow. "If that's the case, then this high school detective from Hokkaido was the one who cut off Tsuchio's hand. What kind of grudge could justify that?"
"Let's go. We need to check the warehouse!"
After finishing with the crime scene, the group headed out into the heavy rain toward the warehouse.
The warehouse door originally had a lock, but the padlock had been pried open.
Inside, the three found the generator and the smashed signal transmitter. The lack of signal on the island was due to this machine being destroyed.
"Confirmed sabotage. Someone wants us trapped on this island," Conan said, his brow knit in thought.
Finding nothing else in the warehouse, they returned to the lodge through the storm.
But soon, Hakuba quietly slipped away from the group. He went alone to Tsuchio's room and began searching his toolbox.
When he saw that the toolbox was empty—exactly as he had predicted—a smirk touched his lips.