Under Ran and Sonoko's nervous gaze, the light on the stairs stopped at the corner. Clearly, the person above had also noticed the light below. For a moment, both sides were quiet.
Conan held up the watch flashlight invented by Dr. Agasa, his expression quite conflicted. He didn't know if the people below were good or bad.
He had originally been upstairs looking at the chessboard when he noticed the wall between two connected rooms took up a very large space. He suspected there might be a secret room inside. Eventually, he found a stopped wall clock on the wall. Standing on a chair, he fiddled with it, and suddenly a revolving door appeared in the wall, sweeping him inside.
When he realized there was a downward passage, he was quite happy, thinking he might solve the castle's secret before Kurosawa Hoshino. But he hadn't expected that just as he reached the corner of the stairs, he'd see a flickering light below—as if it had spotted him and was waiting for him to come down.
"Phew—" Conan glanced at his watch, which had an anesthetic needle, then at his power-enhancing shoes, and immediately felt confident. He wasn't as scared anymore. But to avoid any accidents, he adjusted his bowtie voice changer and spoke in Kurosawa Hoshino's voice: "I'm the high school detective Kurosawa Hoshino. I accidentally discovered a secret passage upstairs. May I ask who you are?"
Below, at the bottom of the stairs, Ran and Sonoko heard Kurosawa Hoshino's voice coming from above and were instantly dumbfounded. If the one upstairs was Kurosawa Hoshino, then who was the one beside them?
Ran and Sonoko, being the best of friends, actually let go of Kurosawa Hoshino's arms at the same time and took a step back in unison. Both their faces were pale—especially with a skeleton on the ground and the current situation and surroundings making their scalps tingle. Ran even thought of her earlier guess when she answered the phone: a ghost tricking the protagonist into coming back to kill them.
Oh no! This Hoshino must be a ghost in disguise—maybe even the skeleton on the ground. He must be toying with me and Sonoko, waiting until we're driven crazy and he's had his fun before making his move.
Thinking this might be the case, Ran's legs lost their strength. With a determined look, she turned to Sonoko and silently mouthed two words: Run.
Sonoko's eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head in refusal.
Ran continued mouthing: Don't let me die for nothing.
Sonoko shook her head again, then simply grabbed Ran's hand. Ignoring her resistance, she led her slowly away from Kurosawa Hoshino, carefully backing up.
Just then, the Kurosawa Hoshino in front of them spoke. "You're Kurosawa Hoshino? Then who am I?"
Instantly, the upstairs went silent. Even the light shining at the corner of the stairs wobbled, as if the person had been startled.
Conan was about to pee himself. He truly hadn't expected Kurosawa Hoshino to be down there. Thinking about being caught and questioned about how he could imitate his voice, his scalp went numb. He turned and ran quickly toward the hidden door, not caring if it would open—he just had to get there first.
When he got back, he was pleasantly surprised to find the hidden door had been reopened, and standing at the entrance were Dr. Agasa and Ayumi and the others.
"Co—" Ayumi was about to shout happily, but Conan immediately made a shushing gesture and spoke rapidly, "Shh—Professor, Ayumi, listen to me. I have something to tell you, and you have to do it, or I'm in trouble. When Brother Hoshino comes out later and asks if anyone came out from here, you absolutely must not give me away."
"Don't ask why. Remember my words. If you say it was me, I'm done for."
"Absolutely, absolutely! Don't mention me!"
Dr. Agasa and the three kids watched Conan rattle off a bunch of words with an anxious expression. They could tell he wasn't joking, so they all nodded to show they understood.
Conan scanned the group and noticed Ai wasn't there. He breathed a sigh of relief—he really couldn't be sure if Ai would lie to Kurosawa Hoshino. It was best she wasn't present. After all, last time when Kurosawa Hoshino asked Ai who had hung up the phone, she had decisively sold him out, which had scared him quite a bit.
Inside the secret passage, at the bottom of the stairs, Kurosawa Hoshino saw the person above run away—of course, he knew it was Conan. But he felt something was missing beside him. He looked back and saw Ran and Sonoko standing stiffly behind him, their expressions shifting between shy and ashamed—quite amusing.
"What's wrong?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked.
"N-nothing~" Ran lowered her head and answered weakly, not daring to admit she'd just mistaken him for a ghost and wanted to run away with Sonoko.
"Yeah, yeah, nothing at all. We were just scared by the skeleton on the ground." Sonoko pulled Ran closer and gave Kurosawa Hoshino a very sweet smile, though her expression looked incredibly guilty.
"You two are hiding something." Kurosawa Hoshino wouldn't believe there was nothing wrong. He stared at them, seeing they didn't dare meet his eyes, and simply activated "Scene Replay" to see what had happened.
Soon, after watching the scene, he understood and said irritably, "Ran, even if you're scared of supernatural stuff, there's no need to think I'm a ghost in disguise, is there?"
"You figured it out?" Ran's face grew even redder.
"And you." Kurosawa Hoshino glared at Sonoko. "Were you trying to drag Ran away? If you two had run, I'd have to go back and find you again."
"I didn't," Sonoko said stubbornly. Since Kurosawa Hoshino hadn't seen her actions, she just wouldn't admit it.
"Let's go. Up we go to see the person who tried to impersonate me." Kurosawa Hoshino turned and led the two girls upstairs.
But they found no one upstairs. Instead, they discovered a door open in the wall, with a chair wedged beside it. They also saw Dr. Agasa and the others.
"It's the exit!" Sonoko ran out happily, ignoring the kids' stares, and laughed. "We're finally out!"
"Yeah." Ran patted her chest and turned to look at the open secret door.
Ai looked at them curiously, feeling like she'd missed a lot of things just by going to the restroom.
Kurosawa Hoshino came out last, pulled the wedged chair away, and the secret door closed.
He scanned everyone in the room, his gaze lingering on Conan for a moment. He watched until cold sweat appeared on Conan's forehead, then looked away without asking if anyone had come out from inside. He didn't want to expose Conan just yet—otherwise, it would spoil a lot of the fun.
He didn't ask, but someone else did. Dr. Agasa asked, "Hoshino, how did you, Ran, and Sonoko come out from there? And where did you go in?"
"Guests, lunch is ready." A servant's voice came from the doorway, cutting off what Kurosawa Hoshino was about to say.
He smiled. "Professor, let's go have lunch first. We can talk while we eat."
Because he knew the plot, walking through the secret passage had given him enough information to solve the case. Kurosawa Hoshino felt it was time to earn those Source Points.