"You guys take your time eating. I'm done. I'll wait for you outside." Sakata Yusuke was the first to finish eating, said goodbye to everyone, and left the restaurant.
Hearing this, Kurosawa Hoshino and the others also silently sped up their eating.
About twenty minutes later, everyone finished eating, paid the bill, and left the restaurant together, coming outside.
Two police cars were parked at the door. In front of one of them, Sakata was standing there, slowly putting his phone into his pocket, giving them a smile.
"Kurosawa-kun, you rode in Inspector Otaki's car before. Why don't you ride in mine this time? I'd like to chat with you, the high school detective." Sakata extended an invitation.
Otaki Goro chuckled. "Sakata, I'd also like to chat with Kurosawa-kun."
"Officer Otaki, let me have a turn. Kurosawa-kun rode in your car earlier."
"Alright."
Kurosawa ignored their conversation, thinking about the anime plot, and looked up at the top floor of the building. He saw a black cloth hanging by the railing, seemingly containing something the size of a person.
That hasn't changed. Right—I remember this person was dead for at least a day in the original. Thinking this, Kurosawa loudly warned, "I think we should step back a bit. There seems to be something hanging up there, about to fall."
"What?" Hearing this, everyone looked up.
Kurosawa patted Ran and Kazuha on the shoulder, reminding them, "Quickly back up. I have a bad feeling."
"We definitely have to back up." Ran trusted Kurosawa's premonition, grabbed Kazuha's hand, and retreated directly to the shop entrance.
Just then, Kogorō and the others gasped in surprise, scattering to the side.
"Don't look!" Kurosawa acted decisively, grabbing one of them in each arm and forcefully pressing their heads into his chest.
"Damn it—" Just as Kazuha was about to question him, a loud bang rang in her ears, startling her. Screams erupted from the surrounding crowd.
"What—what happened?" she asked nervously.
"Hoshino, did the thing you were talking about fall down?" Ran didn't dare turn around, remaining nestled in Kurosawa's arms.
Kurosawa said softly, "Just so you can be prepared. Someone fell and landed on the hood of a car."
The two women shuddered simultaneously, stiffening for a few seconds before returning to normal. Having seen corpses before, they were mentally prepared and stepped out of Kurosawa's embrace, turning to look.
Sure enough, on the hood of Sakata's police car lay a somewhat overweight man, a rope tied around his waist, a dagger protruding from his heart.
"This death—" Otaki's expression turned grim as he stared at the dagger in the corpse's heart.
"There's someone by the rooftop railing," Sakata suddenly said, pointing upward.
Hearing this, Hattori Heiji and Conan instinctively looked up and saw someone standing by the railing looking down. They immediately suspected the person who had pushed the victim and instinctively turned and ran toward the stairwell.
"Heiji, don't do anything rash." Otaki followed them.
Kogorō placed his hand on the body, pressed it gently, and frowned. "The time of death is at least a day ago."
"This is the third victim," Sakata said in a low voice.
"Officer Sakata, what do you mean?" Kogorō looked at him in shock.
Kurosawa observed Sakata's expression for a moment, then glanced at the surrounding crowd and spotted someone unexpected, looking slightly surprised.
It was a beautiful woman wearing a sun hat and sunglasses, hiding behind a group of people, her face partially visible as she stared at them.
Why is Vermouth here? Kurosawa recognized her at a glance. He was curious about why she was here, but after thinking about it carefully, he figured out the reason. Did she find out about Numabuchi Kiichiro in Osaka, so she came to kill him to cover it up? Heh, not Gin, the workaholic. I don't quite believe it.
Vermouth seemed to realize that she had been discovered. She decisively took a step back, turned around, and left, no longer lingering to watch the commotion.
Kurosawa shook his head, and as he looked away, he caught a glimpse of another person out of the corner of his eye—a man wearing a knitted hat and with an expressionless face.
Shuichi Akai? What's going on today? Why are you all in Osaka? Vermouth's here to silence someone, so Akai knows the news and wants to capture Numabuchi Kiichiro?
Akai was now standing directly opposite where Vermouth had been standing, with Kurosawa and the others in the middle. He glanced at the scene a few times, said nothing, lowered his eyes, and silently turned and left.
Kurosawa saw the two leaving in different directions, both with cool expressions. He shook his head and stopped paying attention.
"Hey, Hoshino." Kazuha leaned over and poked his waist with a finger, making Kurosawa want to laugh.
"Just say what you want to say. Don't get handsy." Kurosawa slapped the small hand away, saying irritably.
"Your chance to prove you're not a reincarnated person has arrived! Quickly use your quick-solving skills to solve this case!" Kazuha stared at him with her watery green eyes, her face showing a mixture of trepidation and excitement.
Kurosawa said softly, "If I can identify the culprit in a second, do you believe we'll be husband and wife in the future?"
"No way! We've only known each other for such a short time. How could we possibly be husband and wife? Let's find someone else—someone I can accept a little better." Kazuha joked.
"How about father and daughter? I'll be the dad." Kurosawa said seriously.
Hearing this, Ran quickly pinched her thigh, the pain keeping her awake. After all, someone had died at the scene—she couldn't laugh out loud, or that would be too much.
Kazuha's face darkened, and she said through gritted teeth, "Hoshino, do you think I'm easy to bully because I'm a girl? Let me tell you—I practice aikido. If you make me angry, I won't be polite."
Kurosawa laughed awkwardly, "Just kidding, just kidding. How could we be father and daughter?" He almost forgot that the girl in front of him was not weak.
"Kazuha, let's talk about what's going on right now. I don't know anything, so of course I can't deduce anything. Wait a minute—wait for Hattori and the others to come down. I'll ask them what they know."
Just as she finished speaking, Hattori and the others came over from the stairwell with a man.