Model worker and his little darling

In the evening, everyone enjoyed traditional food at the guesthouse.

Suddenly, the guesthouse owner, Nagakura Iwao, angrily slammed the magazine in his hand to the ground. "What a joke! How can you report such nonsense? We don't have anything like that here."

Upon learning that Nagakura Iwa was angry because of a magazine report that ghosts were haunting the area, Uncle Mori shoved a bottle of sake into Nagakura Iwa's hand.

"Since this place is hailed as a World Heritage Site, it means it belongs to everyone and is the pride of the entire planet. It would be a disservice to it to come here with just a casual, spectator's mentality. Come on, have a drink."

The tourist who had been drinking with Uncle Mori sat down next to him and said, "As expected of Mr. Mori, he spoke so well."

The owner, Yongcang Yan, laughed heartily, "Since I am the owner here, it is only right that I treat everyone."

Ping Qing clicked his tongue. As expected of an older man, he got a free drink with just a few words.

The three children are very interested in the ghosts appearing in the village and invite Conan to join them in investigating the truth.

Conan saw Mrs. Nagakura standing behind the door, secretly wiping away tears. He guessed that it was related to the rumors of the place being haunted, and accepted the Detective Team's invitation.

Seeing the group of children leave, Margot raised an eyebrow at Pingqing, "What did you do to Sherry? She seems very afraid of you."

Ping Qing shrugged. Although Haibara had accepted reality, the alcohol concentration here was still too high, and she was still scared.

“I didn’t do anything; on the contrary, I even saved her.”

Su Dai blinked her big eyes, thinking about going to talk to Shirley later.

Here, a group of people are walking on a country lane.

"Haibara, you're acting strange today. Is something wrong?"

Hearing Conan's quiet question, Haibara shook her head. "I looked into that ghost story, and it seems to be related to something that happened in this village years ago. I have a bad feeling about it, so let's be careful."

Conan nodded, but still felt something was off.

"It's dry and dry, be careful with the candles!"

In traditional towns, the job of night watchman still exists, shared by each household in the village on a rotating basis. The three little ones, who grew up in big cities, were very excited; this was the first time they had ever seen anything like it.

Conan explained, "Because most of the houses in the village are thatched huts, we have to rely on each other to remind each other, so everyone in the village shares this job."

When they reached the fork in the road, Ayumi suddenly left the group because she saw a little girl smiling and waving at her.

Invited, Ayumi followed, and before she knew it, her scarf had fallen to the ground.

Before long, the detective team discovered that Ayumi was missing.

"Maybe she was hungry and went home by herself."

Mitsuhiko looked at Genta disapprovingly, "Please, Ayumi isn't you."

Haibara picked up the scarf that Hoshino had dropped and said with a serious expression, "Something's happened."

……

Seeing a group of kids running back panting, Pingqing asked curiously, "What happened?"

"Brother Taira, Ayumi is lost."

Pingqing glanced over and saw that the uncle and the others were already drunk and passed out on the ground, snoring loudly.

"The uncle is already drunk. I'll go with you to look for him."

When Lady Nagakura found out, she rallied the villagers to help find the person.

And so, the group embarked on their search. Not long after, Hirai and Conan found Ayumi under a cedar tree.

She was stuck in a crevice in the tree, fast asleep.

Back at the guesthouse, Ayumi woke up.

Faced with everyone's concern, Ayumi was confused. "I'm fine, I'm alright," she said, then recounted how she had met the little girl.

Hearing the description of Ayumi's appearance, the little girl was about ten years old, wearing a red dress and with a bob haircut.

The owner, Yongcang, standing nearby, shouted in disbelief, "Impossible!"

Lady Nagakura beside her began to murmur, "It's Asami. She must have come back to see Eiji. They were childhood friends and had a very close relationship. She must know that Eiji is innocent, which is why she came back to see him."

Mr. Nagakura impatiently pushed Mrs. Nagakura away, "Are you ever going to stop, little sister? I think you must have seen wrong."

"Uncle, what makes you so sure Ayumi is mistaken?"

Faced with everyone's questions, Boss Nagakura explained his reason for questioning Ayumi: "Eiji died last month, and Asami died ten years ago."

Mitsuhiko and Genta huddled together, trembling with fear. "A ghost?"

Pingqing blinked. Ayumi is amazing, chasing after a ghost.

The screams attracted the attention of the tourists next door, and everyone started whispering among themselves.

Seeing the scene gradually descend into chaos, Boss Nagakura suddenly became furious, "You were sent by someone else, weren't you? I will never be fooled and manipulated by you. Listen to me clearly, I have never treated Eiji as my son."

The Nagakura couple left, leaving everyone standing there dumbfounded.

Fortunately, everyone dispersed after a short while.

"Brother Pingqing, have you found it?"

Pingqing yawned; it was late at night, and he still had to stay up all night with Conan.

"Found it, Eiji Nagakura committed suicide."

"suicide?"

Conan moved closer to Hirakiyo and started reading the crime news.

Six months ago, Eiji Nagakura committed robbery and murder in a neighboring village. Based on fingerprints found at the scene, the police issued an arrest warrant for him. With nowhere to turn, Eiji Nagakura committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

"Judging from Lady Nagakura's expression, she believes her son is innocent."

Ping Qing nodded. "There might be something more to this. The robber hasn't been found. Do you think he might be mixed in with the tourists?"

"It's all possible."

Seeing Conan deep in thought, Hirai tossed him onto the bed. "Time to sleep. We'll continue the investigation tomorrow."

It's quiet at night.

Pingqing appeared in an uninhabited house, rummaged around for a while, and found a bag of jewelry. He happily put the jewelry away; he loved the feeling of finding something for nothing.

The next morning, the detective team took Heiji out to investigate.

They bumped into Margot and Su Dai, who were strolling around, and the two expressed great interest, so they joined the investigation team.

The group arrived at Mami's house, which was in a state of disrepair. According to the villagers, Mami's family moved away from this sorrowful place after she passed away ten years ago.

After circling around, Conan tugged at Hirai's clothes, "Do you think it's a ghost?"

Despite having experienced the paranormal events at Teitan High School, he still felt that ghosts and such were unlikely.

"Don't you believe what Ayumi said?"

Conan scratched his head, "This..."

"Conan, I promise I'm not lying, I really did see Mami."

To prove she wasn't lying, Ayumi led everyone along the same path they had taken the previous night. Finally, they arrived at the riverbank and found a brand-new garment floating in the water.