Model worker and his little darling

Young man, you have a bright future!

This is because they are afraid of having any contact with death and being tainted by its bad luck.

"I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind. I had food poisoning when I was a child, so I became a bit of a germaphobe afterward."

After finishing writing, the driver wiped the pen clean before handing it to Conan.

Upon entering the hall, there was only one maid.

Upon seeing the aunt, Uncle Mori was taken aback and pointed at her, saying, "You look just like that chef from earlier."

The aunt angrily slapped Uncle Mori's finger away. "It's only natural that she looks like me, because Nippana is my daughter. Also, please don't point at me with your finger, I have acrophobia."

Upon hearing this, Pingqing looked at the horn on Xiaolan's head; it must be the sharpest thing in the entire place.

The housekeeper gazed at the portrait on the wall. "Mrs. Shigeko, could you straighten that painting? I think it's tilted 5mm to the right."

Pingqing blinked. Goodness, all the older brothers in this family are talented.

Following the butler to the third floor, they were greeted by a security door.

"This is the door that Madam specially had installed after receiving the card. First, you enter the password, then you press your fingerprint..."

Pingqing had assumed the door would open easily, but then he heard the master's voice, and the master opened the door from the inside.

After all that, it turns out that entering the password only makes it function as a doorbell.

Upon arriving on the third floor, the two people walked towards us.

The butler introduced them, "This is the lady of the house, Mrs. Anrong, and this is Mr. Sekiguchi Toshimichi, a friend of the lady, who helped us install this door."

"I originally suggested installing a monitor, but..."

“But I rejected it. It’s fine to install it in the entryway, but I just can’t stand the thought of installing those strange machines inside the house.”

After saying that, he warmly shook Uncle Mori's hand, "Detective Mori, I'll have to trouble you with this matter."

Conan's lips twitched; this house was strange enough already.

After the group toured the mansion with the butler, they went to the dining room for dinner.

"What are you doing?"

Hearing the noise, everyone looked over and saw that it was chef Senzaki Naka expressing her dissatisfaction with driver Wataru Katsufumi wearing gloves while eating. After hearing that Wataru Katsufumi would be driving that night, she poured him a cup of coffee.

"They have a very good relationship."

"Yes, their parents were good friends, so they were childhood sweethearts."

Seeing this, Conan also ordered a cup of coffee.

Just as Chef Bohua was about to come over, she suddenly shrank back in fear.

Mrs. Shigeko took it from him. "That child has a fear of heights; she doesn't dare go near any windows above the second floor. You see, the housekeeper is a meticulous perfectionist who can't stand anything crooked."

After dinner, the group gathered in the room.

"First, there was acrophobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, then there was acrophobia and perfectionism. What kind of family is this?"

Hearing Uncle Mori's complaint, Taira smiled and said, "It's not easy to get them all together."

Seeing Conan staring intently at his notebook, Hirai asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at the date the incident occurred..."

When Conan mentioned the date, Ran remembered that Uncle Mori had been out on the 5th, attending a wedding banquet, helping someone move, and so on.

As they talked, they realized that the 5th was an auspicious day, suitable for getting things done. But before that, the 4th was an inauspicious day, considered the day of Buddha's demise.

Upon hearing this, Xiaolan glanced at her watch and realized that it was past midnight; it was now October 4th, the day of Buddha's passing.

The day of great misfortune has arrived.

"Paji!"

Hearing a strange noise, the group turned around and saw a shoe fall off the balcony.

Walking onto the balcony, I saw Toshimichi Sekiguchi hanging outside the third-floor balcony.

Officer Coral Head Yokogawa arrived quickly.

Upon seeing the group, Officer Yokomizo was as enthusiastic as ever.

"The deceased, Toshimichi Sekiguchi, was 43 years old. The estimated time of death was between 8:30 and 9:00, about four hours ago. Because the rope around Mr. Sekiguchi's head was too close to the balcony, I think this should be a homicide disguised as a suicide."

“It was murder, because we found a note on Mr. Sekiguchi’s clothes that read, ‘The crime of thirteen years ago is being repaid today.’ This should be the key to solving the case.”

Seeing the card Conan handed him, Inspector Yokomizo sighed, "Conan, how can you just touch things at a crime scene like that?"

Conan chuckled and stood aside, watching the three people whose expressions changed drastically upon seeing the card.

When Officer Yokomizo asked, the butler broke the silence first.

"Thirteen years ago, the master's boat had an accident. In the past, every year around this time, the family would take the master's boat to go out to sea for fun. The boat unfortunately sank after hitting a reef, but the master, the madam, and Mr. Sekiguchi were lucky to escape."

"The whereabouts of the others are unknown, namely my wife, Myahiki's father and brother, and Mrs. Shigeko's husband. They disappeared in this shipwreck. The sunken ship has not been found to this day."

The master and mistress stated that they knew nothing about it. They were suddenly woken up by the checkpoint to escape and, without thinking, boarded the lifeboat.

Why force us to talk about things we don't want to remember?

"Because it's really suspicious. Although you all saw the card that says 'I am the Fifth Soul,' none of you mentioned the accident thirteen years ago. Could it be that you knew who the culprit was and were deliberately hiding it from them?"

Upon hearing this, Chef Bohua angrily pointed out, "Only four people died in an accident, there's no such thing as a fifth soul."

"That's right, especially since the accident happened on an auspicious day thirteen years ago, neither the 4th nor the day of Buddha's death."

Conan, returning from investigating the scene, stopped the noisy crowd. "Look, Mr. Sekiguchi is hanging from the balcony. The chef and the auntie couldn't have done that."

“This is the third floor, the chef can’t get close at all. From here, you can see the sharp edge of the iron fence, so the aunt with acrophobia wouldn’t be the murderer.”

Inspector Yokomizo nodded in agreement. "Mr. Watabiki was driving at the time of the incident, so he couldn't have made the move. That leaves only the butler, Mr. Akatsuka."

The butler was stunned when the blame for the murderer suddenly fell on his head. "What... what are you saying?"

“I don’t think it was the butler either, because the writing on those two cards was a bit crooked, and the butler is a perfectionist. However, it’s also possible that the prisoner deliberately pretended to have some kind of habit to make us think that way.”

Inspector Yokomizo nodded and looked seriously at the suspects. "Conan is right. These habits of yours could all be fake. Now, please go downstairs to have your fingerprints taken."