Model worker and his little darling

"What happened?"

"She went to the small ancestral hall."

Upon reaching the door, a series of footprints came into view. Inside the small shrine, Anzai Ema lay on a kimono, her cause of death also being a stab wound to the chest.

Looking at the footprints outside the door, Conan's expression turned serious. This death was exactly the same as the legend of the kimono-sleeved Hannya. Moreover, this was a locked room sealed off by heavy snow.

Ping Qing surveyed the scene. In the past, those scenes were always bloody, with gruesome and terrifying deaths.

But this crime scene was so aesthetically pleasing that he even wanted to imitate it.

Police arrived at the scene quickly.

"Excuse me for disturbing you all. It is an honor to meet the famous detective, Mr. Mori, here today. I am a police officer from the local police station. My name is Ogura. Nice to meet you. I have already contacted the prefectural police, but they said that the snow outside is too deep and they may not be able to come until after dawn."

The man sighed, "There's nothing we can do but preserve the scene and the evidence for now."

The older man and Officer Ogura used bath towels to protect the footprints from being covered by the heavy snow. Hirakiyo acted as photographer, taking pictures to document the scene.

Back inside, Da began questioning them, making the local police officer beside him seem utterly useless.

Anzai Ema went to the shrine at ten o'clock. No one else had been there except her, but there were only her footprints at the scene.

The hot spring where Shibasaki Asuka was murdered can only be reached through the rest area. However, after 10:30, Ran and Fukatsu Harumi played ping-pong there and did not see anyone suspicious.

The murder knife, stun gun, and Anzai Ema's headscarf were found at the bottom of the bath. The landlady confirmed that the murder knife was the sacred knife enshrined in the hotel's shrine.

"If both victims died from the same dagger, then the order of the murders should be Ema first, and then Asuka. If Ema was still alive at 10:30, then Asuka was murdered after 10:30."

Upon hearing the uncle's deduction, the group thought of ghosts.

Harumi Fukatsu's expression turned even more horrified. "It must be a curse, it must be the curse of the Kimono-sleeve Hannya! We all saw it, two dolls used to enshrine the Kimono-sleeve Goddess suddenly appeared in the shrine, so it must have been the Kimono-sleeve Hannya who killed them with her resentment."

These words made the materialistic uncle frown.

It's too late at night, and the snow is too heavy, so there's no way to investigate right now.

After understanding the basic situation, everyone was allowed to go back to their rooms to rest.

Back in his room, Conan began studying the photos taken by Hirai, and after making a discovery, he pulled Hirai aside to discuss the possibilities of the case.

The next day.

The Yamagata Prefectural Police finally arrived.

Looking at the hotel map, Officer Shinji agreed with the man's statement.

However, Fukatsu Harumi insisted that it was the kimono-sleeved Hannya helping her senior take revenge, and then recounted everything to the police in detail.

Just then, a police officer came over to report that Anzai Ema's body was missing an earring. He then showed her the remaining earring and handed another piece of evidence to his superior.

After glancing at the evidence, Officer Zhen Xianshi began questioning everyone about their alibis from the previous night.

After a thorough interrogation, Officer Zhen Xianshi finally produced the evidence: a small piece of paper.

“Miss Ema, I have a secret to tell you. I’ll be waiting for you at the shrine in the courtyard at 10:30 tonight. —Bando Ue”

When he saw his name on the note, Tokyo Ichiya was stunned.

"Nonsense, I didn't write this letter at all, I know nothing about it."

"It seems you don't have an alibi for before 11:15."

Upon hearing this, Tokyo Ichi immediately retorted, "But I had no motive to kill either of them."

Inspector Masaki nodded, his gaze falling on Harumi Fukatsu, who was looking down. "Given the current situation, the only one with a motive for murder is Miss Harumi."

Harumi Fukatsu had ten minutes to change her glasses, and she did indeed harbor resentment towards the two of them, so she couldn't prove her innocence for the time being.

Not long after, the autopsy report was delivered.

"The murder weapon used to kill both victims was a sacred sword, and the bloodstains on the headscarf were left by Anzai Ema alone. In addition, no fingerprints or other clues related to the murderer were found at the scene, on the paper dolls at the shrine, or on the small note carried by Anzai Ema."

“This is really a headache, Mr. Mori.”

The middle-aged man's face turned bitter. "Yes."

Seeing the children's sled race starting to play on TV, Hirakiyo turned Conan's head around.

"look at this!"

Ok?

Conan suddenly had an inspiration, looked at the footprint photos taken by Hirai, and smiled.

After taking Pingqing for a walk outside, Conan had already figured out most of the situation.

The two returned to the house, and Conan began to ponder why the paper doll could appear out of thin air.

Hirai pointed to the ceiling, and Conan, having received the hint, immediately dialed Takagi's number. Using Hirai's name, he began to direct Takagi to do the work.

Hearing Takagi agree, Hirakiyo blinked. This tool was really useful.

Then, Conan found Officer Ogura, the local police officer, and after making some arrangements, he finally showed a satisfied smile.

Finally, Dada ran to the lobby and said, "Uncle, Brother Pingqing said he knows who the murderer is, and he wants us to meet at the bathhouse."

Upon hearing this, the uncle was slightly shocked.

He had just seen the two of them causing trouble outside, but he didn't expect them to solve the case so quickly.

"Young man, do you really know who the murderer is?"

Seeing that Officer Shinji was suspicious of him, Hirai touched his face. It seemed that even under the powerful protagonist's halo, he was still too dim.

Tsk, this police officer isn't nearly as cute as Inspector Megure.

"Officer, take a look at these photos first." He said, shoving the camera into Zhen Xianshi's hands.

"Any questions?"

Don't you think these footprints are very shallow?

Upon hearing Hirai's question, Conan immediately began to explain.

“When we went to the ancestral hall in the morning, the snow was about seven or eight centimeters deep. It continued to snow afterward, and the snow depth was about fifteen centimeters. Ms. Ema went to the ancestral hall in the evening, and her footprints should have been about fifteen centimeters deep, but the actual depth was less than half of that.”

“I think the murderer prepared two wooden planks and moved them back and forth along the footprints left by Ema until they reached the entrance of the shrine. After killing Ema, the murderer used the same method to return to the back door. This way, the footprints became shallower.”

Inspector Masami looked at Conan in shock, "Little brother, how do you know all this?"

Conan scratched his head, feigning embarrassment, "This is what Brother Heikiyo told me to say."

Upon hearing this, Pingqing's lips twitched. Every day, Conan was being blamed for everything.

Fortunately, some people were still more concerned about the murder case. Osaka Tokyo looked at Hirakiyo and asked, "How did the murderer get to the back door?"