Conan: No, why aren't you following the script?

Takahisa Tanaka was finally caught.

Naoko Kuroda, who had intended to call Toshiya Hamano downstairs to discuss a solution, and Takuki Doi happened to witness her disposing of a corpse.

Although Tanaka Kikue tried to scare the two away with her crossbow bolts, after the agile fat man dodged all three of her shots, she had no choice but to surrender. She was taken to the hall by the two men and then confessed to the whole story of her crime...

"That's right, I killed both Hamano Toshiya and Nishiyama Tsutomu! They insulted my grandfather and ultimately drove him to his death. I was just letting them experience the coldness of facing death!"

Faced with overwhelming evidence, Tanaka Takahisa did not utter any words of rebuttal, but readily admitted his crimes.

The bewildered crowd listened to her description and it took them a long time to come to their senses.

Doi Takaki immediately pointed angrily at Tanaka Takahisa: "Are you kidding me?! You killed people! Just for this reason, you actually killed two living people. Do you have any respect for life at all?"

Doi Takuki was furious. It was just a hair's breadth away; if he hadn't reacted quickly and pulled Kuroda Naoko away in time...

Those three arrows struck him mercilessly, hitting his eyes and heart—critical locations.

Doi Takaki felt a wave of fear when he thought about the situation he faced at the time.

However, Tanaka Kikue smiled nonchalantly, as if she had no worries at all.

Seeing her like this, everyone was at a loss for words.

Fortunately, all of them were highly skilled in magic, so after discussing it, they immediately took out a rope from their backpacks and tied Tanaka Takahisa's hands and feet tightly.

"You'd better stay here and reflect on your actions tonight. I reckon the police will notice something's wrong with us by tomorrow and get us out. Then you can go to jail and pay for the sins you've committed!"

Araki took the lead and pushed Tanaka Kikue onto the bed in her second-floor room, hoping to make her endure the night in this bound state.

Tanaka Kikue offered no rebuttal; a cold smile remained on her face, making Araki Yoshi's scalp tingle.

After confirming that there were no hidden mechanisms in the room, Araki Yoshinobu hastily closed the door, went back to his own room, and buried himself under the covers.

only……

Unbeknownst to him, long before he was tied up, Tanaka Kikue had hidden a small fragment of a handmade knife in her hand.

She kept the fragment between her fingers, even when she was bound by ropes by Doi Takaki and Ara Yoshino, she endured the pain and did not loosen it.

Now, this little craft knife blade is finally coming in handy!

Originally, even if Tanaka Takahisa was arrested by the police, she had already avenged her blood feud and had no more worries.

but……

After what had just happened, Tanaka Kikue suddenly realized that she didn't want to end her life like this.

Yes, she was already in the prime of her life, and she's not even thirty yet. How could she possibly end up spending her days in prison so easily?

Tanaka Takahisa felt that she could still be saved.

Moreover, she hadn't even gone to pay her respects at her grandfather's grave, so how could she be arrested by the police so hastily?

Once she has finished paying respects to her grandfather, she can start a new life under a different identity.

Tanaka Takahisa has great confidence in this.

Based on the terrifying impression she had just left on everyone, she wasn't worried at all that anyone would come to supervise her at this moment.

Araki Yoshino's reaction seems to confirm this.

So, Tanaka Kikue carefully lowered her breath and tried to distinguish the sounds coming from outside, as well as the chimes from the clock on the wall.

By the time she guessed it was past one o'clock in the morning, there were no more footsteps outside.

At this moment, Tanaka Takahisa slowly turned his wrist, pinched the blade between his two fingers, and began to slowly cut the rope.

As the granddaughter of a famous magician, Takahisa Tanaka already possessed a certain talent for magic. Furthermore, since no one was supervising her at the moment, she wasted very little time and cut the rope in her hands.

After freeing her feet, Tanaka Takahisa loosened her slightly sore shoulders and prepared to walk from the second-floor corridor to the empty room at the far end.

As early as when she was first brought here by Arayoshi, she heard these people planning to arrange for someone to keep watch in the living room on the first floor.

Therefore, she certainly couldn't leave openly through the main gate at this point, and escaping along the path she took when she shot Hamano Toshiya became her only way out.

Fortunately, she was decisive when she confessed, so no one questioned her method of committing the crime. As a result, Tanaka Kikue arrived at the room at the end of the corridor with almost no effort.

Pushing open the door and opening the window, Tanaka Takahisa was overjoyed at the prospect of regaining her freedom. After taking a deep breath, she prepared to climb out the window, step onto the eaves of the boiler room, jump onto the snow, and leave this magical mountain villa.

however……

When Tanaka Kikue leaned over the headboard and looked down, she was astonished to discover...

The boiler room that was perfectly fine when I arrived has now had its roof completely demolished, leaving only a few broken pieces of tiles.

Under such conditions, she would have no foothold if she jumped down; wouldn't she just be asking to fall and get injured in the snow?

What is going on here?

Tanaka Takahisa stared wide-eyed at the ground floor with disbelief.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

"I think... you're not trying to run away, are you, Ms. Tanaka? If you jump from this spot, you might just twist your ankle at best, but if you're unlucky, you could get cut by the roof tiles and end up dying from blood loss. So... you'd better just go back and not cause me any more trouble, okay?"

Upon hearing this voice, Tanaka Takahisa felt a chill run down her spine. Turning around in a panic, she trembled as she extended her finger and said in a shaky voice:

"Yes, you did all of this? Kitagawa Isao, who... exactly are you?"