BONUS CHAPTER#10
Kikue Tanaka snuck into Toshiya Hamano's room, killed him, and quickly found a bow, some arrows, and a sturdy rope.
She shot several arrows into distant trees, crisscrossing the ropes between them to set up a makeshift pulley path that extended from the third-floor window into the woods.
Her plan: slide Toshiya Hamano's body along the rope, drop it into the snow outside. That way, there'd be no footprints around the corpse—just a clean, inexplicable murder scene. The kind of magic trick even magicians would envy.
The sail-like ropes were set up in no time. Kikue Tanaka hung the body from them, then wiped the sweat from her brow with satisfaction.
Just as she was about to push the body off, a nearly all-white bird suddenly landed on the ropes. It tilted its head, looked at her, then turned to look at the dangling body.
Kikue Tanaka had never seen a bird like this. And for some reason, that gaze triggered a primal warning in her brain.
As she hesitated, the bird lowered its head and—thump-thump-thump—started pecking at the ropes.
Kikue froze. Then suddenly, she raised her crossbow. But before she could fire, the thick rope gave a sharp snap—cut clean through by a bird the size of her palm.
With a quick flap of its wings, the strange bird flew off.
The body didn't.
Still suspended midair a moment ago, the corpse lost support and dropped like a rock.
Downstairs in the living room, a group of people who had gathered—part accident, part coincidence—were chatting.
A muffled thud echoed outside as something heavy slammed into the snow near the outer wall. Everyone froze. Then, after a beat of stunned silence, they rushed to the window.
…
Conan was jolted awake by the sound. Groggy and blinking, he stared at the empty room for a few seconds before everything clicked—and he bolted downstairs.
In the hall, the crowd had already gathered, rapidly discussing the incident.
Conan's sharp ears picked up a familiar phrase—"Escape King." He immediately jumped in, asking, "Wait—is the 'Escape King' you're talking about Tsutomu Nishiyama?"
Jiangxia looked over and gave a cooperative nod.
Conan's face turned serious. "Tsutomu Nishiyama was just murdered in his apartment. The killer called themselves the 'Shadow Master' and left a message on the computer: 'This is the first.' When I tried to come back and warn you, I found the suspension bridge had been destroyed…"
He paused, waiting for the appropriate gasps of horror.
What he got instead was... strange silence.
The kind of silence where everyone clearly wanted to say something but weren't sure if they should.
"...What?" Conan finally asked, narrowing his eyes at Ara.
"We already found the killer," said Yoshinori Ara, the oldest person present. He gestured subtly toward Kikue Tanaka, sitting in the corner like she'd put herself in timeout. "Her plan had a slight flaw. The body fell. We saw it."
Conan: "..."
Conan: "..."
Conan: "???"
That happened??
...The standard for killers these days is really slipping.
And wait—did that mean he'd leapt across a broken suspension bridge for nothing?
Conan mentally joined Kikue in self-isolation for a moment.
But then something clicked. Ara had referred to the killer as "she."
The Shadow Master was a woman?
That threw Conan off. He'd assumed the Shadow Master was the man who saved him only to knock him out—because what other kind of person wallops an innocent bear child midair? That guy had been dressed in black from head to toe. Very on-brand for someone called "Shadow Master."
But now Kikue Tanaka was the killer? And she was caught because she failed basic rope management?
...Was she really the Shadow Master, then? Ara only said the body fell—no one saw her commit the murder. But Jiangxia was here. If she were innocent, surely he would've said something…
Conan fell into deep, conflicted detective brooding.
Regardless, someone was still hiding out in the woods. That couldn't be ignored. I mean, what kind of killer lets the corpse fall out of the sky like a delivery error?
He hesitated, then decided to provide Jiangxia with more clues. "I saw someone in the woods earlier. They had golden eyes."
Jiangxia did his part and looked appropriately shocked. He asked Conan for more details.
Nearby, "Katsuki Doito" stiffened slightly at the shift in topic.
He'd met this strange child before—on the Suzuki family yacht. That time, the kid had smiled like Jiangxia and sent a shiver down his spine. Kid had looked into it afterward, and the findings were disturbing: this might be Shinichi Kudo himself, shrunk down like a yinbi toy model.
It now seemed that Jiangxia knew it too.
And if Jiangxia trusted Conan, realized something was off, and brought the whole police force to sweep the area...
Stuck between humans and shikigami, Kid pressed his temples. His pot of stress was at full boil.
Meanwhile, Conan hadn't noticed Doito's subtle panic. The other people's reactions were even more intense—when they heard about a stranger in the woods, they looked ready to collectively pass out.
Conan mulled it over and began recounting the entire timeline, from hearing the report on the car radio, to crossing the broken bridge, and then being caught midair by a Tengu before being mysteriously knocked out.
Though the others were confused by this bizarre tale, they were also relieved. Someone had caught Conan before he hit the trees—clearly a kind-hearted mountain villager passing by!
Only Kid had a different mental image.
To him, it was like a steaming meatball had flown through the air and landed right into the mouth of a starving hiker.
...No wonder the Tengu caught him. From a Tengu's perspective, Conan hadn't been "hunted"—he was a self-delivering meal.
To put it in more relatable human terms: it's like the difference between chasing relatives to get New Year's red envelopes, and your relatives just shoving them directly into your pocket.
Who could resist that?
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 13/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*