In the corridor, the Master and Disciple lit their cigarettes, quietly smoking as they looked at the distant Snow Mountain.
Conan and Haibara Ai followed them to the entrance but didn't approach. Each guarded one side, leaning against the wall, lost in thought.
Mori Kogoro glanced back and muttered speechlessly, "A couple of tag-alongs acting like door gods..."
Haibara Ai: "..."
*Could Uncle Mori please speak properly.*
Conan: "..."
*I was following Chi Feichi because I wanted to know if he had any new discoveries. It has nothing to do with you, Uncle!*
Mori Kogoro looked away, smoking as he gazed at the snow-covered Snow Mountain. His gaze gradually shifted from casual to grave, then to doubtful. He suddenly turned his head and said, "Fei Chi, let me see what you wrote down."
Chi Feichi took out his notebook, opened it, and handed it to Mori Kogoro, continuing to stare at the Snow Mountain.
*When you're with Conan, you don't just have to worry about missing meals, but also about getting no sleep. One all-nighter per case. Just like Gin and his group, they refuse to keep a healthy work and rest schedule. Mori Kogoro must have come out for a cigarette to fight off his sleepiness. Good thing I napped yesterday at noon. I'm not sleepy at all...*
Mori Kogoro glanced at Chi Feichi's indifferent face as he smoked, speechlessly took the notebook, and looked down, rambling, "I really don't get how you're so popular with children. But you and Ai don't need to worry. Those two cursed paper dolls we saw at the Kimono Sleeve Deity's shrine were probably placed there by the murderer in this case, hinting that Ms. Asuka Shibasaki and Ms. Ema Anzai would be killed tonight. It has nothing to do with the Kimono Sleeve Deity..."
Chi Feichi was a little surprised, not having expected Mori Kogoro to suddenly try and comfort him. "I wasn't worried."
Mori Kogoro: "..."
*Shut up. It's not often I show concern for my disciple; couldn't you at least pretend to be moved and humor me?*
"I wasn't worried either," Haibara Ai also stated.
Mori Kogoro: "..."
*Go away. Both of you, just go away.*
The four fell silent again. Mori Kogoro looked down at the notes in the notebook. "Looking at it this way, Mr. Bando is still the most suspicious. He has no clear alibi."
"The reason no footprints were left in the snow is because the culprit used wooden boards, alternating them to move across the snowfield," Chi Feichi stated the answer directly. "That's why Ms. Anzai's footprints are shallower than the ones next to them. Conan also discovered similar compacted snow under the eaves by the back door, extending all the way to outside Miss Akemi's window."
"What nonsense are you two thinking?" Mori Kogoro said with a speechless expression as he handed the notebook back to Chi Feichi. He took the cigarette from his mouth, turned, and started walking back inside. "Someone as gentle as Miss Eri couldn't possibly be the murderer."
"But..." Conan was about to explain, but he realized Mori Kogoro had no intention of listening and had gone straight to the Social Hall. Turning his head, he saw that Chi Feichi, after putting the notebook back in his pocket, also seemed to have no plans to leave and was still standing in the corridor, smoking.
Haibara Ai walked over to Chi Feichi's side, looking down at the snow in the Courtyard. "Still no clue?"
Chi Feichi turned to look at Conan as he approached. "Teacher is about to solve this case."
Conan was stunned and couldn't quite believe it. "Uncle Mori?"
"He's probably gone to confirm the things you mentioned," Chi Feichi said, his line of sight going past Conan to Mori Kogoro, who had walked through the Social Hall without stopping and was now heading for the back door. "He'll probably go to the open-air hot spring next..."
Conan immediately turned and ran outside. "I'll go take a look!"
Seeing that Chi Feichi remained unmoved, Haibara Ai asked in a low voice, "You understand what's going on, don't you? Aren't you going to tell me?"
"Not planning on it," Chi Feichi said, leaning against a pillar in the corridor, his gaze earnest. "I want to wait and hear Teacher's deduction."
An hour later, as dawn broke, the Yamagata Prefecture Police arrived at the Hotel.
Mori Kogoro and Officer Ogura explained the situation, handed the evidence over to the Yamagata Prefecture Police, and let the Prefectural Police take the corpse away for an autopsy.
However, after explaining the situation, Mori Kogoro requested that everyone else rendezvous at the open-air hot spring. He also whispered a few words to the arriving Team Leader Police Officer before heading to the open-air hot spring, ready to begin his deduction.
Tokyoichi Bando, Eri Akachi, Raiko Honda, Harumi Fukatsu, Chi Feichi, Conan, Mouri Ran, and Haibara Ai all gathered at the Women's Bath section of the open-air hot spring.
"Mr. Mouri, you say you already know who the culprit is?" Harumi Fukatsu asked, looking at Mori Kogoro standing by the hot spring. "Isn't this the curse of the Kimono Sleeve Deity upon them?"
"Mr. Mouri!" The police officer who led the team over this morning came briskly. "Everything is ready as you instructed!"
"Alright, everyone, calm down. I, Mori Kogoro, will now reveal the truth of this serial murder case," Mori Kogoro said, adjusting the collar of the suit he had changed into, his expression solemn and serious. "The police have confirmed that the weapon used to kill both victims was that sacred knife. On the towel found in this bath, only the blood of Ms. Ema Anzai was found. The murderer must have first gone to the warehouse to kill Ms. Ema Anzai, then brought the weapon and towel here to kill Ms. Asuka Shibasaki... At least, that's what I originally thought. But this was all a trap set by the culprit. The order of the murders was the exact opposite!"
"The ex-exact opposite?" Harumi Fukatsu said in surprise.
Eri Akachi frowned and continued, "In other words, the culprit killed Ms. Asuka Shibasaki first, and then went to kill Ms. Ema Anzai?"
"Then why did the towel with Ms. Anzai's blood on it appear here?" Tokyoichi Bando asked, confused. "Did the culprit bring the towel over after committing the crime? But why would they do that?"
"Of course, it was to make me misjudge the order of the victims' deaths to establish an alibi. I initially determined that Ms. Anzai was killed first because the towel and the weapon were found here. But what if the culprit didn't need to come back here? What if, from a room in the hotel, they could make the weapon and towel get here all by themselves?" Mori Kogoro said, looking up at the Snow Mountain beside the open-air hot spring.
Not far away, hotel rooms were built into the mountainside, and two police officers peeked out from a window.
"Mr. Mouri, everything is ready!"
"Okay, I'll leave it to you then!"
Mori Kogoro shouted in their direction, then explained, "I had two police officers find two wooden boards and use packed snow to hold a knife, to simulate the weapon, and a towel on them..."
Behind the window above, the two police officers placed the two wooden boards, weighted down with packed snow, onto the accumulated snow outside the window and let go.
The two wooden boards immediately slid down the snow, all the way to the eaves surrounding the hot spring, before falling into the water with a splash.
"It's basically like skiing, putting the weapon and towel on a makeshift sled to send them from the room above into the hot spring. The clattering sound we heard from the men's bath next door around ten-fifty was probably this," Mori Kogoro said, looking at the hot spring water. "Once in the pond, the snow on top of the knife and towel melted in the hot water, so the knife sank to the water bottom, and the blood-stained towel was left floating on the water surface."
"In other words, the culprit's sequence of events was this: around ten o'clock, they first killed Ms. Asuka Shibasaki, who had come here. Afterwards, they took the weapon, pretended to be returning from their bath, and then went to the warehouse to murder Ms. Ema Anzai, whom they had summoned there with a note. The reason only Ema Anzai's footprints were in the snow is because the culprit also used wooden boards, covering her footprints with them and walking on the boards to move. With just two wooden boards, they could reach the warehouse to kill Ms. Ema Anzai. Afterwards, the culprit used the two boards again, carrying the weapon and the towel stained with Ms. Anzai's blood, to return to the outside of their own room's window without leaving any footprints. They climbed into their room, went to the room above, and used the method just demonstrated to send the weapon and the towel here to the open-air hot spring," Mori Kogoro said, turning to the crowd. "Am I right, Teacher Eri!"
Eri Akachi stood frozen in place, staring blankly at Mori Kogoro.
"T-Teacher Eri?" Raiko Honda turned to look at Eri Akachi in surprise. "How is that possible..."
Eri Akachi came back to her senses, a smile appearing on her face. "That is indeed a brilliant deduction. It would be an amazing case even if it were written into a mystery novel. If what you say is true, Mr. Mouri, then I did have time to commit the crime. However, your deduction has many flaws. When you all discovered the corpse earlier, did you see any wooden boards in the pond?"
"Well, uh..." Mori Kogoro scratched his head, breaking out in a sweat. "This..."
*Hey, hey...* Conan gave him a half-moon-eyed look. *Can't the Uncle finish a single deduction by himself? He was so cool a moment ago, and he even saw through the key points.* "Uncle, if there was a wooden board that nobody could see, your reasoning would be perfect!"
Mori Kogoro thought Conan was mocking him and became extremely irritable. "Nonsense! Everyone isn't blind, how could they possibly not see something like a wooden board?"
Eri Akachi chuckled lightly. "Mr. Mouri, then..."
"A kimono sash," Chi Feichi said, providing the answer. Hinting to his teacher was too much trouble; it was easier to just supplement it himself. "The temperature outside has been very low these last two days. If you soak a kimono sash in water, fold it into the shape of a board, and leave it outside for a few hours, it will freeze solid and can be used as a wooden board. Once the frozen sash slides into the hot spring carrying the weapon and towel, it will thaw in the hot water and float on the surface, blending in with the other kimono sashes that were wrapped around and covering Ms. Shibasaki's body."
The smile on Eri Akachi's face froze.
Mori Kogoro looked at Eri Akachi. "Ahem, that's right..."
"But Mr. Mouri," this time the 'but' came from the Team Leader Police Officer, "when you came to the open-air hot spring earlier, there wasn't a kimono paper doll at the entrance to the Women's Bath, was there? When you came back at 11:30 and found the body, a paper doll had been placed there. How did Miss Eri manage to put that paper doll at the entrance?"
Conan couldn't just give the answer directly like Chi Feichi; he had to act more childish. He waved his arms and said, "When we got here, Teacher Eri had the shop owner buy a cake and bring it back. I really wanted to eat some then, but Teacher Eri didn't intend to give me any. I'm sure there was dry ice in the box to keep the cake cool so it wouldn't go bad if she couldn't finish it all at once, but I really wanted to eat it! If she'd just shared a piece with me so we could eat it up quickly, she wouldn't have needed the dry ice to preserve it, right..."
*Hinting. Frantically hinting. Hinting failed...*
"You kid, you're still thinking about cake at a time like this?" Mori Kogoro said, gritting his teeth as he watched Conan ramble on and on about cake. He clenched his fist, ready to give Conan a punch.
"I've got it!" Mouri Ran exclaimed. Seeing the others look at her, she glanced at Eri Akachi and continued, "Could it be dry ice? She used dry ice to stick the paper doll to the ceiling above the entrance. That's why we didn't see a paper doll at the entrance when we arrived. Later, as the dry ice slowly sublimated, the paper doll fell to the ground. Because it was dry ice, there were no water stains left on the doll or the floor. When I picked up the paper doll last night, it was freezing cold but not wet. That must have been because of the dry ice..."
(End of Chapter)