Chapter 378: Missing for 24 Hours
Todai Residence.
Chi Feichei rummaged through his backpack, but couldn't find the USB Drive specifically for storing Conan's Incriminating Material. He uploaded the photos of the roster to Non-Ink's Email.
[Non-Ink, please save these photos. There's a USB Drive stuck under the bottom drawer of the bedside Table on the left side of my Room. Save all the photos in it and remember to encrypt it. Also, there's a Groove on the Light Fixture in the Kitchen, and there's another USB Drive inside. Save the photo with 'Gin Kurosawa's' Name on it again, remember to encrypt it. Password is required for deletion or copying.]
Gin's Incriminating Material is hard to find, this photo barely counts as one. After coming to Mermaid Island, he actually bought a Room Number card and waited for the Lottery, quite interesting...
Chi Feichei also uploaded the photos to the shared Folder with Gin and Vodka. He checked Belmode's shared Folder, there was no new Intelligence, she should still be slacking off and not doing any Investigation.
Others are not familiar enough yet, and there are no Actions that require sharing Intelligence...
Locking the Computer screen and setting it to standby, the Eavesdropping audio still needs to be sent to Gin, so he can't shut down.
Clean up the Traces near the Table again, lie down, and he can take a nap while he's at it.
...
More than twenty minutes later.
Shimabukuro Kimiie brought Hattori Heiji and his group Home. When they arrived at the Room where the roster was placed, they saw a Crack in the Door, and her heart skipped a beat.
Could Chi Feichei already be awake?
"Could someone have broken in before us?" Hattori Heiji asked warily, slowly stepping forward and pulling open the Door to the Room.
Two Seagulls were flapping their Wings inside, several drawers were pulled open with Cracks of various sizes, and the Ground was covered with scattered Books, Paper Scraps, Fragmented Page, Feather, Bird Droppings...
Hattori Heiji ignored the Seagulls and walked into the Room with a serious Expression, observing the Traces inside.
After a moment, Kazuha Toyama, who was standing at the Entrance, couldn't help but speak, "Heiji?"
"It looks like..." Hattori Heiji squatted down in front of the Cabinet, looked at the Claw Mark on the drawer, and turned his Head with black lines all over his face to glare at the two Seagulls, "It must be the Seagulls that caused the Destruction! And judging by the looks of it, they have other Accomplice, this is definitely not something two Seagulls could have done, it's just that the other Seagulls flew away before we arrived!"
Perhaps Hattori Heiji's Gaze was too fierce, the two Seagulls were frightened and flew out of the Room.
"Ah..." Mouri Ran was a little confused, "Do Seagulls also cause Destruction?"
"Generally speaking, Seagulls won't run into people's Homes," Hattori Heiji looked at the dark Sky Outside, "Maybe the Weather is weird today, and it looks like it's going to rain heavily, those Seagulls wanted to find a Place to shelter from the Rain, and one of them found that their Door wasn't closed properly, so they all slipped in."
Conan pointed to a semi-finished Nest made of Paper Slip, Branch, and Rag, and said to the others, "I think they might have encountered some Troublesome Situation, For Example, the Place where they rested before was destroyed by something, and they Seemingly intend to find a Place to rebuild their Nest."
"Could it be that the Wind was too strong and blew their Nest on the Cliff?" Shimabukuro Kimiie also guessed.
"Huh?" Kazuha Toyama turned her Head to look Outside with some worry, "Then we scared them away now, what if there's a storm later, what will they do?"
"They face more storms than you do, you don't need to worry about them, okay?" Hattori Heiji teased with Half-Moon Eyes, "And they messed up Miss Kimiie's Home so badly, maybe some important Books were torn by them..."
Kazuha Toyama couldn't refute, but she just felt that saying that was a little too cold.
"Older Sister Kimiie, you'd better Check if other Rooms have been affected," Conan kindly reminded.
"Ah, right," Shimabukuro Kimiie said quickly, "Then you guys look for the roster here, I'll go and Check the Situation in other Rooms, close the Doors and Windows, and then come back to look with you..."
"I'll go Help," Mouri Ran said quickly.
"Me too!" Kazuha Toyama said.
A weird Case just happened, possibly a Case done by a Mermaid, following the Shrine Maiden might be better...
"They really like being with Miss Kimiie," Mori Kogoro watched the three Girls leave, rolled up his Sleeves, "Let's hurry up and find the roster!"
On this side, Hattori Heiji, Conan, and Mori Kogoro tidied up the Room, looking for the roster while also gathering the other Books to one side and cleaning up the messy Ground.
On the other side, Shimabukuro Kimiie suggested splitting up to Inspect the Rooms. Kazuha Toyama and Mouri Ran were a little hesitant, but seeing that everyone was not far apart, they agreed.
Shimabukuro Kimiie chose the Class Path leading to Chi Feichei's Room, moved away from the two Girls' Line of Sight, and moved towards Chi Feichei's Room while Inspecting the Rooms.
In the other Rooms closer to the Room where the roster was placed, there were more or less Traces of Seagulls staying, and the further out, the less there were.
Shimabukuro Kimiie arrived in front of a Room, first looked at a burnt Paper Slip left at the Entrance, confirmed that it was left by herself when she left, and there were no Traces of Destruction from anyone entering or leaving, and breathed a sigh of relief. She opened the Door Lock and walked in.
Chi Feichei was still lying face down on the Table, with his Hand resting on the edge of the Table, Seemingly without moving.
Shimabukuro Kimiie stepped forward, knocked Chi Feichei down to the Ground, took out a Small Bottle from her Pocket, poured the Sleeping Pill dissolved in Water into Chi Feichei's mouth, then quickly Get Up, Go Out, Lock the Door, and leave.
After the Footsteps Outside the Door faded away, Chi Feichei sat up and spat out the Medicinal Liquid in his mouth.
It seems that Shimabukuro Kimiie intends to let him sleep like this, she's not afraid of making him stupid with Medicine...
...
In the Room where the roster was placed, Hattori Heiji, Conan, and Mori Kogoro searched for a while, and finally found the roster with the Names of those who purchased Room Number cards.
"Former Foreign Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Governor of the Bank of Japan..." Hattori Heiji looked at the roster in his Hand and sighed, "A bunch of big figures who used to be in charge of leading Japan's government affairs!"
"It seems everyone wants Longevity..." Mori Kogoro flipped through the one in his Hand.
Conan also flipped through a Book, and after seeing the Name 'Shiho Miyano' on the roster, he was puzzled for a moment, but considering that Haibara Ai didn't seem like the kind of person who would pursue eternal youth, he didn't pay much attention to it.
Probably the same Name...
"Ah!"
Suddenly, screams from Kazuha Toyama and Mouri Ran came from Outside.
The three Men in the Room immediately rushed out.
Mouri Ran and Kazuha Toyama saw someone who looked very much like Kadowaki Saori staring at them gloomily and coldly and quickly disappeared, while Shimabukuro Kimiie went to the Warehouse temporarily built at the Back Door to look for her.
Before the group could search over there, the Sky around them suddenly lit up.
A raging Fire engulfed the Warehouse, and the raging Fire illuminated the Night Sky.
Just as the group ran to the front of the Warehouse, the Room where the roster was placed before suddenly caught Fire for some reason.
When Hattori Heiji and Conan rushed to the front of the Room from Outside the Back Door, the entire Room was also shrouded in Fire.
In the Night Sky, a Seagull flying into the distance lengthened its cry, but no one whose Line of Sight was focused on the Fire noticed it.
In the dimly lit Room, Chi Feichei heard the Seagull's cry, lay down, and continued to sleep.
Regardless of whether it will be used in the Afterwards, it's good to have the roster in his own Hands.
He wasn't trying to trick Conan, otherwise he wouldn't have waited specially for Conan to read the roster and get some Clue before setting the Fire, but rather...
If the roster has any Clues, he can trick the FBI's Akai Shuichi...
...
The Fire burned for a whole Night before it was extinguished after dawn.
Chi Feichei didn't sleep well either, it was too noisy Outside, and just when it was just dawn, Shimabukuro Kimiie came again.
This time, she secretly came over in the image of 'Longevity Granny', and poured Medicinal Liquid into his mouth again, not forgetting to feed him some Water, which almost made him not hold the Medicinal Liquid and swallow it directly.
Although the roster was burned, the specific List was left, and he didn't want to chat with others for the time being, but he didn't want to fall into a deep sleep like this either.
Falling into a difficult Situation is not dangerous, the most dangerous Situation is losing one's own Consciousness and Body Control.
Even if he could see that Shimabukuro Kimiie would not commit Murder, he didn't want to hand over the Right to decide his own life and death to others.
Compared to Chi Feichei, the others were even more miserable, they almost stayed up all Night, and only after watching the Fire go out did they breathe a slight sigh of relief.
But soon, the Police found a Charred Corpse in the Warehouse...
"What? There was someone in the Warehouse before?!" Hattori Heiji's scalp went numb, and his Heartbeat quickened a lot.
Who could it be?
Missing Kadowaki Saori?
Or...
Although he believed that Chi Feichei could Handle most dangerous Situations, but if calculated from 9 o'clock in the morning when he and Conan woke up yesterday, Chi Feichei had been missing for more than 24 Hours.
Even if Chi Feichei was held up by some Situation and had not completely escaped Danger, he should have tried to contact them, but they couldn't be contacted all the time.
The Police also searched in the Mountain Forest, Cliffside, and Beach, but not only did they not see anyone, they didn't even see any Cipher or Trace, it was simply like disappearing from the Human world.
"Yes," one of the Men responsible for fighting the Fire said, "Although it's a bit charred black, you can still see that he was wearing Glasses and Clothes... Probably the Charred Corpse of Saori who is missing."
Not Hassashi-niichan...
Although Hattori Heiji felt that thinking like this was unkind, he still breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
"Kimiie..."
Longevity Granny walked slowly through the Corridor, looking around, "Where are you? Kimiie..."
Hattori Heiji was stunned for a moment, and turned his Head to ask Kazuha Toyama, "Miss Kimiie hasn't come back yet?"
"Hmm..." Kazuha Toyama frowned.
"No, I'm not at ease, I'm going to look for her with Granny!" Mouri Ran followed.
"I'll go too!" Kazuha Toyama also immediately followed.
With only two people left on the scene, Conan said to Hattori Heiji with his back to him, "Hey, Hattori, I remember Miss Kimiie Said that she had just gone to the Main Island to see a Dentist before."
"She did Say So," Hattori Heiji's Expression changed, "Could it be..."
"If you ask using her Name, you should be able to immediately find out which Dental Clinic it is..." Conan said.
"You idiot!" Hattori Heiji interrupted in a nasty Tone, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb!" Conan turned his Head and looked at Hattori Heiji with a heavy Expression, "You must have thought of it too, just like me, you have a bad premonition in your heart..."
The two didn't Say much more, found Mori Kogoro, and asked Mori Kogoro to Call and Request the Police to investigate.
In the afternoon, the Police called back—they had already found the Dental Clinic, compared the Dental Pattern of the Charred Corpse with the Data left by Shimabukuro Kimiie when she was treating her Teeth, and they completely matched.
Hattori Heiji was stunned in Place after listening to Mori Kogoro's retelling.
In other words, that Charred Corpse is really Shimabukuro Kimiie?!
"Impossible!"
Outside the Door, Fukuyama Rokuro knelt on the Ground, crying in despair, "This is not true!"
(End of Chapter)