Question #1: From the first chapter to the current chapter, how many cross-overs and anime cameos have appeared in total?
(Answer : 7. Jujutsu Kaisen, Saiki K, Spirited Away, One Piece, Haikyuu, Grand Blue, Detective Conan.)
...
The evening insects were singing cheerfully. The sky was clear and the wind smelled cleaner than in the city.
Yet, somehow, he couldn't feel at ease.
"So, what's the name of the team we're playing against tomorrow?" Oikawa yawned as they trudged back towards their hotel after having been caught by Iwaizumi in the forest.
That guy... Why can't he just let them have fun? It's spring break anyways, and if it weren't for the surprise practice match that their new coach dragged them to, they would've been happily spending their vacation however they wanted.
"Inumura." Iwaizumi, unaware that he was being mentally cursed at by Oikawa, answered simply, keeping an eye on their sleepy juniors to make sure they didn't stray from the road.
"And, let me guess..." Oikawa drawled lazily. "Their mascot's a dog."
"Yep." Toobetsu Keigo, the team's first year libero chuckled with crossed arms.
(Inu{Dog} Mura{Village})
"Inumura..." Oikawa muttered thoughtfully. "Never heard of them. Have they been to Nationals like, ever in the history of their school?"
Although he asked, he was quite sure that they haven't gone to Nationals atleast for the past five years.
"Not that I can recall." It seems Iwaizumi thought the same as him.
So, now, there was one thing Oikawa wanted to know. "Then, why did we come all the way here to play against them?!"
Haven't they been fine with playing against Shiratorizawa Academy and Chidoriyama Middle in the past? Why did they suddenly have to go play against a no-name team in Osaka all of a sudden?!
"Apparently, the new coach is from Inumura so it was much easier for him to book a practice match with them." Kunimi muttered, practically sleepwalking as he swayed sleepily.
"Huh???!!! Just for that?!" Oikawa was in disbelief. "We could've been fine practicing on our own back at Miyagi!"
Will their team really be fine with this new coach? He doesn't seem very reliable.
"Mn." Toobetsu agreed while the others chose to remain silent.
They haven't really thought much about the new coach so they preferred a (wait and see) attitude in judging things.
"I dunno... I kinda like practice matches no matter who we're against." Kindaichi spoke quietly as they entered the hotel. "By the way, Iwaizumi-senpai, have you seen Kageyama? We sort of lost sight of him for a moment..."
And, there's another one of Oikawa's problems: Kageyama Tobio, who, despite only having played together for two weeks at most, was already creeping up behind him in terms of being the team's starting setter.
While Oikawa had more experience and knew how to make the team better, Kageyama was the peak of raw talent when it comes to being a setter. It was like he was born to set.
And the worst thing was that, the kid hadn't even formally started school yet, and he can already give Oikawa so much pressure.
"He's already sleeping. Like you should've been hours ago." Iwaizumi spoke sharply, shaking Oikawa out of his downward spiral.
"Hey, do you guys think it feels kinda tense around here?" Toobetsu hesitated as he spoke. Somehow it felt like the hotel was a little too quiet.
"Tense?" Kindaichi tilted his head. Now that he thought of it, where was the receptionist? Or anyone, really.
"Yeah, it seems like something happened over there." Now that they were closer to the hallway, they could see some people crowded towards the door of a room, including their coach and the hotel owners.
"Coach! Coach! Did something happen here?" Oikawa, having also seen their coach, trotted towards the man cheerfully, paying no mind to the somber atmosphere.
"Shh! What are you kids doing here?! Quickly, go back to your rooms. Don't make too much noise and go straight to sleep." Nervously, their coach walked quickly towards the boys and ushered them away, as if ensuring that they do not see what was in there.
Unfortunately, the boys were currently at the age where their curiosity and rebelliousness was at their peak. Even the more subdued Kindaichi and Iwaizumi were secretly interested.
"Eh?? Why? What happened?" Outright ignoring their inexperienced coach's instructions, Oikawa turned around and attempted to take a peak.
Seeing this, the coach grabbed Oikawa's shoulder to still him and sighed internally. Might as well tell them or else they might recklessly try to find out on their own. They'll end up knowing what happened anyways by tomorrow at the latest.
"Someone just died in the storage room. So keep quiet about this. The police should be arriving soon." With a grim expression, the coach ushered them towards the stairs.
"Ah...?!" The whole team had on various sorts of expressions, apparently not having expected that answer.
"Wait, someone died?!" Oikawa exclaimed rather loudly.
"I said keep quiet!"
Bang!
A hard fist landed heavily on top of Oikawa's head.
"Ow! Iwa-chan! It hurts!" With teary eyes, Oikawa covered his head. What kind of childhood friend was he?! With how often he does this, he might end up losing more braincells than can be replaced and cause him to become stupid!
"Serves you right." Iwaizumi sneered, unrepentant to Oikawa before turning towards their coach. "I'll be taking them back, coach. Goodnight."
"O-oh, thank you, Iwaizumi-kun." Unsure whether he should say anything about his unilateral beating of the team's captain, the coach stuttered.
"Come on. Let's go." Iwaizumi motioned for the team to head towards their rooms but, somehow, something felt wrong.
"Wait..." Without any distraction in the way, he looked at the team behind him clearly and finally realized what was off. "Where's Kunimi?"
"..."
"Huh-?" Kindaichi blinked his eyes in confusion. "He was right here just a moment ago...?"
Ah-
....
A sea of red was reflected upon deep blue eyes, mixing the colors into a murky violet.
The head of a man laid crookedly on the wooden floor as a large cut bisected two thirds of his neck from his nape.
The whole room smelled of rust and the blood that spread from the corpse to his feet was still warm and fresh. Beside it, a petite woman sat with a fearful expression, staring at the corpse in disbelief as her body trembled and shook.
It was messy. And red.
The red was everywhere; from the stacked books, to the walls, and to the samurai statue.
Ah, isn't that the statue Shinichi wanted to show him earlier? What a pity, it's all dirty now. From the back of his mind, he thought.
"Shimizu! Don't look!" Suguru shouted loudly but he knew it was too late. Everything that should and shouldn't be seen by those innocent eyes was already laid bare and exposed to the world.
For a moment, Shimizu was frozen, not completely comprehending what he was seeing. He didn't even realize that his brother had moved until he felt cold, sweaty hands covering his eyes and blocking his vision.
"Nii-san, I'm sorry." Shimizu said quietly, placing his hand on top of the shaking hands covering his eyes. "The new shoes you bought for me got dirty."
"It's okay." Suguru took a deep breath to calm himself. From behind the frightened woman, a curse gradually began to form. "I'll buy you a new pair."
Because Shimizu's feet hurt when he wore clogs, Suguru bought new cloth shoes for him from a shop in the village. But, it seems that it will end up being thrown away without even having been worn for more than an hour.
Suguru looked at the corpse's nearly decapitated neck, then to the statue's sword dripping with blood. It was obvious what happened. But, how it happened was a mystery. Still, he couldn't help but give the trembling woman a suspicious look.
"We heard a scream coming from here. What happened?" On the other side of the corridor, Mouri Kogoro asked as he ran down the stairs, followed by Kudo Yusaku and several other people who were also attracted by the noise.
"It's-" Suguru started hesitantly, but was unsure of how to explain it. In the end, he just pulled his brother away from the room and motioned for them to go see for themselves. "Please prepare yourselves..."
"It's not a good sight to see."
Not a good sight to see? Such a sentence really makes people feel unnerved. Just what kind of sight could warrant such caution?
But, as soon as they saw what was in the room, the immediately knew what the boy meant.
"D-Daisuke..?!" A woman who seemed to know who the deceased was, gasped and staggered to the body in disbelief, seeming to be unable to accept this sight as real as her vibrant red hair visibly grew duller as though it had suddenly lost life. "Daisuke?! What- what happened?!"
For a moment, Suguru couldn't help but give the woman another glance.
"My son!!! My son!!" An older lady, Mrs. Sekiguchi, one of the owners of the Onsen, pushed through the crowd and knelt by the door of the room. "What happened to my son?!!"
With her reaction, it was now clear who died.
From the back, the muffled voice of someone hurriedly calling the police was heard.
"You- Haruko, have you been here the whole time?" Suddenly, the woman with red hair turned towards the other woman trembling on the floor, nearly crashing into the samurai statue as she did so. "You saw what happened, right?!"
Seemingly surprised by her actions, the other woman, Haruko, reared back, nearly falling to the bloodied floor in her panic. "I- I...!"
"Tsubaki! Calm down!" Mr. Sekiguchi, the husband of Mrs. Sekiguchi, and the father of the deceased, berated the woman who looked as if she was one second away from tearing Haruko's face off if she didn't give her an answer.
"It's okay, child. We're not blaming you. We just want to know what happened." Compared to his harsh tone towards Tsubaki, Mr. Sekiguchi regarded Haruko more gently, trying not to look towards the blood that pooled on the floor and his son's gradually cooling body. "Come- come here. Don't keep sitting there."
With the obvious difference in treatment between the two women, Tsubaki's face grew uglier. But, before she can do anything, a sudden intrusion from the doorway made everyone pause.
"Alright, these two ladies, before you try to fight each other, can you step out of the crime scene, first? We need to preserve as much of the evidence as we can." A man with a mustache said in a carefree tone despite the serious situation.
"You- who are you?" Tsubaki asked sharply, not knowing who this strange guy was. In this situation, what kind of unreliable guy manages to still look so relaxed?
"For such a terrible thing to happen during a festival is really a bad omen..." The man shook his head regretfully, but his acting was so fake that nobody believed it. "But, luckily for you folks, Tokyo Metropolitan police officer, Mouri Kogoro, just happened to be here."
For a moment, the somber scene dispersed as everyone couldn't help but sweat-drop. Is it really okay for a police officer to be an unreliable uncle?
On the corridor some distance away from the room, Kudo Yusaku confronted the Geto brothers who were silent beside each other, each having their own thoughts about their first encounter with death.
Has human life always been that fragile?
"Geto-kun, right?" The novelist called out softly, trying not to startle them.
"Ah- yes." Shaking away his dark thoughts, Suguru looked towards the older man hesitantly.
"Can I trouble you to guide the police here? Mouri-san and I have to stabilize the family members and preserve the crime scene." Kudo Yusaku stated his request simply. In order to avoid making the situation more chaotic, it needed to be solved as soon as possible, and, a remote place like this village where vehicles could easily get lost, even the police would need someone to guide them.
"Yes, of course." Towards this kind of request, Suguru readily agreed. In any case, it would be best for him and his brother to get away from this scene and clear their heads since, they, no doubt, would be unable to sleep tonight. "Shimizu, let's go outside."
"It must be the ghost... The ghost in the samurai statue..." Passing by the door of the storage room, Shimizu seemed to hear the dazed mutterings of Mrs. Sekiguchi.
"Mn, okay." Shimizu turned away from the scene, clutching Suguru's paper lantern in his hands. Fortunately, the lantern his brother worked so hard to make didn't get dirty.
...
Beep. Clang.
Standing in front of the vending machine, Kunimi blinked sleepily as he reached for the drink he just bought.
Ah, those guys left him behind. He, thought to himself in a daze. They probably didn't even notice he was missing. Most likely attracted by what was happening in the corridors.
In the dim light of the hotel's reception area, he was alone with a child standing creepily in the corner in silence. It was already close to midnight.
"..."
Wait... A kid..?
"Hey- ...kid." Kunimi spoke slowly, trying to find his words with a muddled brain. It was so late at night and this kid was just on his own in the reception area when he should be sleeping by now. Just what kind of guardian leaves their kid alone anyways?
"Shouldn't you be there? With the adults?" Kunimi pointed to the corridors where he could hear more people talking. What exactly was happening there?
"Over there? But we can't go there." Looking at him with dark eyes, the kid said with his head tilted in confusion. "Only adults can go there because someone got their neck cut off."
Damn, this kid was creepy. But what exactly did he say?
"...huh?" Did someone die? Actually, if that were the case, it would make sense. It gave a reason for the crowd in the corridor.
Though that still doesn't explain why the kid was all alone here. "Even if some person died, you still shouldn't be here alone. Where's your guardian?"
"Oh! Nii-san is waiting outside for the police! I'm supposed to stay here and not move around." The kid smiled happily towards the older boy who couldn't help but be concerned.
A kid who actually stays still when told to? Impossible.
"Oi, Kunimi! The hell are you doing there? Iwaizumi-senpai has been looking for you all over the place and- eh?" Kindaichi suddenly appeared, causing the sleepy teen and the creepy child to look towards him simultaneously. "What's up with that kid?"
The kid being discussed was currently staring right at the top of Kindaichi's head with a scrunched up expression, as though he was mentally contemplating about the teen's odd choice of hairstyle which resembled a turnip.
"Apparently, his brother left him here." Kunimi muttered, absentmindedly taking a sip of his drink.
"I'm not kid! My name is Shimizu!" The kid finally decided to introduce himself.
"Heh? Is that so, Shimizu?" Kindaichi, being the more sociable one of the two teens took the reign of the conversation, relieving Kunimi of the awkwardness. "Ah, whatever. Since we're already doomed to have no sleep tonight, might as well do something good and accompany a kid to stay up, right?"
Kindaichi stretched his back idly, preparing himself for a night of boredom and trying to stay awake.
"Atleast we have a valid reason to tell Iwaizumi-senpai." Kunimi huffed to himself, having thought of something funny.
Though that comment made Kindaichi tilt his head in confusion. "Iwaizumi-senpai? Not coach?"
"Nah, coach probably won't even notice us." Kunimi replied with a mocking click of his tongue.
That got Kindaichi thinking for a moment before deciding that what Kunimi said made sense.
"True." He grunted, slouching against the wall.
Anyway, they weren't important enough nor skilled enough for their coach to pay attention to them. It seems, in their team, the only player that matters currently is Kageyama. Even Oikawa-senpai was being pushed aside sometimes.
"Umm... What's a coach?" Suddenly, Shimizu spoke up, breaking through the sudden stiff atmosphere.
"Uh- coach is uh..." Kindaichi furrowed his brows, trying to dig up the meaning of the word from the dark recesses of his mind. "Probably a person who guides the players of a sport to win games?"
It was a lousy explanation, but fortunately, Shimizu was quick to fill in the gaps of information with his own understanding.
"Oh! So you play sports?" Shimizu's eyes glistened with interest. He had never seen sports players in real life before. "Is it like the basketball we see on TV?"
"Yeah! But, we play volleyball instead of basketball!" Glad that he had something else to occupy his mind instead of depressing thoughts, Kindaichi brightened up visibly. "It's the game where there's six players for each team on court and they have to try not to let the ball fall on their side of the net."
"Wow! I saw something like that on TV!" Shimizu's eyes glistened. "That's so cool!"
"Hehe! It is, isn't it? Volleyball is a cool sport, isn't it?" Kindaichi nodded in agreement, feeling proud of himself for spreading the love for volleyball to a promising seedling. Now, the only thing left to do was to ensure that this kid would play volleyball in the future.
"Mn!" Shimizu nodded, not knowing of what the teen was planning for him.
"By the way, my name's Kindaichi, and this guy's Kunimi! Nice to meet you, Shimizu-chan." Belatedly, the teen introduced himself and his friend, just realizing that he had yet to do so.
From the side, the other boy watched them in silence, not sure of what to do after just having seen a new side of his friend.
"Kindaichi." Kunimi spoke quietly.
Having heard his name being called, the teen turned towards his friend in confusion. "Huh?"
"You're surprisingly good with kids." Kunimi said bluntly and went to sit on the floor for a short rest.
"That... Is that a compliment?" Kindaichi muttered hesitantly.
SHHKAA!
Suddenly there was a loud crash coming from the corridor as the chatter from earlier suddenly developed into a screaming match of two women.
"Didn't everyone before say that the damned statue is haunted?!! Why didn't you just throw it out before?!!" Tsubaki, the woman with red hair, was seen pointing towards Haruko, enraged.
While Mouri had been unsuccessfully trying to occupy the two women's attentions for the past few minutes with strange jokes and dry humor in order to keep them from going at each other's throats, Kudo Yusaku was silently contemplating to himself.
"It was a gimmick to attract more customers! Didn't you also agree to keep it at that time?!!" Haruko, who was now in a better mind state from earlier, retorted against Tsubaki's claims.
Kudo Yusaku looked towards the two women thoughtfully. As of now, he had confirmed that this incident was a murder and they were the two possible suspects he had decided on.
Amaimichi Tsubaki, the fiance of the victim, who was seemingly close with the victim's mother, but was being treated coldly by the victim's father. Her alibi was that she had been outside with a friend for a whole day and had only come back to the Onsen shortly before her fiance died, giving her no time to prepare an elaborate murder.
And, Ito Haruko, who later identified herself to Mouri Kogoro and Kudo Yusaku as the helper who works for the Onsen as well the victim's childhood friend. At this moment, she was the most suspicious person, having been in the same room as the victim when he died. It was also confirmed that she would go to the storage room 10 pm every night to take stock of materials, giving her many opportunities to set up the crime.
Both women currently could not stand the sight of each other, but apparently, they had been pretty close friends in the past, according to Mrs. Sekiguchi.
"Hah! Gimmick?! Now look what this gimmick of yours did!!! That haunted statue just killed my fiance!!" Tsubaki sneered, her voice shrill with anger.
"It's not the statue that killed him!!!" Haruko screamed right back, eyes reddened with hatred for the other woman.
Kudo Yusaku sighed, feeling sympathy for Mouri Kogoro who was clueless on how to handle this situation. Fortunately, the older Sekiguchi couple had taken his advice to wait for the follow-up in the kitchen, away from the crime scene.
"Then, if it isn't that haunted statue, is it you?!" Tsubaki was quick to pass the blame to the other. "So you killed him because you can't accept that you will never be able to have him?!"
And that was another can of worms opened. It seems, the reason their friendship was broken was because, when they were younger, Sekiguchi Daisuke had been dating Ito Haruko. And, it was Ito Haruko who met Amaimichi Tsubaki first and introduced her to Sekiguchi Daisuke.
Somehow, shortly after that, Sekiguchi Daisuke began to date Amaimichi Tsubaki instead and broke up swiftly with Ito Haruko, but Ito Haruko did not hate Sekiguchi Daisuke for that, and instead, despised Amaimichi Tsubaki, severing the friendship.
It was still unknown what made it turn out this way.
"Who said I killed him?! If I would kill someone, the one I want to kill the most is you!!!" Haruko's expression twisted from the amount of rage she felt after being blamed for the murder. "It's the same for you too!! I'm the one you really want to kill, right?!"
Peeking from the corner, Shimizu found two curses clinging to the backs of each screaming woman but, the curse on the red haired lady was visibly larger and stronger than the one wearing a bloody yukata.
"Why don't you love me... Why?!... Why don't you love me?!" The larger curse kept groaning to the woman's ears.
Seemingly being able to feel the invisible weight on her shoulders getting heavier, Tsubaki reached up to rub her arms, revealing a dark oil stain on her sleeve.
Kudo Yusaku narrowed his eyes in contemplation, then turned to the door of the storage room.
"I see." Kudo Yusaku muttered then addressed Mouri Kogoro. "That statue was the same one that was displayed at the reception area earlier, wasn't it?"
"Huh?" Mouri Kogoro furrowed his brows, trying to recall if he ever saw a statue when they arrived. In the end, he just shrugged, unsure. "I guess?"
But, Kudo Yusaku actually didn't need his confirmation. He was confident enough with his memory to be sure of what he saw. He just needed someone to bounce his thoughts off of.
"Then, that means, someone moved it to the storage room before." The elderly Sekiguchi couple were the first to be eliminated, followed by the two arguing ladies with similar slim physiques. The chef might be a candidate, but he had been in the kitchen from the duration of their arrival up until the occurrence of the murder with multiple witnesses.
They were missing a person. "Once we find the person who moved it here, everything will be clear."
"That-" Suddenly, from the direction of the stairs, a child spoke up in excitement. "I know who placed it there."
Almost immediately, Kudo Yusaku turned to where the voice came from and facepalmed helplessly. Of course, he should've known. "Shinichi! What are you doing here?!"
Why can't his son just stay still and keep out of trouble?
"Dad, I know who placed the statue there!" Outright ignoring his father's disapproval, Kudo Shinichi spoke confidently as he made his way towards them. "Me and Shimizu saw him earlier!"
"Who?" Deciding to listen to what his son had to say, Kudo Yusaku looked at the child intently. Since he wanted to become a great detective in the future, he might as well experience the scene of a crime early. Let him get used to it while he's young.
"It's that man over there!" Shinichi pointed straight towards a tall man standing alone on the far end of the corridor.
Instantly, the eyes of the spectators followed the line where Shinichi pointed to and saw the man.
"Yamada-san!" It seems Haruko had recognized him which meant he wasn't an outsider. Possibly working for the Onsen as well? But Tsubaki didn't seem to be familiar with him at all.
"Excuse me, were you the one who moved the statue to the storage room earlier today?" Approaching the man with a calm smile, Kudo Yusaku questioned.
"Uh- yeah." The man seemed to be uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "I've been meaning to say it since a while ago, but I didn't know when to speak, cuz' you know..."
He gave the two women a quick meaningful glance and Kudo Yusaku immediately understood. It really was kind of hard to insert himself in that kind of situation.
"And you are?"
"Yamada Hisaki. I work as a carpenter and repairman for the village. But, recently, the Onsen hired me to move the statue around from time to time to make it seem like it's traveling around the Onsen." That sure did clarify some things.
According from what the owners of the Onsen had said, as well as from the argument of the two women, the Onsen seemed to have been rumoured to be harboring a haunted statue in the past and lost customers because of it but, after following Haruko's advice, they turned the rumour into a gimmick instead, causing the popularity of their onsen to increase in certain groups, such as horror fanatics.
Having the statue move around every once in a while will surely keep the gimmick up.
"I see..."
Now, the three suspects are identified. And, right on time, sirens began blaring outside the Onsen, signifying the arrival of the police.
...
Question #2: Based on the clues laid out so far, who do you think is the killer?