"He wouldn't," stammered Suzuki Sonoko, "be at the villa, would he?!"
He could even be one of the partygoers.
Otherwise, why would he hide his face and disappear near the villa?
It was Suzuki Sonoko's own speculation, and Ichijō Mirai smiled, seeing that most of her attention had been diverted to wonder and shock, and she was no longer staring at herself like a cat hiding in the shadows and staring at its prey, so he didn't say anything, "Maybe."
"Just a small possibility."
It was a small possibility, but it was still something to be wary of. After all, if there was a homicidal maniac who liked to disguise himself as a bandage freak and attack others among the party-goers, wouldn't it be possible that Ichijō Mirai, Suzuki Ayako, and Mouri Ran in the villa could get hurt?
With a crush, a real sister, and a young tamer dye who grew up with her, Suzuki Sonoko furrowed her brow tightly and nodded vigorously, "I know!"
She walks down the stairs and meets the others gathered in the living room, her face still a bit stony, "Mr. Mirai didn't meet with an attack."
Ichijō Mirai didn't go down the stairs right away, he paused for a few seconds at the last step of the staircase, his eyes scanning the living room over the variously colored people.
From left to right, the first is Suzuki Ayako, whose brows are furrowed with a bit of concern that she's trying to hide from her own sister, who was among the attackers.
The moment Suzuki Sonoko appeared in the hall, her eyes swept over and looked her up and down until she confirmed that her sister was unharmed, then she let out a small sigh of relief.
Second was the long-haired lead actor, Oota Masaru.
He stood carelessly amongst the crowd, expressing his genuine concern for the two attacked ladies by the way he stood, but with an air of weakness and thankfulness.
They are followed by photographer Sumiya Hiroki and props designer Takahashi Ryouichi, both of whom have expressions of worry and concern, with a hint of fear.
While the former's was only a little bit, the latter's fear was a little more intense, almost to the point where anyone with an eye could tell that he looked timid.
Ichijō Mirai swept over the two gentlemen, his gaze not wavering, not lingering for a second on either, simply passing them by, even though he had already determined who the assailant was: Takahashi Ryouichi.
Takahashi Ryouichi, who had disguised his body at the beginning, appearing chubby, but in fact, only his head was fat, his body was a bit thinner than a normal male's, and he did not have a small belly at all, and there were layers and layers of white bandages piled up at the end of the bed.
The white bandages piled up at the end of the bed were evidence of this.
He didn't change his face, and withdrew his gaze with a glance, not meaning to make a detective-like disclosure.
However, he catches a glimpse of Takahashi Ryouichi looking over with a worried expression, his face twists for a moment, then immediately stabilizes, still worried, and he breathes a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you're okay, Mr. Mirai."
"Ms. Mouri seems to have been attacked when she was alone, I saw Ms. Sonoko coming back with her and thought that you were alone and might have been attacked."
With that said,Takahashi Ryouichi turned his head to Conan and continued where he left off, "Neither of us saw any bandage freaks enter the villa,did he run off into the jungle again?"
"I've been up on the roof fixing things," He pointed up, "and really haven't seen it,"
Suddenly there was some hesitation, "But the guy with the cloak like the Grim Reaper and the layers of bandages on his face and hands, I've seen that."
"I saw it on the drawbridge when I came here, and it scared me."
As soon as he said that, Mr. Cameraman and Mr. Actor both hesitantly responded, "In that case, I've seen it, too."
"Me too, me too, but I saw it when I was cleaning up my room and thought it was an eccentric resident of the neighborhood."
"I saw it from the window, he was near the villa."
As they talked, Suzuki Ayako, the owner of the villa and the organizer of the party, was a bit bewildered and gloomy, "It can't be, we're the only villa on this side of the drawbridge, there's no one living on the mountain at all, the other vacation villas are on the other side of the drawbridge, there's no need to go through the bridge."
"If you can come to this side of the bridge, then..."
It's this villa.
"Well," Suzuki Sonoko pursed her lips and glanced at Ichijō Mirai, "just now, Mr. Mi-"
"Just now," Ichijō Mirai interrupted preemptively, "Ms. Sonoko has relayed to me the appearance of the bandage freak, and after doing so, she had a very hesitant, and if true, incredibly frightening speculation,"
He said: "The bandage freak intentionally masked face, and active in the villa neighborhood, it is likely to be one of us played,"
"Moreover, after such a big event, it seems that there are still people who haven't arrived,"
A panicked and angry voice interrupted Ichijō Mirai, it was Takahashi Ryouichi, "You, what are you saying!"
Obviously, Ichijō Mirai said 'Sonoko-sama's speculation', preemptively shifting the detective's role, but Takahashi Ryouichi still glared angrily at Ichijō Mirai, as if he was a somewhat panicked murderer glaring angrily at the detective who had realized the truth, "How could that strange and attacking guy be among us?!"
"I say we call the police!"
He angrily rushed to the phone, "Let the police investigate, anyway, as long as there are a few of us in the group, that bandage freak will most likely not dare to come out and attack."
There was a landline in the villa, Takahashi Ryouichi pressed the landline a few times and dialed.
Suddenly, his expression changed from one of anger to one of confusion, holding the receiver, he looked down, looked at the landline, looked at the receiver again, and after a few times, as if he had finally confirmed it, he looked up at the others blankly, and stammered, "Uh, there's no, there's no signal..."
"How can there be no signal?"
He fumbled with his pockets, "My cell phone's upstairs."
Next to him, the long-haired starring actor immediately took out his cell phone as soon as he learned that there was no signal, and hurriedly dialed the police, and after a few seconds his face paled a little, "No signal."
As the call went unanswered, a subtle heaviness spread through the villa.
Ichijō Mirai leaned on the staircase railing and raised his eyebrows.
He acted as if he were a detective about to speak up to maintain order, but just as he opened his mouth, he stopped, leaving an empty beat.
Like a tacit agreement, Mr. Murderer took over the empty shot, "What, what's going on!"
"How can there be no signal for no reason? It's not snowing that hard, there's no way we can't get a signal. Did someone turn on a signal blocker or something?" He looked around at the people in a panic, "Well, what about..."
So, the attacker wasn't really in the villa, was he?
The next second, he rushed out, only to throw down a panicked, "I'll drive to the police!"
Others were caught off guard, some subconsciously chasing after him, others stopping after a few steps in bewilderment.
Suzuki Sonoko was one of the latter.
After a few steps, she turned her head to look at Ichijō Mirai, who did not change his face, and just as she was about to say something, she got a smile and a chin-up signaling her to look outside, so she subconsciously turned her head to look.
No one had closed the door to the villa, so it was wide open and she could see the drawbridge not far away.
At the suspension bridge, something seemed to have happened, and Takahashi Ryouichi and the others who had gone out after him stopped in their tracks.
Dumbfounded, they looked down, looked up, and said something to each other with their hands in the air.
There were bits and pieces of key words, and Suzuki Sonoko heard one of them.
"The suspension bridge is broken."