Those days of traveling in Yokohama

?A pale woman stood by the half-open door, looking at the situation in the room, seeming to hesitate. Akutagawa Ryunosuke looked the client up and down.

The corners of the woman's eyes were red, as if she had cried a lot before she came here, and her dark circles were heavy, as if she hadn't slept well for a long time, "Excuse me, is this an armed detective agency?"

"This is the Armed Detective Agency." Akutagawa Ryunosuke put the tea in front of the woman. Although Akutagawa Ryunosuke had just joined the Armed Detective Agency, Edogawa Ranpo still trustingly handed over the incident to Akutagawa Ryunosuke.

"Thank you." The woman's voice was unusually hoarse, as if she hadn't spoken for a long time. When the woman picked up the water glass, Akutagawa Ryunosuke clearly saw a crescent-shaped pinch mark on the woman's palm.

It looks like the scar has healed and looks like it has had some days.

This kind of mark will only appear if you pinch your palm hard.

"Excuse me, what do you want to entrust us with when you come to the detective agency?" Ryunosuke Akutagawa sat directly opposite the woman, waiting patiently for the woman to speak.

"They don't believe me. Whether it's the police, or those students and teachers, they all insist that my sister committed suicide, but my sister couldn't commit suicide, my sister couldn't commit suicide..." She was talking about a woman The voice became a little choked up.

"Speak slowly." Akutagawa Ryunosuke's gentle attitude successfully calmed the woman's mood, and the woman finally began to tell what happened.

The woman's name is Ikemoto Mami, and there is a younger sister named Ikemoto Ari. Their parents died many years ago, and the two have spent many years living together.

Now Ari Ikemoto is working as an art teacher in a school. Although the salary is not high, it is better than leisure.

But some time ago, Ikemoto Ari hanged himself in the school studio. Several witnesses killed Ikemoto Ari alone in the studio at that time, and even made alibi for each other.

The police found no other evidence. The witnesses also said that Ari Ikemoto had mental problems in recent days. This incident can only be attributed to suicide in the end.

But Ikemoto Mami did not believe that her sister would commit suicide.

"There are eyewitnesses to prove it, and the police haven't found any other evidence, so it must have been a suicide." Kunikida Doppo has some doubts. There should be no way to fake this kind of thing.

"Impossible, my sister can't commit suicide." Kunikida Doppo's words seemed to hit Mami Ikemoto's sore spot, and Mami Ikemoto's emotions became agitated again.

"Miss Ikemoto, calm down, even if you said that, there must be evidence to prove it." Akutagawa Ryunosuke put the cup he was holding on the table.

The sound of the bottom of the cup tapping on the table made Ikemoto Mami tremble and regained her composure, "Sorry, I lost my temper, but I have evidence. This is my sister's handbook."

Ikemoto Mami took out an exquisite book from the bag she was carrying and handed it to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Akutagawa Ryunosuke took the book, Ikemoto Mami signaled Akutagawa Ryunosuke to open the book.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke opened the book. The inside pages of the book are very beautiful. It records the life of Ari Ikemoto in the form of pictures. The style of the pictures is funny and humorous. It is completely impossible to see that Ari Ikemoto has any psychological problems.

"This is a hobby of my younger sister. She likes to record her life in the form of pictures. She played on the day before her suicide. She just made an appointment with me to travel together when she was on vacation."

Since he would make an appointment for a trip, it would be very abnormal for him to choose to commit suicide the next day. The journal in Akutagawa Ryunosuke's hand has been turned to the end, and the last page is only half drawn.

It clearly records Ari Ikemoto's travel plan, what to buy, and what luggage to bring.

The style of the last page continues the usual style of the handbook. Ryunosuke Akutagawa did not see any big problems. It seems that Ari Ikemoto's suicide did have a big problem.

"Mr. Ranpo." Akutagawa Ryunosuke looked at Edogawa Ranpo. Whether the Armed Detective Agency will accept this commission depends on Edogawa Ranpo's intentions.

"We have accepted this entrustment, and Mr. Niihara will leave this task to you." Edogawa Ranpo stood behind Akutagawa Ryunosuke and patted Akutagawa Ryunosuke on the shoulder.

"It's been too long since this incident, so it will be difficult to investigate. Niihara just joined, can I hand it over to Niihara?" Kunikida Doppo subconsciously frowned.

It's not that he has any opinion on Akutagawa Ryunosuke, but it will be difficult to hand over such a case to Akutagawa Ryunosuke alone

It's been so long since the evidence of the case, many of them should not be found.

"I paid the school for the studio where my sister's accident happened, but it's about to expire soon." Ikemoto Mami showed a very helpless wry smile, and because of this, the money she had saved over the years was about to expire. used up.

But if she could find out who killed her sister, she would have no problem spending any money.

"It shouldn't be too late, let's start now." Ryunosuke Akutagawa stood up, "I want to go to the scene of the crime to have a look."

At this time, when the students were leaving school, Ryunosuke Akutagawa walked inside against the flow of people, attracting a lot of attention.

Ikemoto Mami took Akutagawa Ryunosuke and walked all the way to the innermost point, and finally stopped in front of one of several desolate bungalows behind a forest.

"It's here." Ikemoto Mami took out a key from her pocket, Ikemoto Mami's hand trembled abnormally, and the key was always aimed at the keyhole of the not-so-large lock.

"Let me open it." Akutagawa Ryunosuke pressed Mami Ikemoto's shoulder, beckoning her to hand over the key to him.

On the other side of the bungalow, in front of a window that I forgot to close, a man and a woman stood in front of the window.

"Xinyi, isn't it good for us to do this? Not only did we sneak into other people's schools, but we also sneaked in here without permission." Mao Lilan shivered. There are no people in this place, so there must be no ghosts .

"How can this be considered another school? This is Didan High School, and we are Didan National High School. We will go straight to here in the future. How can it be considered sneaking into other people's schools?"

Kudo Shinichi had already stuck one foot into the window, and Kudo Shinichi showed a sly smile at Mao Lilan, "You've come all the time, so you must set a good whistle for me."

Only then did Mao Lilan feel that she seemed to have boarded a pirate ship, and Mao Lilan deeply felt that her childhood sweetheart was unreliable.

Like Ikemoto Mami, Kudo Shinichi felt that this incident was a bit strange. Unlike Ikemoto Mami who is Ikemoto Ari's sister, Kudo Shinichi has nothing to do with Ikemoto Ari.

In terms of the only relationship, probably Kudo Shinichi met once in Ikemoto Ari.

That was half a month ago——

Kudo Shinichi released Mao Lilan again because he encountered an event that he was interested in, and Mao Lilan was finally annoyed this time.

Kudo Shinichi felt that something was wrong, so he could only buy gifts to please Mao Lilan, but how could he, a boy, understand what little girls would like.

Kudo Shinichi and Ikemoto Ari also met at that time, "You have been standing here for a long time, are you going to buy someone a gift? Let me guess, you have been struggling for so long, it can't be a little girlfriend or something Bar."

Kudo Shin subconsciously looked at the woman who was standing next to her and talking. The woman was wearing a short skirt with delicate and beautiful makeup on her face.

"No, I don't have a little girlfriend." Kudo Shinichi shook his head helplessly. He is only a second-year junior high school student. How can he have a little girlfriend? "But it is indeed a gift for a girl. I accidentally annoyed my green plum , now I can only buy gifts to please her."

"Then you shouldn't be in this area, you should go to that area." Ikemoto Ari pointed to the next area, where Ikemoto Ari just stood, "Girls and boys like different things. "

"Then can I trouble you to help me choose? Teacher" Kudo Shinichi revealed the identity of Ikemoto Ari.

"How did you know that I'm a teacher?" Ari Ikemoto's eyes widened in disbelief. She was sure that she had never seen this student before, and the boy's height and appearance were obviously more like those of a middle school student. You must know her I teach high school students.

Could it be that she has seen this person somewhere, she forgot

Ikemoto Ari tried hard to recall his memory, trying to find a face that could overlap with the person in front of him.

"I also know that you are an art teacher. There is a light mark on your cuff. Combined with the faint smell of turpentine on your body, you can tell that the mark on your cuff is a trace of paint. This can tell that you are engaged in art work. .

It can be seen from your standing posture that you don't like to wear high heels, but you still step on them, which means that this may be required by your work..." Kudo Shinichi talked so excitedly for a minute or two before he finished I've finished talking about how I judged.

"Little classmate, you are right. My name is Ikemoto Ari, and I am an art teacher from Tedan High School nearby. As a reward for your guess, I can give you Ome's gift as a reference."

Ari Ikemoto helped Kudo Shinichi choose a gift, which made Mao Lilan very happy, and Mao Lilan quickly forgave Kudo Shinichi.

Kudo Shinichi is very grateful for Ikemoto Ari's help, and wants to thank her in person, but he heard about Ikemoto Ari again a week later, when he learned from the newspaper that "the art teacher of Teidan High School suffered from depression and committed suicide. "

There were no photos in the newspaper. At that time, Kudo Shinichi never thought that the name of the person who committed suicide would be Ari Ikemoto, but he just thought that he happened to meet someone with the same name and surname at the same school.

It wasn't until another week later that Kudo Shinichi wanted to thank Ikemoto Ari. After some inquiries, he found out that the art teacher who committed suicide due to depression was the sunny and cheerful Ikemoto Ari he met at that time.

Kudo Shinichi's first reaction was that this was impossible, why was she the one who committed suicide?

Kudo Shinichi asked his father to find the testimony of the eyewitnesses in the case at the time of the case, which was checked by Police Officer Megure at the police station.

But they found that although these people seemed to have nothing to do with each other, they were proving to the other party that they had nothing to do with this case. This kind of appearance seemed to be covering up for each other.

what are they hiding

As a detective's intuition, Kudo Shinichi felt that these people must have something to do with this case.

That's why Kudo Shinichi decided to visit the scene of the crime, trying to find some useful evidence.