Chapter 391

Akaso Kaze smiled slightly.

He knew he couldn't hide it from this smart kid.

So he nodded and said, "That's right, this was all planned by Xia Xia Jiang in advance. He knew Tian Tian Yumei had the habit of charging her phone by the sink, so he specifically sent the text message while He He Meihua was washing his hands."

"In fact, he wanted to use He He Meihua's hand to complete his own plan."

Conan curled his lips and said, "So, Brother Akaso, you brought me here just to be a tool for solving the case? Are you too lazy to explain these deductions yourself now?"

Akaso Kaze laughed, "What, are you unwilling?"

Conan thought for a moment and nodded repeatedly, "Willing, Brother Akaso, remember to call me if there's anything like this in the future."

Akaso Kaze smiled slightly and returned to the villa.

He led Tian Tian Yumei into a large room.

"This is where your mother used to live; Mr. Xia Xia Jiang wanted you to live here. Also, this is a letter he left for you. It has a wax seal, and no one has seen it."

Tian Tian Yumei opened the letter and began to read it slowly.

After a while, her little face slowly turned red.

She put down the letter and looked at Akaso Kaze shyly.

"Lord Akaso, can I ask you for a favor?"

"What is it?"

Tian Tian Yumei walked over slowly and leaned into Akaso Kaze’s arms.

"Master, no, Father said, let me become your woman, so that you can protect me from being bullied..."

The corners of Akaso Kaze’s mouth curled up.

For a mage, do you still need to open a letter to read it?

He hugged the delicate girl.

"If it weren't for your father's request, would you want to be my woman?"

The girl looked up at Akaso Kaze’s handsome face, blushed, and nodded.

Akaso Kaze didn't say anything more; he picked the girl up in a princess carry and placed her on the bed.

Tian Tian Yumei said shyly, "Lord Akaso, i-it's still daytime."

Akaso Kaze smiled and said, "Isn't daytime good? It's so bright, I can see more clearly..."

Tian Tian Yumei shyly covered her little head with the quilt, but left her body exposed.

Akaso Kaze smiled slightly and began to complete the final step of the commission.

A few days later, Akaso Kaze came to the mountains of Qunma County.

A place with red leaves all over the mountains.

He stayed temporarily at the Akagi Inn in front of the mountain station.

He came here because he received a text message from Sonoko.

"Under the winter red leaves on Christmas Eve this year..."

A mysterious email; how can there be red leaves in winter?

Akaso Kaze cast a divination spell and found that Sonoko had actually gone to the red leaf forest in Qunma County alone.

That place is a tourist hotspot that became popular because of a TV series called "Winter Red Leaves."

Seeing the name of the TV series, Akaso Kaze immediately remembered.

This seems to be a case.

And it's a very dangerous case.

It requires someone to play the hero and save the beauty.

Akaso Kaze certainly couldn't let Sonoko encounter danger, so he rushed over in advance.

The front desk at the inn happily recommended:

"'Winter Red Leaves' was a very popular romance series last year. It tells the romantic story between a capitalist's young lady and a young officer in the early Showa era, shrouded in the shadow of war. It just started rebroadcasting here in Qunma County recently!"

Akaso Kaze’s eye twitched.

Another one of these melodramatic romance dramas; it only fools young girls.

Come to think of it, Sonoko seems to like this kind of TV series; she even took everyone to watch similar romance movies before.

Akaso Kaze asked the tourists about the broadcast time of "Winter Red Leaves" and learned that it airs every Saturday night from 9 to 10 on the Qunma County cable station, which happens to be tonight.

"Does the gentleman also like watching this kind of romance drama?" the girl at the front desk winked, "As long as you watch this TV series, you will definitely be hooked! Especially if you watch it with the girl you like."

Akaso Kaze smiled slightly; if he were to watch it, it would be to accompany Sonoko.

It was afternoon, and because of the increase in tourists, the inn's rooms were clearly in short supply; not long after Akaso Kaze checked in, the inn was full.

But he hadn't seen Sonoko from beginning to end; if she wasn't at another inn, she must still be on the mountain.

Akaso Kaze was just about to find a place to eat when he suddenly bumped into Sonoko, who was walking into the inn lobby.

"Mr. Akaso?" Before Akaso Kaze could speak, Sonoko exclaimed, "Why are you here?"

Akaso Kaze asked with a smile, "Why can't I be here?"

"B-because..." Sonoko’s face turned red with surprise, "Because whenever you're around, you always get dragged into incidents!"

Sonoko became righteous, and her very serious look left Akaso Kaze speechless.

Please, the real jinx is Conan, okay?

"So," Akaso Kaze asked in return, "Why did you come here?"

"There are some reasons."

Sonoko stammered as she walked into the inn lobby; she didn't even check in, just took the message book and started writing a message.

"A Mr. Hotumi on the mountain asked us to come here and leave a message for someone, saying he wanted to ask a fan to meet him on the mountain."

As Sonoko spoke, she wrote in the message book: "I found the tree you were looking for. Please come to the place where that rock from the final scene of the TV series is located. Hotumi."

Akaso Kaze looked at the message Sonoko wrote in the notebook and asked, "Why would the other party ask you to help write a message?"

"He said it was too tiring to come down again, and he forgot that person's phone number,"

Sonoko replied, "It is said that the person checked into this inn this morning, and they agreed to meet here. In case anything happened, they could leave a message in the message book."

Akaso Kaze asked, "How did you meet?"

"We met on the mountain."

"Asking a young girl you just met to come here and leave a message, that sounds very strange no matter how you look at it, right?"

"But Mr. Hotumi is not an ordinary person," Sonoko defended, "It was because he recommended this place to the screenwriter that this place became popular because of the TV series."

"Is this Mr. Hotumi a TV station staff member?" Akaso Kaze asked.

"No, he's just an advertiser, but everyone asks him about the location of the filming sites. The most classic idea in the TV series, tying a red handkerchief to a red leaf tree, was also his idea~."

Sonoko became more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, until she noticed Akaso Kaze’s smiling gaze and stopped, blushing as she said: "Anyway, I was going to stop by to eat on the way down; I've been wandering around the mountain for half a day and I'm starving."

"Then let's go eat." Akaso Kaze watched Sonoko put away the message book and finally asked, "However, is this useful? You don't know when the message will be seen."

"It should be fine; Mr. Hotumi said that person has been waiting for news, so they will see it immediately."

Akaso Kaze didn't ask any more questions and followed Sonoko out of the inn.

It was getting late, and a red glow appeared in the sky. Combined with the red leaves covering the mountains and plains, it looked like a painting; the scenery was exceptionally beautiful.

Akaso Kaze hugged Sonoko’s small waist, feeling exceptionally relaxed.

The restaurant they dined at was near the Akagi Inn, with bright floor-to-ceiling windows for viewing, and the food was quite delicious.

However, Sonoko didn't seem to be in the mood to eat, and she wasn't very interested in the beautiful scenery outside; she just looked distressfully at Akaso Kaze, who was taking sips of coffee from time to time.

She somewhat regretted sending the text message on a whim; now it seemed like she was in a difficult position.

Mr. Akaso must have understood the meaning of the email by now, and the most uncomfortable thing was that she wasn't prepared at all.

The so-called "Winter Red Leaves" refers to the leaves withering in winter, and tying a red handkerchief to a branch to act as a red leaf.

This is the most romantic scene in that TV series.

Who knew that when Sonoko arrived at the filming site, she discovered that the trees near that place were covered with red handkerchiefs.

She was still carrying her own red handkerchief and didn't know what to do.

They ate until sunset.

Akaso Kaze looked at the embarrassed Sonoko with a face full of smiles.

Sonoko had just sent an email on a whim, imitating the TV series; she certainly wouldn't have expected him to actually come.

"Something seems to have happened!"

A commotion suddenly broke out outside, and the sound of police sirens could be vaguely heard.

Soon, news came that a tourist had discovered a body on the mountain, and the local police had already rushed over.

Sonoko’s curiosity couldn't help but rise.

"Mr. Akaso, let's go over and take a look."

"Alright." Akaso Kaze took her and walked toward the scene of the incident.

"The estimated time of death is around 5 o'clock this evening. There was a stab wound to the abdomen, and a fatal stab wound to the chest."

In the red leaf forest shrouded in night, when Akaso Kaze arrived, the police had already secured the scene. There weren't many onlookers, only a few tourists who happened to be nearby.

"The identity of the deceased is still unclear; it seems the murderer took everything that could identify them."

A person lay under a tree with a knife stuck in them. Bird-beak Police Officer Yamamura Misao stood beside the body with a serious look, waiting for the forensics team to work.

"Any discoveries nearby?"

"The local police found some camping tents belonging to tourists, and also this notebook stained with blood."

The detective investigating the scene handed a notebook with a blood-stained cover to Yamamura.

"It seems to be this person's notebook; there is a name written in Roman letters, HOTUMI, on it. The notebook was dropped about 100 meters away from here."

"HOTUMI?"

Yamamura Misao raised his eyebrows and looked at the male corpse.

"Is he an idiot who can't even write his own name in Chinese characters? That face looks a bit silly."

Sonoko followed behind Akaso Kaze, and upon hearing this, she looked inside. After seeing the blood-stained body, she immediately exclaimed: "It's Mr. Hotumi!"

Akaso Kaze also saw the body reflected in the police car lights: a square-faced man wearing a knit cap.

His sleeveless down vest was covered in red leaves mixed with blood, looking exceptionally miserable. It’s really something that Yamamura Misao, a guy who would faint at the sight of a corpse, still had the mood to joke.

But this rookie cop was silly to begin with.

"Huh?" Yamamura Misao noticed Akaso Kaze and the others and said pleasantly, "Isn't this Lord Akaso? It's great that you're here!"

"We happened to be at the foot of the mountain and came over when we heard something happened," Akaso Kaze looked speechlessly at Yamamura Misao, who was excited as if he had seen a savior.