Chapter 13

“Seriously! Why is it in a place like this! Damn it!”

Kogoro Mouri was furious, complaining incessantly about the car that had already suffered a blowout.

Kogoro Mouri.

Age 38, Ran Mouri’s father.

His profession is a private detective, and most of the time his deductive skills are very poor.

He almost always manages to solve cases only through hints from Conan.

Every time Conan solves a case, he uses a tranquilizer needle to put him to sleep as a disguise.

He is known as "Sleeping Kogoro."

However, his deductive skills erupt when he encounters cases involving people close to him.

“I spent a lot of money on this!”

He wears a blue suit, has a slender build, and sports a slicked-back hairstyle.

A small lock of hair hangs down over the front of his forehead.

He has thin eyebrows and small pupils.

His cheekbones are prominent, his jaw is wide, and he sports a small mustache.

“Uncle, did you hide some private money? This car looks really cheap.”

Sonoko Suzuki remarked speechlessly.

Sonoko Suzuki’s family owns countless luxury cars.

She can tell the price range of this car at a glance.

“Dad! Are you planning to take money to buy alcohol again!”

Ran Mouri stood with her hands on her hips, looking serious.

After Kogoro Mouri and Eri separated years ago.

He lived with his daughter, Ran Mouri.

He drank alcohol all day long.

Most of his daily expenses were spent on drinking.

Faced with his daughter Ran Mouri’s questioning, Kogoro Mouri had nothing to say.

He smiled ingratiatingly, attempting to muddle through.

Kogoro and his group had specifically rented a car to go to a remote mountain to view cherry blossoms.

It was supposed to be a very relaxing and pleasant trip.

Yet on the way, they encountered getting lost and a flat tire.

“Eh? Where’s Conan?”

Ran Mouri appeared somewhat nervous, looking around for Conan Edogawa.

“Why does that brat run around everywhere? Seriously!”

Sonoko Suzuki complained, but still searched the nearby bushes.

“I’m here! Ran-neechan!”

Conan Edogawa is small in stature.

He popped out of the bushes all of a sudden.

“Seriously, why are you running around, you brat?”

Sonoko Suzuki breathed a sigh of relief.

“Conan, where did you run off to?”

Ran Mouri was very worried.

“I saw a temple up ahead!”

Conan Edogawa spoke in a childish, high-pitched voice.

He raised his arm to point at a temple in front of them.

The three of them looked in the direction his arm was pointing.

“Really. We don’t have to sleep in the deep mountains and old forests tonight.”

“Let’s go ask to stay for the night.”

Kogoro Mouri suggested.

“By the way, Sonoko! Didn’t you say you had a nightmare?”

Ran Mouri said in a low voice:

“Why don’t we go to the temple and offer some incense? Maybe it will help?”

Sonoko Suzuki pondered for a moment, felt it made sense, and shouted at the temple:

“Alright, then let’s go!”

The group left the car behind and headed to the temple together.

“We’re here, look!”

Ran Mouri looked up at the temple’s plaque.

“Sanniji Temple!”

Sanniji Temple is located beneath a high mountain waterfall.

The petals of the cherry blossom trees on the high mountain were in full bloom, drifting everywhere.

The waterfall carried the fallen cherry blossoms from the mountain, washing over the temple’s boardwalk.

The scenery was like an otherworldly fairyland, quite elegant.

Opening the temple gate and looking around, they found the furnishings inside were very old.

It was as if no one had cleaned it for a long time.

Furthermore, the environment was dim, and no lights were on.

“Hey!”

At this moment, a bald human head suddenly popped out.

It was a hunched old man with skin full of wrinkles on his face.

His bloodshot eyes seemed to hide a knife in their pupils.

Thick white eyebrows and a beard hung on his terrifying, diamond-shaped old face.

His shriveled, cracked mouth smiled in a pale and eerie way.

“Ahhh!”

The group was so scared they screamed out loud.

“I am the head priest of this temple—Monk Ten-ei.”

The other party stated his identity directly to them.

“If you are here to interview about ‘that matter,’ please go back; I have nothing to say.”

Only then did they see clearly that the person was just an old monk.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“We aren’t here for an interview. Our car broke down, and we’d like to stay here for the night.”

Kogoro Mouri explained.

“Oh, so you want to stay the night! Hahaha! Welcome.”

The head priest, who had just been looking gloomy and terrifying.

Immediately changed to an ingratiating, smiling face upon hearing they wanted to stay.

His hands were rubbing together incessantly.

“The temple hasn’t had guests for a long time; we provide food and lodging.”

The head priest said with a smile:

“Including the child, there are four of you, so let’s make it 15,000 yen.”

“What? 15,000 yen?”

Kogoro Mouri was heartbroken.

He was feeling the pain for his wallet.

There clearly wouldn’t be enough money for alcohol this month.

“Come out, come out and welcome our distinguished guests!”

The head priest gave an order.

Four young monks ran out from inside.

They were the masters practicing here.

Sonoko, Sonoko!

The group ate dinner under the arrangements of the monks and then rested.

It was already late at night.

Ran Mouri came to Sonoko Suzuki’s bed and patted the quilt on her chest.

“Woo~ what’s wrong? Ran?”

Sonoko Suzuki was sleepy-eyed and got up, fighting her drowsiness.

“Come with me to the bathroom!”

“Okay! Ahhh!”

Sonoko Suzuki yawned.

Although she was very sleepy, she still decided to accompany Ran Mouri.

“You must be afraid of the Mist Tengu, the old head priest made it sound so terrifying!”

“Yeah, after all, I’m still just a girl.”

“To be honest, compared to the Mist Tengu, the old head priest is the truly terrifying one.”

“That’s true!”

“Ran!”

“What is it?”

“Do you think ghosts really exist?”

“P... probably.”

Ran Mouri squatted in the bathroom.

She thought back once again to the Mist Tengu legend the head priest had spoken of.

It likes to appear in rainy weather and darkness.

It likes to consume souls.

Especially young girls like her and Sonoko.

They are extremely easy to be snatched away.

If ghosts really exist, then maybe my dream can be explained.

Sonoko Suzuki said to herself.

“The dream was so real.”

“Actually, sometimes I wonder too.”

“If Hoshino-kun likes me just as much.”

“Perhaps it’s his longing that has turned everything into a ghost event entangling me.”

“Ran, are you listening?”

Sonoko Suzuki saw that Ran Mouri was no longer replying to her.

So she took the initiative to ask:

“Ran?”

Just as Sonoko Suzuki intended to open the door to check.

“Oh? Is that so?”

Suddenly, a terrifying red dog head appeared from behind Sonoko Suzuki.

Sonoko Suzuki turned her head to look.

“Ahhh!”

A blood-curdling scream.

Sonoko Suzuki was so scared that she retreated a few steps.

She stepped into a gap in the floorboards.

Her shoe got stuck, and she couldn’t maintain her balance.

Her body was swaying incessantly, as if she were about to fall.

So she anxiously tried to grab the window next to her.

But she didn’t expect the window next to her to be open.

She lost her footing and slipped out the window.

“Sonoko!”

Ran Mouri took off her mask.

With quick eyes and fast hands, she rushed over and jumped out the window after Sonoko Suzuki’s fall.

She dove recklessly, reaching out her hand to try and grab Sonoko.

The floor wasn’t very high.

Only two stories.

But Sonoko Suzuki was falling headfirst.

If she didn’t catch her.

The consequences would be unimaginable.

Watching Sonoko Suzuki so close yet impossible to grab.

Ran Mouri closed her eyes in despair.

“Sonoko!”

Just at this moment, when they were about to be separated by life and death.

The two of them fell steadily into someone’s embrace.

“?”

“?”