Bang—
A cold, gleaming kitchen knife, whistling through the air, grazed the scalps of the three Detective Boys members and slammed into the wooden board at the bottom of the bed.
"Ahhh—!" Ayumi screamed, her eyes tightly shut in fear.
Her scream completely exposed their presence.
Genta and Mitsuhiko were pale, their minds blank, believing they would be struck down the next second.
However, the anticipated sharp pain never came.
They only heard a clatter as Tanaka Tomofumi's kitchen knife fell to the floor.
Trembling, the three cautiously peeked through the gaps in the bedsheet.
They saw that Tanaka Tomofumi, who had just been ferocious and ready to strike with the knife, was now kneeling limply on the ground, tears streaming down his face.
What was going on? Had the killer had a change of heart?
The three Detective Boys members exchanged glances, utterly surprised.
They continued to watch.
Tanaka Tomofumi's face was pale, and he looked terrified as he stared at the desk.
"Bro…brother…how did…how did you stand up?! Aren't you dead? No! Don't come over…you…don't…don't come over!!"
His lips trembled, his teeth chattering, and his voice was filled with horror.
Brother?
The three Detective Boys members froze, a question forming in their minds simultaneously.
Wasn't his brother already dead? Lying in front of the desk, who was he talking to?
Driven by intense curiosity, they cautiously turned their heads and looked out through the gaps on the other side of the bedsheet.
They were not prepared for what they saw, and it terrified them.
The corpse of Tanaka Kazuyoshi, who should have been lying motionless on the ground, had actually stood up!
Although they couldn't see clearly from under the bed, only half of his body, it was an undeniable fact that he had moved.
Rustle—
Tanaka Kazuyoshi's body was stiff, and his steps were very slow and dragging.
He was slowly, step by step, approaching his brother, Tanaka Tomofumi, who was kneeling on the ground, trembling.
Watching those lifeless feet move across the floor,
the Detective Boys simultaneously swallowed, shocked.
"How is this possible?!"
Mitsuhiko, his face filled with fear, whispered to his companions.
"He…he clearly had no breath or pulse just now! Could it be…could it be a coma from feigned death? And now he's woken up?"
He tried to use scientific knowledge to explain this incredible scene, but even he couldn't convince himself with this explanation.
"No…" Ayumi's voice was tearful as she denied it,
"We checked before…he had no body temperature at all, how could he still be alive?!
Could it be that this uncle died such an unjust death that he turned into a ghost and came back for revenge?"
Ayumi's guess sent chills down Genta and Mitsuhiko's spines, and they huddled together, trembling.
At this moment, Tanaka Tomofumi, who was kneeling on the ground, clearly had the same thought.
Watching his brother steadily approach, fear completely broke his psychological defenses, causing him to have a mental breakdown.
"Brother, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose! I really didn't do it on purpose!"
Tanaka Tomofumi wept uncontrollably, beginning to babble incoherently.
"You know, I always admired you so much. You used to be so excellent, you were my idol! I wanted to learn everything from you…I hoped to become just like you…"
His voice was filled with pain:
"But you changed later! You became idle all day, no longer the brother I remembered! Like a parasite, living off me in my house for free!
That was bad enough…but you even discovered my improper stock trading at the company…and you actually used that to threaten me! To demand money from me!"
Tanaka Tomofumi's emotions became agitated, and he covered his face with his hands:
"I can't let you ruin me! I worked so hard to have the life I have today! I…I was momentarily confused…Brother…forgive me…I really didn't mean to…"
Watching his brother get closer and closer, his tearful pleas became incoherent.
Finally, under the pressure of fear, Tanaka Tomofumi's eyes rolled back, and with a gasp, he completely fainted, collapsing to the ground motionless.
The Detective Boys under the bed exchanged glances.
"Every wrong has its source, every debt is owned. If this uncle is a ghost, he shouldn't bother us, right?"
Genta's voice trembled, and he quietly shrank back, shielding Mitsuhiko in front of him.
Mitsuhiko recalled scenes from horror movies and replied with little confidence.
"I seem to remember that in horror movies, ghosts are always helpless against bad people and tend to take their anger out on good people."
Ayumi burst into tears.
"No! My life has just begun, please, Uncle Ghost, spare us."
The three little Detective Boys huddled together.
But Tanaka Kazuyoshi's ghost seemed to have no intention of letting them go.
After scaring his brother unconscious, he did not stop but slowly turned around and began to walk towards the bed where they were hiding.
"Shh…shh…"
Those slow footsteps filled the three children with immense fear.
"He…he's coming!" Genta's voice was tearful.
"Why? We were just trying to help him…" Ayumi cried, tears streaming down her face.
Mitsuhiko, in a flash of inspiration, shouted, "Close your eyes! I heard that ghosts can't directly harm people, but instead create illusions to make people feel fear, causing them to hurt themselves. As long as we close our eyes, the ghost won't be able to harm us!"
Genta and Ayumi, completely flustered, didn't think much and quickly closed their eyes.
"Shh…shh…"
The footsteps stopped abruptly, no longer approaching.
Mitsuhiko, his eyes tightly shut, said excitedly, "It's working! Just a little longer."
Ten minutes later.
In the quiet atmosphere, Genta spoke, "Are we safe now? Mitsuhiko, open your eyes and look."
"No! Genta, didn't you say you were the bravest? You look for us." Mitsuhiko urged Genta.
But Genta absolutely refused to open his eyes first.
Having no choice, the three discussed and decided to count to three and open their eyes together.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
The three opened their eyes simultaneously.
As they opened their eyes,
Tanaka Kazuyoshi's corpse, which had been standing still, suddenly fell down.
Thud!
Tanaka Kazuyoshi's pale, swollen, and terrifying face, with eyes wide open in death, directly met the gaze of the three children under the bed.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh—!!!!"
The three Detective Boys let out heart-wrenching screams.
Just then, Qingyi, who had accidentally left something at Tanaka's house, happened to be nearby in her police car.
Upon hearing the children's screams, she rushed into Tanaka's house immediately and calmed them down.
After his brother, Tanaka Tomofumi, regained consciousness, he confessed to the crime, only asking to be sent to prison quickly.
With Conan not present, the Beika Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's performance increased by one today.