Maruo Junji slowly turned his head, watching everyone else look behind him in terror.
The tall skeleton monster came straight to him and stopped.
The skull lowered slightly, and its glowing red eye sockets gazed at Maruo Junji, as two overlapping, mournful female voices spoke.
"Why... did you kill me...?"
"I'm in so much pain..."
"Give me back my life..."
"Come down... and join me..."
Maruo Junji, with a guilty conscience, was already highly strung.
Now, in such a spooky environment, witnessing this supernatural horror with his own eyes, his mind completely collapsed.
"Ah ah ah ah ah —!!! Ghost! A ghost!!! Don't come near me! It wasn't me! I didn't kill you!!!"
"I didn't mean to! I just wanted to rob you, you just ran into my knife!"
Maruo Junji let out a piercing scream, scrambling backward on all fours, having completely lost his sanity.
In his panic, his foot missed a step, and he tumbled, falling directly down the staircase.
After a series of thuds and a brief groan, silence fell downstairs, Maruo Junji seemed to have passed out.
The tall skeleton monster slowly turned around, its terrifying skull looking at the Detective Boys and the two influencers, who were huddled in the corner, scared out of their wits.
"Kyaaaahhh!!!" Ayumi let out an even higher-pitched scream than before, burying her face directly into Haibara's arms.
Genta and Mitsuhiko clung to each other, their teeth chattering, unable to make a sound.
Sadao and Toshiko, meanwhile, rolled their eyes and promptly fainted again.
Even Conan and Haibara felt their scalps tingle, completely at a loss.
But just then, perhaps due to the sudden turning motion, the ties of the skeleton monster's cloak seemed to loosen.
The entire huge skull mask suddenly wobbled, then fell to the ground with a thud, rolling away.
After the skull fell, what was revealed at the top of the cloak was not a bloody neck, but a small raccoon dog wearing a hat.
Conan immediately recognized the raccoon dog as Ukinami Yuzuha's pet, Kama, whom he had seen before.
At the same time, a cheerful voice came from inside the cloak, with a hint of complaint. "Oh, it fell off? I told you this mask was too heavy!"
Immediately following, the giant black cloak completely slid down, revealing the true identities inside.
At the very bottom, blonde Alice was struggling to carry Ukinami Yuzuha, and on top of Ukinami Yuzuha's head stood the tiptoeing raccoon dog, Kama.
Their almost three-meter height was actually a human pyramid disguise.
The terrifying skull was just a well-made prop mask.
"It's... it's you?!" Conan's eyes widened as he recognized them, they were also Rin's friends.
Alice greeted him politely, her waist display showing a happy expression. "Little brother Conan, were you scared just now?"
After speaking, Alice squatted down, setting Ukinami Yuzuha off her shoulders, her face beaming with a sense of accomplishment.
"Yuzuha, we succeeded! I did pretty well this time, didn't I?"
Ukinami Yuzuha reached out and stroked Alice's head, then put her hands on her hips and said.
"Hmm, well done. The timing and atmosphere were handled quite well. However, compared to me, you still have a long way to go."
Kama adjusted his hat with his small paws, stretched his neck, and struck a proud pose, as if to say, "It was mostly me."
The members of the Detective Boys recovered from their fear, looking at the two beautiful older sisters in front of them, and especially after learning they were people Conan knew, they relaxed even more.
"So amazing!" Ayumi's eyes sparkled as she looked at Ukinami Yuzuha and Alice. "Was that giant skeleton monster actually you guys in disguise? It was so realistic!"
"Yeah, yeah! It was just like the real thing!" Mitsuhiko also nodded repeatedly. "I really thought we'd encountered a ghost."
Conan, however, asked in confusion. "Yuzuha-neechan, why are you here?"
Ukinami Yuzuha smiled, pointing at the still unconscious Sadao and Toshiko,
"We are paranormal exploration bloggers from the 'Kaidanya' guild, and you could say we're colleagues with those two lying there. We heard rumors of hauntings here and specifically came to gather material."
Conan nodded, deciding to look up videos filmed by Kaidanya online later.
Genta looked at Sadao and Toshiko, who were still unconscious on the ground, and spread his hands helplessly. "Honestly, those two are so timid, why are they even paranormal bloggers? We kids are braver than them."
Not long after, the distant sound of police sirens could be heard.
It was a viewer from Toshiko's live stream who had called the police.
Inspector Megure arrived at the scene with his team.
They quickly apprehended the unconscious Maruo Junji and found stolen goods, the knife used in the crime, and other evidence in his hideout, Room 304 on the third floor.
Sadao and Toshiko were also woken up by the police. Both were severely reprimanded by Inspector Megure for trespassing on private property and disturbing the peace with their prank, and ordered to delete all related videos.
Their live streaming accounts were also temporarily suspended by the platform.
As for Ukinami Yuzuha and Alice, since they weren't live streaming and even helped catch the fugitive, they were only asked not to upload related videos and to cooperate with giving their statements.
Officer Takagi looked at the Detective Boys, who were always getting involved in cases, feeling both worried and annoyed.
He squatted down and earnestly gave them a safety lecture.
"You kids! This time it was really too dangerous! How could you come to a place like this at night?
And you even encountered a real wanted criminal! Next time, you absolutely must not do such dangerous things again, do you hear me? You must tell an adult, or call the police directly!"
The children, knowing they were in the wrong, obediently nodded and agreed. "We know, Officer Takagi..."
"Alright, it's very late. I'll take you home." Officer Takagi sighed and called the children to get into the patrol car.
On the other side, Sadao and Toshiko, looking dejected after being reprimanded, also sadly packed up their equipment, preparing to leave the place that had caused them such embarrassment.
Officer Takagi's patrol car started, its headlights came on, and it slowly drove away from the abandoned hospital.
Just as the patrol car turned, and its headlights swept across the hospital's mottled exterior wall, a magical scene occurred—
Under the light, the shadows of Sadao and Toshiko cast on the wall were stretched long.
But next to their normal shadows, a shark tail shadow, slowly swaying, suddenly appeared.
Sadao and Toshiko immediately widened their eyes, looking towards the source of the shadow.
There was nothing there, completely empty.
"Did you just see the shadow of a shark's tail?" Sadao asked in a low voice.
Toshiko nodded.
After exchanging a look, both swallowed simultaneously, then let out a loud scream: "Ah ah ah ah ah—"
"Officer, please take us home too!"