The room was somewhat quiet. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the expressionless Hamano Toshiya and Tanaka Kikue, who was on the floor clutching her arm and groaning.
"Miss Tanaka—" Ran stepped forward, wanting to help Tanaka Kikue up.
"Don't move!" Hamano Toshiya said coldly. "This woman just tried to strangle me. Look, there's still a cord in her other hand."
Hearing that, everyone looked at Tanaka Kikue's hand. Sure enough, there was a thin cord looped around it.
"Ran, come back first." Kurosawa Hoshino pulled the girl's hand and brought her to his side.
"Why did you try to kill me?" Hamano Toshiya (Vermouth) didn't know what conflict this woman had with this identity, so she asked directly.
"I—I—" Tanaka Kikue's forehead was covered in cold sweat. Enduring the pain in her arm, she forced a bitter smile and lied, "Mr. Hamano, we only met for the first time today. Why would I want to kill you? We have no grudge. I just thought that our magic performance downstairs didn't go well, so I secretly came up to apologize to you. I didn't expect you to have such a temper—just because of my mistake, you broke my arm."
With that, tears streamed down her eyes, making her look pitiful.
For a moment, several of the onlookers believed Tanaka Kikue and glared angrily at Hamano Toshiya.
Hamano Toshiya covered the broken fake skin on her neck with her hand and sneered, "So your apology was to specifically come and strangle me with a cord?"
The people who had just been glaring at her instantly came back to their senses. Right—who brings a cord to apologize? Something was clearly off.
"You forced it into my hand," Tanaka Kikue would never admit it.
Kogoro Mouri and the others exchanged glances, not knowing who to believe. But they weren't without options—they all turned to look at Kurosawa Hoshino.
"Kid, what do you say?" Kogoro Mouri asked.
Conan actually believed Hamano Toshiya more. Tanaka Kikue being in the other's room was abnormal, and she had a cord in her hand. But now both sides had their own stories, and neither had decisive evidence, so it was a stalemate. The only reason Hamano Toshiya (Vermouth) didn't dare show her neck to everyone was fear of exposing herself—otherwise, Tanaka Kikue's excuses would be useless.
"Kurosawa-kun." Kuroda Naoko and the other outsiders looked at Kurosawa Hoshino expectantly, waiting for his deduction.
"Miss Tanaka is right about one thing," Kurosawa Hoshino spoke under everyone's gaze. "You all met for the first time today. She has no reason to kill."
Tanaka Kikue felt a surge of joy—with the famous high school detective speaking for her, she was definitely safe.
But Vermouth felt a sudden irritation. She thought unhappily, I don't believe he can't tell this woman is lying! Is he holding a grudge because I squeezed his butt in this identity? Is he really that petty?
However, Kurosawa Hoshino's next words finally put Vermouth at ease.
"Then let me ask—have you ever argued in the chat group? Or has Mr. Hamano ever said bad things about anyone?"
"Well—" Kuroda Naoko thought for a moment and said, "There have been arguments and badmouthing. Most recently, Mr. Hamano and the Escape King, who didn't come, said bad things about an old magician."
"Who was it?"
"Mr. Harui Hōden."
"I remember." Ran immediately triggered her passive "I know a little about every celebrity." "The newspapers reported before that he died in an accident while performing an escape trick."
"I see." Kurosawa Hoshino nodded and looked at Tanaka Kikue. "Miss Tanaka, do you have any connection to Mr. Harui Hōden? I hope you won't lie, because I'll be calling the Metropolitan Police Department to ask."
Tanaka Kikue smiled bitterly, slowly stood up clutching her arm, and looked at Kurosawa Hoshino with complicated eyes. She said quietly, "Kurosawa-kun, actually, when I found out you were here too, I didn't want to go through with it. But the gathering is only for one day—who knows when the next one will be. I couldn't wait that long, so I had to kill Hamano Toshiya to vent my anger for my grandfather. Harui Hōden was my grandfather. Hamano Toshiya and the Escape King showed no respect for a dead man. I will not let them off no matter what."
"So the Escape King didn't come because you killed him?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked.
"Correct." Tanaka Kikue nodded, then glared viciously at Hamano Toshiya. "You're lucky. I should have used a knife when I made my move."
Hamano Toshiya (Vermouth) kept her face blank, thinking of the real Hamano Toshiya still locked in the wine cellar. She figured the guy had really escaped a disaster because of her—the luckiest of lucky breaks.
Just then—
"Something's wrong! Mr. Hamano has been tied up in the wine cellar!"
"Huh?"
Everyone except Kurosawa Hoshino was dumbfounded—including Kaito Kuroba in his Dojima Katsuki disguise. They all stared wide-eyed at Hamano Toshiya, who was standing there perfectly calm.
The voice from downstairs continued. "Excuse me, is Mr. Hamano upstairs?"
"Hiss~" A chorus of sharp intakes of breath. Now Ran and the others were finally sure they hadn't misheard—there really were two Hamano Toshiyas.
"You're not Mr. Hamano?" Tanaka Kikue stared at Hamano Toshiya, feeling both grief and bitterness. She had the worst luck—she'd attacked someone in disguise. She figured that if it had been the real Hamano Toshiya, he would have been strangled to death just now.
Conan silently raised his anesthetic watch. Kogoro Mouri also stood in front of everyone.
"I—" Hamano Toshiya drew out the word and looked at Dojima Katsuki. "You're asking who I am? Why don't you ask who he is? If I'm not mistaken, this chubby guy is also in disguise. That's not his real appearance."
"What the hell?" Sonoko happened to be standing near Dojima Katsuki and jumped in fright, hiding behind Kurosawa Hoshino. She stared at everyone and said, "Are all of you in disguise?"
Ran also stepped back two paces and said quietly, "Sonoko, what kind of gathering did you join? This is ridiculous."
"I don't know either." Sonoko rubbed her brow helplessly.
"Hey, hey, hey, how am I not myself? Don't believe him." Dojima Katsuki tried to argue, but after speaking, he saw everyone still looking at him warily. He sighed helplessly and glared at Hamano Toshiya in annoyance.