Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Yukiko followed closely behind the security guard, hurrying through the dark mall corridors as she tried to recall the route she had taken during the day.

"I remember it very clearly. After entering the mall, I first looked at earrings in the jewelry section on the first floor. I tried on two pairs of pearl earrings, but then I felt they weren't quite right, so I put them down."

"Then I went to the men's clothing section on the second floor to look around, thinking of buying an outfit for Xiuyi."

"After that, I went up to the third floor to look at the bags section for a while, wanting to choose a handbag to match my dress, but I didn't find one I liked, so I went to the fourth floor and tried on a few dresses there..."

She paused, her eyes suddenly brightening as if she had remembered a crucial detail.
"The necklace was most likely lost in the fitting room of the women's clothing section on the fourth floor!"

"When I was trying on the clothes, I thought I heard a soft 'click' sound, but I was so focused on changing that I didn't pay attention. Now that I think about it, it must have been my necklace that fell off!"

As she spoke, she backtracked along the route she remembered, her eyes fixed on the ground, afraid of missing any clue.

The security guard's flashlight beam swung back and forth on the ground, but he couldn't see any trace of the pearl necklace.

Yukiko's anxiety grew heavier and heavier.

She didn't notice that the security guard next to her was glancing around every now and then, as if checking something.

Unbeknownst to her, several figures were secretly observing her every move from a distance.

As I walked up to the fourth floor, it was pitch black all around because the lights were off. Only the emergency exit indicator light emitted a faint green glow, casting long shadows of the shelves and mannequins, making it look particularly eerie.

Yukiko couldn't find the women's clothing fitting rooms, so she had to turn to the security guard for help.

The security guard hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

But as she walked, Yukiko suddenly realized something was wrong.

According to her memory from the daytime, the fitting room should be in the corner on the east side of the fourth floor, but the security guard led her to the west side, in the completely opposite direction.

She immediately stopped and asked in confusion, "Sir, are you going the wrong way? The fitting rooms don't seem to be this way, do they?"

A flicker of panic crossed the security guard's eyes, and he quickly offered an explanation.

"Sorry, I'm new here and not very familiar with the layout of the building yet. I might have gone the wrong way. Don't worry, we'll keep looking, we'll find it eventually."

Yukiko, focused solely on finding the necklace, didn't think much of it, assuming it was just that the new security guard was inexperienced.

She remembered that the fitting room was near the wall, so she felt her way along the wall and soon found the fitting room in the east corner.

As Yukiko pushed open the door, her heart sank instantly.

The fitting room was neatly arranged, with clean spare aprons folded on the chairs and the floor spotless. It was clear that the mall had been cleaned by the staff before closing time, and there was no trace of the pearl necklace.

Thinking that she hadn't seen the necklace along the way, Yukiko's eyes gradually reddened, but she forced herself to calm down.

Perhaps the necklace was found by another customer or employee and handed over to the mall for safekeeping?
This was her last hope.

Thinking of this, Yukiko turned to the security guard beside her, her tone pleading.

"Could you contact your supervisor? Could you ask if anyone found a pearl necklace and handed it in to the mall?" The security guard looked troubled and hesitated before replying, "It's so late now, the supervisor has long since left work, and you probably can't get through on the phone..."

"I don't want it back right now!" Yukiko said hurriedly. "As long as I can confirm that the necklace is in the mall and hasn't been lost, I'll come to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning. Could you please ask around for me?"

Unable to resist her pleading, the security guard could only nod helplessly: "Alright, I'll go make a call. You wait here."

After saying that, without waiting for Yukiko's reply, he turned and walked away quickly, the beam of his flashlight disappearing into the darkness.

After the security guard left, Yukiko stood in the empty fitting room, looking at the dark surroundings, and a sense of unease suddenly rose in her heart, as if something was not right.

If a security guard needs to make a phone call, he should go to the duty room.

The duty room of the department store is clearly on the first floor. Even if he wanted to make a phone call, he should have taken himself to the first floor first and then gone to the duty room.

How could anyone leave her alone on the fourth floor while he went to make a phone call by himself?

The clouds of doubt in her heart grew heavier and heavier, and only then did Yukiko belatedly recall the various points of suspicion she had raised earlier:
The security guard could have opened the main gate to let her in, but instead he opened the narrow window.

He claimed to be new and unfamiliar with the layout of the fourth floor, but he didn't even know the basic location of the women's clothing fitting room. He didn't seem like a qualified security guard at all.

……

"Perhaps I'm overthinking it?"

Yukiko reached out and gently patted her cheeks, trying to dispel the unease in her heart.

"There aren't that many bad people in this world. Maybe he's just really unfamiliar with the business and was in a hurry to make the call for me..."

Even so, just to be on the safe side, Yukiko quietly left the fitting room and tiptoed into the stairwell in the direction the security guard had just left.

As soon as she reached the third floor, she heard hushed voices coming from downstairs, one of which belonged to the security guard from earlier.

"What's going on?" a rough, hoarse male voice demanded with displeasure. "Why did you let that girl in?"

"Boss, you don't know, that girl said she lost a pearl necklace worth tens of millions of yen in a shopping mall!"

The security guard's voice carried a hint of excitement.

“We’ve only stolen clothes and bags before, which aren’t worth much. Besides, when these department stores close at night, valuables are either locked in safes or put in locked cabinets, so we can’t get them at all.”

He paused, his tone becoming more urgent.
"If we can find that necklace, this trip will be worth it! It'll be better than stealing ten times over!"

"Nonsense!" the thief leader roared. "Even if you're looking for the necklace, you shouldn't have let her in! Can't we find it ourselves? What if she discovers our identities if we let her in?"

“Boss,” the security guard immediately retorted, “there are plenty of necklaces in the mall, lots of cheap ones. If we don’t let her in, how will we know which one she lost? She knows necklaces best. Letting her help us find it is much better than us searching blindly!”

"But she's already seen your face!" the leader said, even angrier. "Aren't you afraid she'll call the police tomorrow and tell them what you look like?"

"Don't worry, boss!" the security guard assured him nonchalantly. "It's so dark in the mall. When I was holding the flashlight, I deliberately didn't shine it in my face and kept avoiding her gaze. There's no way she could see what I look like! Even if she calls the police, she won't be able to describe what I look like!" (End of Chapter)