Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

Only Longye and his two companions remained in the room.

Yui Torada sat at the table with a troubled expression and her brows furrowed.

Seeing this, Xiaolan and He Ye immediately changed the subject:

"Miss Yui, could you tell us about Mr. Kai?"

"Yes, to earn the respect and love of the entire village, he must be an outstanding police officer!"

Upon hearing this, Yui Torada's previously somber lips curved into a small smile: "Mr. Kai... he's a very kind police officer~ He often helps everyone in the village..."

Seeing that Miss Yui was a little more energetic, Ran and Kazuha exchanged a subtle glance, their eyes filled with smiles.

After chatting for a while, Torada Yui said goodbye to Tatsuno and the others, citing other matters.

After Miss Yui left, Ran and Kazuha sighed.

Ms. Yui had only been married for a few months when her husband lost his life in a tornado.

That's bad enough, but because "dead centipedes" appeared in both cases, she has now become one of the suspects.

……

Evening

As the rain intensified, Kogoro Mouri and his two companions were "trapped" at the Ryuo family's house and decided to stay there for the night, while Ryuno and his two companions planned to stay at the Torada family's house.

After dinner, everyone prepared to rest.

At this moment, in Ran and Kazuha's bedroom.

After chatting about some topics typical of girls, Ran looked at Kazuha's face, opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything.

Noticing Ran's "abnormality," Kazuha smiled and asked, "Ran, is there something you want to say?"

"Hmm...but..." Xiaolan frowned, hesitating.

"It's okay, Ran. Just say what you want to say! Don't worry about it." Kazuha waved her hand casually.

Seeing the sincerity in Kazuha's eyes, Ran hesitated for a long time before finally asking, "Kazuha, something must have happened between you and Hattori Heiji, right?"

Ran remembers that when she first met Kazuha, Kazuha's eyes were always on Hattori Heiji.

She could always hear about Hattori Heiji from Kazuha.

However, later on, whether in person or in conversations over the phone, the frequency with which Kazuha mentioned "Hattori" seemed to decrease.

Today, although Kazuha still appeared with Hattori, she always felt that there was a "barrier" between the two of them.

Kazuha sighed, then turned to look at the ceiling, saying seriously, "You found out after all, Ran. I was planning to tell you later..."

"As you saw today, Hattori cares more about Conan and your Tatsuno than about me."

“Huh? But…” Xiaolan frowned.

"Did you notice the way Hattori looked at Conan and Tatsuno? That joy, anticipation, and excitement—he's never looked at me like that before," Kazuha said self-deprecatingly.

Xiaolan covered her mouth, blinked rapidly a few times, and didn't say anything.

Kazuha continued, "I gradually realized that the reason I had feelings for him before was simply because we were childhood friends. Our parents worked together, so it was inevitable that we would have some interactions."

"To be honest, Hattori's feelings for me are probably more like 'habit' than love."

"Moreover, he values ​​cases and reasoning more than romantic relationships. This is his personality, and also his constraint."

"He's destined to become a great detective or police officer. But he'll have a hard time being the 'right person' for any girl..."

Hearing this, Xiaolan silently looked at He Ye, her eyes filled with worry and loneliness.

Noticing that she had made the atmosphere a little heavy, Kazuha shook her head: "Haha, don't worry, Ran. Even though we can't be lovers, Hattori and I are still friends!"

"You should worry more about Conan and Tatsuno than me! Who knows, Hattori might actually do something to them one day~" Kazuha said with a squinty smile.

Xiaolan: "Σ(っ°Д °;)っ"

Kazuha: "=￣ω￣="

Although she was a little surprised, Ran felt relieved to see that Kazuha could still joke with her.

The next second, the two looked at each other and smiled.

……

same moment

Inside the room where the Torada family keeps their armor.

A small black man dressed in samurai armor was among them, using his hands to tie something to his helmet.

Just then, a slightly lazy voice came from behind Xiao Hei:

"Miss Yui, what are you trying to do by tying those plastic ropes to your helmet?"

Upon hearing the voice, Miss Yui, clad in armor, immediately turned around, her eyes wide as she stared behind her: "Y-you are..."

"Don't worry, I can roughly guess what you're planning to do, Officer Yui. But it's getting late, so let's keep our voices down~" Ryūno put a finger to his lips and said softly.

Upon hearing the word "police officer," Ms. Yui frowned, then subconsciously placed her hand on the hilt of her knife. She then withdrew her hand, looked at Ryūno, and sighed.

"It's getting late, so don't wear this armor to scare people. Xiaolan and the others are probably almost asleep." Longye blinked.

Before Yui could speak, Ryuno continued, "Don't worry, tomorrow morning I'll say I saw a samurai wearing red armor~"

"Anyway, you're doing this to extract information from someone, right?"

After saying that, Longye waved his hand, yawned, and turned to leave the room.

At this moment, Miss Yui spoke up and asked, "Wait, what...what's your name?"

"Ah? Oh, right~ I didn't introduce myself when we met before... My name is Takeda Tatsuno, and my name is Uehara Yui, the police officer~"

“Tatsuno Takeda…Tatsuno Takeda…Interesting~” Miss Yui glanced down at the helmet in her hand, her eyes gleaming.

"..."

next morning

The group was having breakfast in the restaurant.

Ryūno told everyone that he had seen a samurai in armor outside the house during the thunderstorm the night before.

Apart from Xiaolan and He Ye, everyone else was somewhat indifferent.

After breakfast, everyone left the restaurant.

Just then, Kogoro Mouri and his friends returned with Ryūo Kei's wife, 'Ryūo Ayaka'.

Upon hearing about the "armor," they immediately surrounded Longye and inquired about the details of what had happened.

Upon hearing that the helmet and armor Ryūno had seen featured a head of thick hair, Hattori Heiji immediately frowned and said, "Isn't that Takeda Shingen's Suwa Hōshō's helmet?!"

Kogoro Mouri continued, "When you think of Takeda Shingen, you think of red armor..."

At that moment, Ryūki Ayaka, who was behind everyone, suddenly clutched her head and screamed in terror.

The next moment, she turned around, ran into the toilet, and locked herself inside.

Ayaka Ryūki's strange behavior made Heiji Hattori and Conan frown.

Chapter 318 Only One Person's Footprint

Why is Miss Ayaka's reaction so strange?

Helmet, Takeda Shingen's armor, red armor...

What keyword triggered her to have such an exaggerated reaction?

Soon after, the entire Torada family gathered in front of the toilet.

The group knocked on the door while calling out Ayaka Ryūo's name.

But inside the restroom, Ayaka Ryuu only responded with screams and refused to open the door.

The group remained in a stalemate in front of the restroom for about ten minutes.

Left with no other option, the head of the family, Torada Naonobu, had to call the Ryuo family and tell them that Ryuo Ayaka had been hiding in the toilet ever since she heard the word "armor."

Although they didn't understand what had happened, the Ryuo family rushed to the Torada family's house after hanging up the phone.

During this time, Ryūki Ayaka, who was in the restroom, suddenly spoke up and asked everyone to leave, saying that she wanted to be alone for a while.

Upon hearing this, everyone had no choice but to grant her request and leave for the time being.

ten minutes later

The Ryuo family also drove to the Torada family's house.

The crowd gathered again in front of the toilet.

Linghua's husband, Longwei Jing, knocked on the door a few times and said, "Linghua, no matter what happened, come out first."

"..."

Hearing no response from inside the restroom, Ryuuji Kage knocked on the door a few more times, trying to calm Ayaka down.

But there was no movement inside the toilet.

Ryūki's expression gradually became somewhat flustered; he was afraid that Ayaka might do something "bad" in the restroom.

Everyone present became somewhat nervous.

At this moment, Torada Tatsuei spoke up, "Why don't we open the door and take a look? I've already brought the key."

After hesitating for a few seconds, Ryuuji reached out and took the key, preparing to force the door open.

Just as he inserted the key into the doorknob and turned it, he suddenly paused: "Wait, this feels... the door isn't locked?"

Realizing this, Ryuuji took out the key and, under everyone's watchful eyes, turned the knob to open the door.

Everyone was surprised when they saw the scene inside the toilet.

Because—there was no one in the toilet.

Upon seeing this, Ryuuji's grandmother, Ryuuji Morita, immediately pointed at the toilet and shouted, "What's going on? Where is our daughter-in-law? Why is no one in the toilet?!"

Seeing this, Hattori Heiji and Mori Kogoro immediately explained:

"She just told us to leave first, saying she wanted to be alone to calm down. That's when she came out."