Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

"Alright, alright~ Sonoko, aren't you looking forward to it too? Besides, wasn't it you who first suggested that we get up to watch the sunrise?" Ran chuckled.

Sonoko sighed helplessly, "I already regret it. I don't even know why I wanted to see the sunrise in the first place..."

Just as Sonoko was complaining to Ran, Conan quietly walked up to Tatsuno's side.

“Takeda, I thought about it carefully last night, but there’s one thing I still don’t understand.”

"Putting aside who the murderer is, why does Mr. Glacier insist on choosing sparsely populated lakesides and snowfields?"

"If this is the prisoner's request, wouldn't he find it strange? There's a road that leads directly to the cabin in the mountains..."

Ryūno glanced at Conan's panda eyes and chuckled, "So that's why you didn't sleep well, hence the dark circles!"

"Sigh...you noticed it too?" Conan rubbed his eyes. "Actually, it's because that old man's snoring was just so..."

At this point, Conan seemed to hear Kogoro Mouri snoring again in his mind last night, and he immediately covered his ears and shook his head.

Seeing Conan's expression, Ryuno smiled and nodded.

He had originally planned to stay with Kogoro Mouri, Conan, and the others, but luckily he felt it was too crowded and booked a different room.

Uncle Mori has been drinking every night for the past two days, so it's no surprise that he snores.

“Takeda, I think there is a strong possibility that there is a connection between Mr. Hikawa’s murder and the bombing.”

Longye nodded and said, "Perhaps. What we can be sure of now is that the criminal is not planning to stop. Otherwise, he wouldn't have specifically taken Mr. Hikawa's stun gun."

……

After walking for a while, Mitsuhiko in the group suddenly spotted a figure not far away. "Isn't that Touma?"

Everyone followed Mitsuhiko's gaze.

Sure enough, Touma was kneeling in front of a snowdrift not far away.

After confirming it was Touma, Mitsuhiko and his two friends immediately ran forward, and the others followed.

Everyone was very curious, since it was only a little past five in the morning, and Touma, who had only woken up yesterday, was here so early.

Upon closer inspection, the group noticed a thick wooden stick standing on a snowdrift in front of Touma.

The inscription on it clearly reads: 'Little Black's Tomb'.

Upon seeing these words, Sonoko realized something and frowned, saying, "Isn't Kuro the neighbor's dog that found Touma eight years ago...?"

Faintly, everyone heard Touma's slightly pained murmur: "Why... is Kuro really dead...?"

Just as everyone was about to comfort Touma, Tachihara Fuyumi suddenly ran anxiously from a distance.

"Touma! What are you doing in a place like this? Why didn't you tell me you were coming out?!"

Before anyone could calm the agitated Tachihara Fuyumi down, Toma roared, "Why did I become like this! I really don't understand... All my friends have become people I don't recognize, and Kuro is dead... I really don't know what to do!"

Upon hearing this, Fuyumi Tachihara sighed and sadly embraced the grieving Touma.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Although his body is 15 years old, his mind is still 7 years old..." Dr. Agasa sighed.

"Yes, he probably has a hard time understanding what happened..."

"..."

As everyone silently watched Dongma weep, the sun slowly rose.

Both the ground and the sky were sparkling and dazzling.

"Look, even the snow in the sky is glowing!" Ayumi exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the sky.

"This isn't snow, it's a phenomenon called 'diamond dust'!" Professor Agasa chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Genta's expression turned excited. "Diamonds? Does that mean treasures will fall from the sky?!"

"No, it refers to the phenomenon where water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into tiny ice crystals due to low temperatures," Conan said with a smile, shaking his head.

After hearing Conan's explanation, Sonoko asked in surprise, "Oh? I always thought so. You little brat, you know quite a lot."

Noticing Sonoko's gaze, Conan immediately pointed to Ryūno beside him and gave a fake laugh, "Haha, that's what Ryūno-nii told me this morning~"

Ryūno glanced at Conan speechlessly, then placed his hand on Conan's head and patted him a few times. "Yeah, that's right. I didn't expect Conan to remember all of that~"

Conan: "..."

Although Ryūno seemed to be using no force, Conan felt a vibration in his head, a pain that came from the inside out.

At that moment, Mitsuhiko and the other two walked up to Touma, who was crying with her eyes closed, and said, "Come on, Touma, take a look too, she's really beautiful!"

Upon hearing this, Touma opened his eyes and looked up at the beautiful sky.

As the first rays of sunlight illuminated the sky, the earth, and the snow-capped mountains, they seemed to be divided into three magnificent colors.

Just then, Touma looked at the twinkling lights in the sky, suddenly clenched his fists, clutched his head in pain, and knelt down on the ground.

Seeing this, Tachihara Fuyumi immediately stepped forward, "What's wrong, Fuyuma?! Are you alright?!"

"What's going on? I think I've seen this kind of light before... but I can't remember..."

After hearing Touma's painful mutterings to himself, everyone present thought that he was probably about to regain his memories of the time before he fell off the cliff.

After a while, Touma's headache finally stopped.

After confirming that Touma was alright, Tatsuno and the others said goodbye to Tachihara Fuyumi and prepared to return to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.

Aside from watching the sunrise, there were no other group activities for everyone today.

Therefore, after breakfast, everyone went their separate ways to do what they wanted to do.

Sonoko pulled Ran back to her room to take a nap.

Just as Ryūno was thinking about whether he should go back to his room for a nap, Conan walked up to him on his own initiative.

"Takeda..."

Before Conan could finish speaking, Ryuno interrupted, "Alright, that's enough. I can already guess what you're going to say. Do you think Touma might be involved in 'this matter' in some way?"

Conan nodded. "That's right, you thought so too! I believe the memory that Touma can't remember is the memory of the time before he fell off the cliff eight years ago."

"Perhaps Touma's amnesia isn't solely due to the shock he suffered when he fell off the cliff..."

Longye glanced outside the hotel and nodded.

As expected of Conan, even without evidence, this kid's intuition is ridiculously accurate.

Chapter 383 Detective and Criminal as One?

After stating his guess, Conan looked up at Ryūno.

After confirming that Tatsuno was still alive, Conan continued, "The fact that Touma had such a strong reaction when he saw the Diamond Dust suggests that he may have seen a similar scene on the day of the incident 8 years ago."

“But I just checked, and it was a cloudy day eight years ago, and it started snowing before dawn. So it’s impossible for the ‘diamond dust’ phenomenon to occur.”

"What exactly did he see at that moment...?"

Thinking about this, Conan looked down at the ground again and began to ponder.

Just then, Professor Agasa, who had just finished making a phone call home, walked over to the two of them. "Tatsuno, Shinichi, have you seen those kids? They disappeared right after they finished eating."

"They seemed to have said something like 'going to visit Touma,' so they probably went out with Touma," Conan said, waving his hand.

"Really? Then I'll go soak in the hot springs, which I haven't done in a long time~ If you need anything, come find me there~" Professor Agasa smiled and touched his head.

After saying goodbye to Professor Agasa, Conan suddenly remembered something and looked up, saying, "Takeda! I need your help with something. I'd like to go see Mr. Kitagawa's room!"

After hearing Conan's request, a smile appeared on Ryuno's lips.

How could he not understand what Conan meant?

When Conan says "help," he really means asking him to "open the door."

In order to solve the case, this guy actually broke into the 'victim's' room, which had been temporarily sealed off by the police.

To put it bluntly, this practice is actually a crime.

Ryūno felt that Conan must have some kind of protection.

Otherwise, even if Conan were a child now, he would probably have been locked up long ago for this kind of behavior.

……

Shortly after, in front of Mr. Kitagawa's room.

As soon as Tatsuno opened the door, Conan rushed into the room.

To avoid leaving his fingerprints and shoe prints in the room, Conan even wore gloves and took off his sneakers.

He didn't look like a detective at all; he looked more like a skilled criminal.

After a while, Conan tiptoed out of the room.

After the two returned to the hotel lobby, Conan took out his phone and showed the photos he had just taken to Tatsuno.

The photo shows the news article containing information about 'Yamao Keisuke' that Mr. Kitagawa previously presented to everyone.

The next second, Conan swiped his finger across the screen, revealing the back of the 'note'.

“Takeda, do you remember the piece of paper that Mr. Kitagawa showed everyone back then? On the back of that piece of paper was a news report about a ‘jewelry store’ robbery.”

—"Around 11 p.m. on the 15th eight years ago, the Mirei Jewelry store in Yatsuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, was broken into by an unidentified person. The president, Mirei Eiko, who was working overtime, was murdered by this person with a sharp knife..."

Seeing that Ryūno had finished reading the news, Conan continued, "I remember this case. It was a jewelry robbery that happened when we were in the third grade of elementary school. The perpetrator has not been caught to this day."

"More importantly, this case occurred the night before Mr. Yamao fled the scene of the accident!"

"Although Mr. Kitagawa showed us the news about Mr. Yamao's hit-and-run, what Mr. Yamao probably saw at the time was..."

Longye nodded. "I understand what you mean. This way, everything makes sense."

"If Mr. Yamao was the jewelry robber back then, then this should be his motive for wanting to kill Mayor Asakura and Mr. Kitagawa."

"We've also found out why Mr. Yamao wanted to find the old village map."

At this point, Longye smiled slightly, "But in that case, you'll probably have to hurry."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Conan was taken aback.

“Since what Touma saw eight years ago wasn’t ‘Diamond Dust,’ it might have been a real diamond,” Tatsuno said casually.

Conan carefully considered Ryuno's words, then suddenly widened his eyes, grabbed his skateboard, and dashed out of the hotel.

Ryūno's meaning is simple: if what Touma saw back then was the 'brilliance of real jewels and diamonds,' then it means he very likely saw the culprit!