...This detective, what on earth is he talking about?
Masashi couldn't understand it at all at that time.
His thoughts were a little scattered, and he followed Hayashi Yoshiki toward the community center on the island in a daze.
When he came back to his senses—
"Oh! Who is this lovely-looking lady?"
Kogoro Mouri shouted a little excitedly.
Masashi was startled by his excitement. Once he calmed down and realized this was another detective he had hired, he was slightly amused: "Mr...."
"Brother Yoshiki, you're back from shopping."
Ran came over to Hayashi Yoshiki and asked with a sweet smile, "How do you feel about this island?"
"Well, the scenery is nice, and the roasted seaweed here is delicious."
"Yes, it's crunchy and tasty. I ate all of it before I even realized. If you're interested, let's go buy some together tomorrow."
Ran seemed quite happy. She leaned over slightly and asked Conan: "Conan would want to eat too, right?"
"Yeah, I want to try it!"
Conan nodded first, then looked at Hayashi Yoshiki and said in a deliberately innocent tone: "But Yoshiki-brother is amazing, he met a beautiful lady just by going out for a walk."
The smile on Hayashi Yoshiki's face didn't change.
He looked at Conan with a playful glint.
Is he trying to show off in front of Ran?
Hayashi Yoshiki found it quite amusing.
He smiled and turned to Ran again:
"By the way, Ran, what did I tell you last time...?"
Because his eyes clearly hinted at Conan, Ran quickly understood what he meant.
She nodded and motioned for Hayashi Yoshiki to talk to her aside.
Seeing the two of them purposely avoid him to talk in private, Conan suddenly felt a little anxious.
No way, what does that mean?
"Brother Yoshiki, I've noticed that Conan seems a bit precocious—sometimes he's so smart he doesn't even seem like a child..."
"Yeah, from what I've seen, he's definitely not your average kid. But if you really can't change him, don't force it. After all, it's not a bad thing to like older girls."
"That's not right. Children should behave like children..."
After saying that, Ran quickly asked, "Brother Yoshiki, do you have any good ideas?"
"I think we should just observe for now—after all, it's still early..."
In fact, there's a secret that Ran has kept deep in her heart and hasn't told anyone.
She sometimes felt that Conan gave her the exact same feeling as Shinichi Kudo, who had been missing for so long. That sense of déjà vu could be very strong.
Looking at Ran, who was listening seriously to Hayashi Yoshiki, nodding occasionally and suddenly looking enlightened, Conan really minded.
Meanwhile, Minoru Asai, who had shaken off Kogoro Mouri, was secretly observing Hayashi Yoshiki. He found it hard to believe that someone with such a gentle expression could say something so disturbing.
What exactly is he planning?
With complicated feelings, Asai and the others remained at the community center until 9:30 PM, when the ritual concluded.
"Mr. Village Chief, please wait a moment. We have a request and would like to ask you for some relevant information."
The current village chief of Tsukikage Village, Tatsuji Kuroiwa, looked more like a gangster than a village official. He had a rough and mercenary aura. He approached and took the letter of commission from Hayashi Yoshiki.
--In fact, Tatsuji Kuroiwa had heard rumors that a detective from Tokyo was coming to see him, and he feared that his drug trafficking had been discovered. But now... maybe not?
What no one noticed was that when Hayashi Yoshiki handed over the letter, the ring on his right hand emitted a faint red glow.
Kuroiwa struggled to read the letter, but the moment he saw the name signed at the bottom—
He suddenly screamed in horror!
Before the others could react, Kuroiwa was already gasping for air and backing away in terror, as if he had seen a ghost. The letter slipped from his hand.
"What's wrong with him?"
Kuroiwa's reaction was extreme. He backed into the wall, and those attending the ceremony looked on in shock.
Kogoro Mouri instinctively stepped forward: "Mr. Kuroiwa?"
"Stay away from me!!"
"What's wrong with you...?"
"Aso Keiji... you—you—you, how can you still be alive!?"
Everyone was stunned by his words.
Kuroiwa pressed against the wall, staring at empty air. His incoherent, terrified behavior was truly alarming.
"Hallucinations?" Conan speculated.
Standing nearby, Hayashi Yoshiki glanced at his watch.
—The hypnotic ability works very well when combined with the Death Note.
He had once tested it, making a target hallucinate and jump off a building. The incident was dismissed as a heart attack.
Now, he was using Keiji Aso's name to instill fear and then hypnotize Kuroiwa. In this state, everything written in the Death Note was starting to unfold.
"Impossible! This can't be!"
"You're already dead!!!"
"You died in that fire!!"
In Kuroiwa's hallucination, he saw a twisted black figure...
Charred and black, it approached step by step.
As it neared, the burnt skin flaked off, revealing grotesquely scorched flesh.
Kuroiwa was certain it was him!
The hatred and fury in those eyes were unbearable to face. He wanted to scream, but the figure lunged forward and gripped his throat—he couldn't make a sound.
To the others, Kuroiwa appeared to suddenly seize his own throat in terror, his grip so tight the veins on the back of his hands bulged.
"Hey, what are you doing!?"
Panic erupted around him.
The pressure on his throat tightened, turning his face red, then purple. Kogoro Mouri rushed in to stop him.
But Kuroiwa's grip was so tight even Mouri couldn't break it. Fortunately, many others rushed over to help and finally pried his hands away.
After being rescued, Kuroiwa collapsed, gasping for air. His face slowly returned to a less terrifying hue.
"What happened to you? Even if you don't want to talk—"
Kogoro Mouri sighed, exhausted.
He paused mid-sentence—something was wrong.
He watched Kuroiwa, who had just regained his breath, suddenly collapse again, clutching his chest, face full of fear and pain.
Then—he stopped moving.