The sky was heavy and gray.

After leaving the house, everyone gathered outside in the yard.

"This house is usually always locked, right?"

"Yeah, when we said last night we wanted to see the crime scene from a year ago, it was Mr. Shiroyama, the village police officer, who came with the key to open the door."

"Then that fits."

Hayashi Yoshiki fixed his gaze on the large gate of that house:

"When we left last night, I remember Mr. Shiroyama had locked the door, but just now when we came over, it was open — and looking at the lock, there's no sign of forced entry."

"That's right."

Although it wasn't a groundbreaking discovery, Heiji Hattori was somewhat pleased:

"Kudo shouldn't have had the key to this house, which means someone is trying to frame him."

"Ah, I don't think he's the culprit either."

Hayashi Yoshiki said calmly.

This gave Ran a sense of reassurance, standing nearby.

On one hand, she didn't want her childhood friend to suddenly become a murderer; on the other hand, she felt Hayashi Yoshiki was very reliable.

Just then, Kazuma Shiroyama, the village police officer, arrived due to the case.

After some questioning, they learned that since the incident, the keys to the house had been kept by him, but there was more than one key — another was supposed to be with Makoto Okuda, the adopted son of the village chief… but he hadn't returned to Okuho Village for a long time.

"Then, Okuda Makoto is very suspicious."

"After all, the one who attracted us here was a request sent in his name, but when we got here, the person was nowhere to be found."

"By the way, Miss Kawachi lived at the Kotou Inn in the village, right?"

"She left early this morning. Could we ask the inn staff if they saw her leave? Also, it'd be best to check if any calls came to the inn's landline for her this morning… since the mobile signal here is spotty, a landline would be more reliable."

Hayashi Yoshiki communicated with Shiroyama.

As a famous detective from Tokyo, Shiroyama was very cooperative and quickly rode his bicycle to the Kotou Inn in the village.

Heiji Hattori nodded unconsciously.

Though not as quick as Hayashi Yoshiki, he had also thought of these questions.

Sure enough, with a reliable partner, no case would be too difficult…

"So, shall we wait here for Mr. Shiroyama's reply?" He asked.

Hayashi Yoshiki nodded but soon added more:

"By the way, let's assume Okuda Makoto is the culprit for now."

"Hm, if we assume he's the culprit, then what?"

Kogoro Mouri, who had been silent all along, stroked his chin in a pose of deep thought.

Hayashi Yoshiki smiled at him and added:

"Okuho Village isn't big. Okuda Makoto is the adopted son of the former village chief's family, so he should be well known to the villagers… If he really returned to the village, he'd be recognized easily."

"But the villagers say they haven't seen him for a long time."

"Which means he hasn't been staying at the village inns or appearing in the villagers' sight at all… So, where does he live? Where does he operate?"

What Hayashi Yoshiki said was based on the assumption that Okuda Makoto is the culprit and indeed has returned to Okuho Village.

If we put aside other factors and consider only this —

"The forest!"

Heiji immediately declared.

The legend of the Death God in the forest made the villagers wary of it, and forests are indeed places easier to hide in and move about — even the former village chief's death was thought by the villagers to be caused by the forest's Death God.

Heiji didn't believe such folklore.

He looked at Hayashi Yoshiki intently, feeling like he somewhat understood this so-called writer-style reasoning.

How to say it?

There was indeed something to it.

Compared to passively finding evidence and then linking everything, this method felt more like actively deducing everything from the start by expanding all possibilities…

"Yes, definitely the forest."

"Alright, when Mr. Shiroyama comes back, let's go check the forest together."

Okuho Village was not big.

About twenty minutes later, Kazuma Shiroyama returned riding his bicycle.

He said he confirmed with the inn staff that indeed a hoarse-voiced person claiming to be Kudou Shinichi called Miss Kawachi out…

"I've been concerned about what Miss Kawachi said last night: 'Look at your face, do you really think you can fool me?'"

Shiroyama stopped and looked at everyone:

"Actually, after you left last night, I asked Miss Kawachi about this, and she told me that Shinichi's amnesia is fake — he definitely has another agenda."

"Don't take what these unethical reporters say too seriously. More than that…"

Hayashi Yoshiki smiled and gestured with his thumb toward the forest behind him:

"So, Mr. Shiroyama wants to go to the forest with us?"

"You really have a terrible impression of reporters, huh" Heiji commented.

"You guys going to the forest?"

The village police hesitated but nodded.

Anyway, the group quickly entered the forest.

Okuho Village was remote and small, partly because of this forest — the forest was vast, and even locals like Shiroyama couldn't claim to know it perfectly.

"Let's start from the area near where Shinichi was found naked in the lake." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFɪre.net

Hayashi Yoshiki said to Shiroyama.

"Any ideas?"

Heiji was curious.

He tried to follow Hayashi Yoshiki's reasoning, but felt blank-faced facing the dense forest.

"The call that lured Miss Kawachi out came from someone claiming to be 'Kudo Shinichi.'"

"If I'm right, the person who called the police and ambulance is also someone claiming to be Kudo Shinichi."

"And the amnesiac Kudo was found in that house, holding a knife suspected to be the murder weapon, with blood on him."

"Why do you think he was there? And why, when questioned, does he say he knows nothing?"

"Isn't that strange?"

"Kudo really lost his memories, yes, but why did he quietly leave the house this morning and go to that house? Surely that memory hasn't also mysteriously disappeared?"

Hayashi Yoshiki's words made not only Heiji think deeply, but even Kogoro and Ran found it strange.

Indeed, upon closer inspection, there were just too many abnormalities.

He wasn't knocked unconscious and left there with the murder weapon; how could he not remember how he got there and picked up the knife?