Just as he was worrying, Yuu Hoshimiya's eyes lit up, and a new idea appeared in his mind.
Akako Koizumi's assistant didn't necessarily have to be from the Witch Unit; Seimi Asai didn't have much to do usually, so she could work part-time first.
In that case, he only needed to find one more.
And coincidentally, there was a beautiful criminal in his mind who left a deep impression and whom he favored.
Speaking of which, that person was a shrine maiden, the kind passed down from her ancestors.
Coupled with the fact that the incident involved had a hint of mystery, there was a high probability she would have aptitude.
Even if she didn't have aptitude, Yuu was willing to spend time and energy to change the tragic fate of this shrine maiden.
It's just that he hadn't been paying attention to Conan and Kogoro Mouri recently; he hoped this shrine maiden hadn't been arrested yet.
That would be troublesome.
Yuu first sent someone to investigate, and then began to carefully recall key information himself.
The shrine maiden he thought of was named Kimie Shimabukuro, 27 years old, a lively and cheerful beauty.
She had lived on an island called Bikuni Island since she was a child, which was also called Mermaid Island.
Because there had always been legends of immortal merfolk circulating.
And the case naturally referred to the impressive and tragic Mermaid Island serial murder case.
The cause of the whole case was very complicated, roughly summarized as:
In the era when supernatural powers were active, the legend of mermaids made the island prosperous.
As the person in charge of the only shrine on Mermaid Island, the Shimabukuro family inherited this legend and worked hard to maintain it, even as the Age of Dharma Decline arrived and mermaids disappeared without a trace.
And this was the beginning of all tragedies.
Because of the islanders' illusory desire for immortality and the prosperity brought by the mermaid legend, the Shimabukuro family continued the legend generation after generation through makeup and disguise.
But three years ago, three of Kimie Shimabukuro's childhood friends set fire to the shrine maiden acting as the long-lived elder after the annual dugong festival used to worship mermaids.
And that shrine maiden was Kimie Shimabukuro's mother.
The reason was stupid; it was simply because they didn't get the Dugong Arrow symbolizing longevity and good luck.
So they wanted to verify if mermaids really existed.
It could also be said that out of revenge, they wanted to prove that they were actually favored by merfolk and could live forever.
The three scumbags succeeded, successfully burning to death Kimie Shimabukuro's only relative.
The mermaid legend should have ended after Kimie's mother died, and these three scumbags should have gone to jail.
But due to the selfishness and greed of the islanders, and because Kimie's mother truly loved the island, she left a last wish for Kimie to continue playing the immortal long-lived elder.
Thus, Kimie Shimabukuro's mother disappeared, and the damaged human bones remaining after the fire were said to be the corpse of a mermaid.
Just like that, the last girl of the Shimabukuro family shouldered this legend again.
Kimie Shimabukuro's childhood friends received no punishment, and after Kimie continued to appear as the long-lived elder, they directly became fanatical believers of mermaids.
But three years later, at a gathering, Kimie's childhood friends drank too much and revealed the arson and the reason back then.
After discovering the truth, Kimie Shimabukuro's grief and anger can be imagined.
Then came the Mermaid Island serial murder case.
The shrine maiden, struggling alone because of her mother's dying wish, disguised herself as the 130-year-old elder every festival to distribute Dugong Arrows.
All to allow this island, which attracted many tourists with the legend of mermaids, to survive.
But who would have thought that the accident where her mother died in the sea of fire three years ago was man-made, and the arsonists were her three childhood friends?
Knowing the truth, the shrine maiden began her revenge amidst groans...
Finally, when Conan used Kogoro Mouri to reveal the truth, Kimie confessed her crimes very frankly, with a calm attitude.
She had been prepared long ago.
The shrine maiden's revenge succeeded, but her sincerity was not rewarded.
It turned out that the older generation of residents on the island had long known she was the long-lived elder, and also knew the truth about Kimie's mother's death.
Only to let the island continue to prosper, they collectively chose to remain silent.
Kimie Shimabukuro's three years of struggling were useless.
All she got was a scene of collective apology from the older generation when she was arrested.
As for how much of it was regret, and how much was because they knew the mermaid legend couldn't continue and wanted peace of mind, it was unknown.
And at this point, the shrine maiden who understood everything could no longer suppress the bitterness in her heart and cried aloud.
If she had known the people on the island were like this, even with her mother's will, she would absolutely not have continued to play the so-called long-lived elder.
After Kimie Shimabukuro's serial killings, the people on the island woke up, or rather, were afraid.
But this was exchanged for a girl's lifelong happiness.
At the moment Kimie Shimabukuro was arrested and left Mermaid Island, perhaps even God felt injustice for this girl, raising huge waves to resist her departure.
Even after many years, and even though it was a memory from his past life, Yuu still felt incredibly sad and regretful thinking about it now.
A moment later, Yuu put away his emotions.
Compared to the causes and consequences of this tragedy, what he needed to focus on now was how the Mermaid Island incident started, when it started, and some key information within it.
Mermaid Island is located in Fukui Prefecture. Initially, Heiji Hattori received a distress letter with unclear meaning.
Because the letter was signed by Shinichi Kudo, he then invited Conan and his group to investigate together.
The time was also in summer, just when the island held its festival.
The specific time could be judged once the investigation report came out.
The Magician of the Century had just ended, and he didn't hear Heiji Hattori mention Mermaid Island when they met, so it probably hadn't happened yet.
However, it was already late August, almost September; unsurprisingly, the Mermaid Island incident would jump in time again.
Ignoring the time issue for now, Yuu decided to find Kimie Shimabukuro early.
He had no hobby of actively looking for trouble, and would avoid Conan and Heiji Hattori as much as possible.
Even if he was confident that no traces or evidence would be found, it would ultimately be more troublesome.
Speaking of which, the Mermaid Island incident also revealed Gin and Vodka's names.
They were Jin Kurosawa and Saburo Uozuka respectively.
Although the official and Gosho Aoyama didn't fill this hole later, the authenticity was high.
At the same time, it could be confirmed that Gin and Vodka did go to Mermaid Island, only a few years ago.
Associating it with the organization's continuous research on APTX4869, Yuu knew without thinking that they definitely went to investigate the legend of the immortal mermaid.
Later, they probably discovered the Shimabukuro family's trick, confirmed that the so-called immortality was nonsense, and left directly without causing any ripples.
Although APTX4869 is now treated as a colorless, tasteless, undetectable special poison, anyone with a brain knows it can't be that simple.
A large organization like the Winery wouldn't spend such a massive amount of funds and time on a poison.
Drug A research started before Atsushi Miyano and Elena Miyano gave birth to Shiho Miyano, it just wasn't called this name at that time.
And Shiho Miyano is now 18 years old. During this period, the researchers changed due to the death of the Miyano couple, but it never stopped.
Which means, it has been researched for at least 18 years.
In fact, definitely more than eighteen years; Yuu guessed at least twenty years or more.
The Miyano couple were just people who researched relatively successfully; it doesn't mean they were the initiators of the research.
Yuu leaned more towards the idea that the organization started relevant research early on, and then began collecting top talents in related fields to continue researching continuously.
And the Miyano couple happened to be top biological and pharmaceutical scientists globally.
Digressed...
In the Mermaid Island matter, there was no shadow of the organization at all.
Presumably, after confirming the so-called mermaid legend was fake, the organization paid no more attention.
Yuu shook his head, suppressed matters about the organization and Drug A, and began to consider his next actions.
He didn't intend to waste too much time on Kimie Shimabukuro; with his current ability, changing her tragic fate was indeed very simple.
There were many ways, and the fastest and least conspicuous method was for him to go alone.
And preferably before the incident started.
The only thing Yuu was worried about was going too early; if Kimie Shimabukuro hadn't discovered the truth yet, it would delay for a long time.
As for him actively telling the truth...
Even if Yuu was a handsome guy from Tokyo, compared to childhood friends she grew up with, anyone could figure out whom the shrine maiden would believe.
Actually, it was those three seeking death; if they hadn't personally told the truth in front of Kimie Shimabukuro back then, she wouldn't have believed anyone else.
"Early is better than late. If it really goes wrong, just treat it as relaxing for a few days."
An hour later, Yuu got the investigation report on Mermaid Island, confirmed Kimie Shimabukuro was still on the island, and decided to leave immediately.
He liked Kimie Shimabukuro quite a bit, feeling this shrine maiden was very similar to Seimi Asai.
Both were very optimistic, cute girls who loved life, but their lives were ruined by a few scumbags.
The only gratifying thing was that they both succeeded in revenge, right...
If he went and found that Kimie Shimabukuro really didn't know the truth yet, Yuu would stay a few more days to observe.
If he couldn't wait for the timing, he wouldn't keep waiting.
Either come back first and send someone to continue monitoring, or simply use magic to make those three scumbags voluntarily tell the truth of that year earlier.
Yuu leaned towards the second option; he didn't like returning empty-handed.
The only way to get to Bikuni Island was by boat.
Approaching afternoon, Yuu, who had rushed all the way from Tokyo to Fukui Prefecture to catch the boat, finally boarded.
But the sky inexplicably darkened, wind gradually picked up on the sea surface, and the waves became more turbulent.
Yuu reached out to test the wind direction; northwest wind, already level six, but not enough to delay his journey.
The waves got bigger and bigger, and the sky became gloomier.
Fortunately, before it rained, the ship finally arrived at the destination.
Yuu and his group went ashore and headed for the village office; usually, these islands had small populations, and the village office had records of everyone.
Soon, Yuu arrived at the village office and began to inquire.
Kimie Shimabukuro was very popular on the island; whether out of guilt or something else, upon seeing Yuu asking about her, the attitude of the people at the village office changed immediately.
From hospitable to cold, alienated, and vigilant.
Yuu wasn't surprised; seeing he couldn't get any information, he decided to look for her himself.
The island was only so big, and the Shimabukuro family was in the only shrine.
Without much effort, Yuu found the shrine and the shrine maiden, Kimie Shimabukuro.
Kimie wore a white top and red hakama, with wooden clogs on her feet. Her beautiful little feet were faintly visible under the red hakama. Her face was pretty, and her pale purple eyes under black long hair were like stars.
She also carried a lightweight bamboo fishing net on her shoulder; her whole person exuded an extremely fresh aura, a very beautiful shrine maiden.
At first glance, Yuu knew he had come to the right place.
Kimie Shimabukuro was an out-and-out beauty, and his preferred type.
In addition, even if she didn't have magic aptitude, relying on her top-tier disguise skills, it wasn't in vain for Yuu to come specifically.
Thoughts racing, Yuu immediately used the method he had thought of before to strike up a conversation.
He stepped forward and asked curiously.
"You must be Miss Kimie. May I ask, is your great-grandmother really over two hundred years old?"
"How is that possible? My great-grandmother just turned one hundred and thirty this year."
Kimie lightly tapped her shoulder with the bamboo pole while answering, looking extremely charming.
She sighed, "She just lived a bit longer than ordinary people, yet it caused such a big commotion."
Immediately after, the shrine maiden asked back curiously: "Sir, you look very unfamiliar. You're not from the island, right?"
Yuu chuckled, "Miss Kimie is really observant. I'm indeed not; I came specially from Tokyo."
"Wow, Tokyo... I really want to go see it too."
Kimie looked envious and actively started chatting with Yuu.
Looking at the hooked shrine maiden, the corner of Yuu's mouth curled into a smile.
People who grew up on remote small islands generally yearned for big cities.
And in the eyes of Japanese people, Tokyo was undoubtedly the most prosperous and modern metropolis.
Kimie Shimabukuro was no exception.
She didn't want to live in Tokyo, just purely curious about a different life.
During the chat, the relationship between the two drew closer rapidly.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman, both with cheerful and sunny personalities, and interested in each other's lives; in a short while, Yuu was actively invited into the shrine to sit down and chat slowly.
This chat lasted until evening.
"Ah, it's already so late..."
Kimie looked at the sky outside the window and said somewhat embarrassedly: "Yuu-kun, sorry for delaying you so long. I'll go prepare dinner right away; please stay."
Yuu didn't refuse; he not only wanted to eat dinner but preferably stay at the shrine.
But he couldn't actively suggest these, as it would drop favorability too much.
Seeing Yuu agree, the shrine maiden stepped with her cute white-socked feet and went to prepare dinner joyfully.
Taking advantage of this time, Yuu also carefully sorted out the information obtained from the chat.
Under Yuu's powerful charm and affinity, Kimie was basically defenseless against him, answering almost every question.
Only some key questions were vague, but enough for Yuu to get the desired answers.
However, being so smooth was also because Kimie lived alone in the huge shrine, plus she recently learned the fact that three childhood friends killed her mother.
That's right, Yuu had confirmed that Kimie Shimabukuro already knew the truth.
This should have been good news, but he also discovered that Saori Kaori had already been killed by Kimie.
At the same time, he learned that the day after tomorrow was the annual festival.
Intelligence said the Mermaid Island festival was July 15th, but he didn't expect it to be the day after tomorrow.
That's right, today and tomorrow are late August, almost September, summer vacation is about to end, but the day after tomorrow is mid-July.
In the days of constant time jumps, Yuu had developed the good habit of not considering specific dates unless encountering particularly important arrangements.
Obviously, the Mermaid Island festival wasn't important to him, so it was normal to realize it only after being reminded.
This meant Yuu only had tomorrow to act.
The convergence of the world line was still very strong; even if Conan was currently in the United States and couldn't come back, Heiji Hattori would likely come alone.
Yuu didn't know Conan ran to the United States, but whether Conan came or not didn't affect his plan.
Because he had absolute confidence in himself.
After careful consideration, he decided to continue cultivating feelings with Kimie Shimabukuro tomorrow, drawing closer, and help her escape guilt after the incident ended.
From the chat just now, he thought it was best to let Kimie complete her revenge herself and see the malicious nature of the island residents clearly.
Just like Seimi Asai in the Moonlight Sonata Island incident.
Only in this way could the shrine maiden gain new life and completely surrender her heart.
If he insisted on achieving the goal within one day tomorrow, it would be too hasty; even if successful, it would leave infinite regret in the shrine maiden's heart.
After determining the next action plan, Yuu also relaxed and began to enjoy the peace and comfort brought by the ancient shrine.
At this time, Kimie Shimabukuro, who was preparing dishes, looked bitter.
Chatting too engrossed, she not only ignored the passage of time but also forgot about disguising as the long-lived elder.
But disguising as the long-lived elder now would push back dinner time a lot...
In the previous chat, Yuu basically didn't mention the long-lived elder again later.
Knowing it didn't exist, Yuu would be crazy to mention some long-lived elder; it was just an excuse to strike up a conversation at the beginning.
Vaguely, Kimie felt that Yuu might not care about this matter at all.
The shrine maiden fell into a dilemma and finally decided to prepare two portions of dinner, going along with the mistake.
However, when the dinner for only two people started, she regretted her fluke mentality a bit.
She was even ready to explain with outrageous lies, but unexpectedly, Yuu really didn't mean to mention it at all.
After dinner, looking at the handsome young man a few years younger than herself in front of her, the shrine maiden, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, said inexplicably: "Yuu-kun, it's very late now, do you want to stay? There are many empty rooms in the shrine..."
"That's really appreciated."
Before she finished speaking, Yuu took the initiative: "I came in a hurry before and didn't book a place to stay. I was just worrying about what to do tonight."
This sentence was true; he really didn't book a place to stay.
It wasn't unsolvable with money, but he didn't want to do that.
If Kimie didn't invite him actively, he planned to brazenly request to stay later.
A lone man and woman alone on a rainy night.
Even if they did nothing and just continued chatting purely, favorability would rise rapidly; Yuu wouldn't miss such a good opportunity.
Since Yuu said so, the shrine maiden had no chance to regret.
She could only begin preparing bath water and tidying up the guest room with apprehension.
Until 11 PM, when the two yawned and bid farewell to sleep in their respective rooms, Yuu still hadn't mentioned her great-grandmother.
Not only did he not mention it all night, but the next day, spending the whole day together, still seeing no sign of the long-lived elder, Yuu still didn't ask.
As if there were only the two of them in the shrine, and no so-called long-lived elder who ate mermaid meat and lived forever existed.
The third day arrived, still the same.
Even the dullest person should have noticed something wrong by now, let alone the smart shrine maiden.
However, the festival was about to begin; although she had thousands of doubts in her heart, she temporarily had no time to question Yuu.
Because before that, she had to complete the festival and use the Dugong Arrow to complete her murder plan and avenge her mother.
"Yuu-kun, sorry, I can't accompany you today."
After breakfast, Kimie looked at Yuu apologetically, "Tonight is the festival. As a shrine maiden, I need to prepare in advance."
"Mmm, don't worry about me. I've been with you these two days and haven't properly toured the island yet."
Yuu smiled: "Taking this opportunity, I'll walk around and see everywhere by myself."
The shrine maiden blushed, unable to help feeling shy.
Listening to Yuu's words, she realized that since they met, they had been inseparable.
And she enjoyed it.
If it weren't for things she had to do, she even wanted such days to last forever.
Kimie Shimabukuro had a cheerful and lively personality, and at 27, she was considered an 'older sister' type.
But in fact, her relationship experience was zero.
Thinking that they had known each other for less than two days and she actually had this idea, even with her bold personality, she really couldn't handle it.
"Then I'll take my leave first..."
The extremely shy shrine maiden fled in panic.
Looking at her back, Yuu murmured: "I should start arranging too..."
The so-called wandering alone was naturally a lie; he couldn't be as leisurely today as yesterday.
First was avoiding Heiji Hattori and his group who were about to arrive, and then following Kimie secretly all the time.
After she killed, destroy the traces and clues she left behind completely.
Compared to the Moonlight Sonata Island incident, this time would be much easier.
At Moonlight Sonata Island, he didn't have magical powers and relied entirely on excellent skills.
He also had to distract Conan in advance, otherwise, it probably wouldn't work.
Now, as long as he used invisibility magic, combined with marking magic, he could easily achieve his goal.
Even destroying evidence and clues could be done using magic from a distance, reaching a level that absolutely couldn't be explained.
Not to mention Conan, even if Holmes were resurrected, he wouldn't find any useful information!
Time quickly came to night; night fell, and the shrine was crowded with villagers and tourists.
As the ritual songs and drum sounds in the shrine ended, the middle door opened.
A short old person with a face powdered pale white walked out from inside, looking about 1.3 meters tall.
Tourists on the left and right saw and kept saying: "It's the Elder!"
The Elder walked out holding a long torch, lit it, and burned three numbers on the window.
The subsequent development was the same as in Yuu's memory, except that instead of Heiji Hattori bringing Conan, Kogoro Mouri, Ran, and Kazuha, it turned into only the dark-skinned boy Heiji Hattori alone.
Kazuha and Ran definitely wouldn't come; as for Conan and Kogoro Mouri not coming, it was probably due to the butterfly effect.
Yuu didn't pay much attention to Heiji Hattori's side; with only the dark-skinned boy alone, accidents were even less likely.
His gaze drifted, taking in the expressions of all the guests in the shrine.
Most guests looked disappointed, while the squinty-eyed woman Sumi looked delighted, and the short black-haired woman Naoko also relaxed her brows, clutching the number plate in her hand tightly.
Undoubtedly, these two women who drew the 'Dugong Arrow' were Kimie's other two childhood friends.
Also the remaining two alive who killed her mother.
Not long after, Kimie in shrine maiden attire appeared in front of everyone, her pretty face very dignified.
"Please note, the 'Dugong Arrow' will be awarded in an hour. Winners please move to the Mermaid Waterfall; we will hold the award ceremony there."
An hour later, Heiji Hattori was already waiting at the bottom of the Mermaid Waterfall.
And Yuu had already destroyed the evidence and clues within this hour.
The sound of the waterfall was very obvious, but there was only faint firelight at the award ceremony, making it impossible to see the waterfall clearly.
At this time, Kimie spoke: "Please, the three guests who just won the 'Dugong Arrow', come out!"
Under Yuu's influence, undoubtedly only two people would step forward.
After waiting for a while, with no third person appearing for a long time, Kimie stopped wasting time and said: "Now please release the Light of Bliss to celebrate the successful conclusion of this assembly!"
The Light of Bliss was actually fireworks.
Staff on the side immediately set off fireworks; colorful fireworks exploded in the sky, illuminating the entire area.
At this time, Heiji Hattori seemed to see something and shouted immediately: "Look, there seems to be something in the middle of the waterfall."
Everyone hurried to shift their gaze, and immediately showed expressions of horror.
That shape was clearly a corpse.
Heiji Hattori immediately rushed towards the top of the waterfall.
Those responsible for the festival began to call the police and maintain order.
When Heiji Hattori reached the top, he pulled up the corpse hanging in the waterfall.
It was exactly the squinty-eyed woman, Sumi Ebihara.
The death state was quite miserable, like a hanged ghost, and having soaked in water for a long time, her face was pale, tongue sticking out extremely long, looking quite uncomfortable.
At this time, some bold passers-by, and a few of Sumi Ebihara's childhood friends also ran up.
Kimie Shimabukuro was naturally among them.
The onlookers all looked horrified.
Heiji Hattori spoke: "The cause of death should be strangulation by this fixed rope on the river bank. I remember seeing her in the shrine; the time of death should be within this hour between the shrine celebration and the award ceremony, which is between 7 and 8 PM."
Heiji Hattori continued: "But, wasn't the celebration at the bottom of the waterfall? Why did she appear in the forest above the waterfall?"
"According to the steepness of this mountain, just climbing up takes twenty minutes. If someone killed and then carried the body up to dump it, I'm afraid it would be very difficult to do."
Short-haired woman Naoko spoke: "Sumi probably came to this forest above to look for the mermaid's grave."
"Mermaid's grave?"
Naoko explained: "It's the mermaid skeleton that appeared in the shrine warehouse fire three years ago. Later heard it was buried in this forest; Sumi has always cared about this matter."
Heiji Hattori spoke: "Wait a minute, are you sure that was really a mermaid skeleton?"
Kimie dressed as a shrine maiden shook her head: "Hard to say, this is a rumor among the villagers on the island. But after the police forensic examination back then, they said it was just the skeleton of a middle-aged woman."
Naoko shouted: "Nonsense, those officers would need to find the lower body of that skeleton to make such a conclusion!"
No lower body skeleton?
Heiji Hattori frowned at the same time.
And Rokuro Fukuyama on the side spoke: "This is because a pillar happened to smash below the waist and abdomen of that corpse, smashing all the bones below, that's why this saying appeared."
Naoko shook her head: "No, that must be a mermaid skeleton. If it were human legs, smashing only the thighs, there should still be foot and calf bones left, but there were no such bones at all, so that was definitely a mermaid skeleton."
Looking at the excited Naoko, Heiji Hattori turned to whisper to the shrine maiden Kimie.
"Miss Shrine Maiden, what did the police say back then?"
A look of reminiscence appeared in Kimie's eyes: "They said it should be a tourist who wanted to steal the Dugong Arrow, sneaked into the shrine warehouse at midnight, but accidentally knocked over the candle they brought, causing the fire and burning themselves to death."
"It's just that later the police checked the island's registration book but found no one missing. Investigating for over a year, finally still couldn't determine the identity of the deceased."
"After that, that skeleton was handed over to our shrine for burial, just didn't expect something to happen shortly after burial."
Heiji Hattori pressed: "What happened?"
Kimie's pale purple eyes trembled slightly; she continued: "Someone actually sneaked into our shrine at midnight, wanting to steal the skeleton."
"Because those people thought this was a mermaid skeleton, even if only bones, it possessed the magical effect of immortality. Much of the skeleton was stolen at that time."
"Because that happened, my great-grandmother decided to transfer and bury that skeleton elsewhere."
Heiji Hattori pressed: "Where is the transfer location?"
Kimie shook her head: "I don't know this either; my great-grandmother said she entrusted it to someone she trusted very much."