Two hours later, the party was still in full swing. Famous stars from all around Japan, Europe, and other countries mingled with each other, sharing past stories about their careers or simply holding light conversations to pass the time. Music played, and the dance floor was jam packed with dancers spinning around and around to the waltz that the orchestra played.
Yusa leaned back against the wall in one corner of the banquet hall, besides a tall houseplant. Though it was a secret, she didn’t really enjoy these types of fancy parties, and dancing didn't’ come naturally to her. Besides, this was supposed to be a hotel opening ceremony, not a full out ball.
Suddenly, Yusaku, Yukiko, the Mouris, and Conan walked over to her, along with one of the party assistants. “Hello, Yusa. Mind if we ask you some questions?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Have you seen Akitoshi Aogi anywhere?”
“The hotel owner?”
Yusaku nodded. “Yes, that’s him.”
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen him. I was wondering where he had gone off to. Why?”
The assistant wrung his hands together. “Mr. Aogi told us he’d give us the rest of the party specifications later, but that was two hours ago, so the kitchen staff is growing restless.”
“I see. Does anyone have an idea of where he could be?”
“Actually, yes,” a new voice spoke up. The speaker was a young woman with a clipboard under her arm and an earpiece in her ear.
“Who are you?” Yusaku asked.
“I’m Rizu Daibo, Mr. Aogi’s secretary. He told me a short while ago that he would be in his personal hotel suite. Would you like for me to take you to see him?” Yusa’s eye twitched. Aogi has his own suite here? It’s not like he’s a guest or anything.
“Yes, please.”
“Very well, follow me.”
As the secretary lead the way to the elevators, Yusa turned to Ran. “Say, where’s that friend of yours, Sonoko? Wasn’t she with you?”
Ran looked shocked that Yusa was addressing her personally. “Oh, no, I mean yes,----- Sonoko was with me for a while until she decided to go off on her own for a bit. She said something about checking out good looking guys and whatnot-----”
Yusa chuckled awkwardly in her head. Ha. Ha. Ha. So Sonoko’s that type of girl, is she?
Aogi’s suite turned out to be on the thirteenth floor, overlooking the swimming pool below. The secretary, Rizu, knocked on the door. “Mr. Aogi? The kitchen staff are waiting for your orders, sir.”
There was no answer from within the room.
“Sir? Mr. Aogi, sir?” Rizu knocked again.
Again, no answer.
The secretary frowned. “That’s strange, he told me for sure that he’d be in his room. Perhaps he fell asleep.”
However, Yusa spoke up. “Wait, do you hear that?” She tilted her head closer to the door, listening.
Yusaku nodded. “I hear it as well. It sounds like running water.”
“So if there’s water running inside, then he must be in the bathroom. So how come he didn’t hear Rizu knocking and calling for him? It doesn’t sound loud enough for him to be taking a shower.”
Suddenly, Conan yelped. “Ah, there’s water coming out from underneath the door! Now my shoes are all wet!”
All of them looked down to where Conan was pointing. Sure enough, water was slowly seeping out through the crack under the door and into the hallway, forming a small puddle at their feet.
Yusa turned her attention back to the door. “If the water has supposedly run long enough to completely overflow and even leak out into the hallway, then it’s probably been left running for an hour or more.”
“And if it’s been left running for an hour,” Yusaku continued, “then Aogi should’ve noticed by now if he turned the water on in the first place, unless-----something happened that prevented him from turning the water off.”
Rizu gasped. “That’s----but that’s----- Mr. Aogi! Mr. Aogi!” She began pounding on the door, trying to get Aogi’s attention. “Mr. Aogi, sir! Please open the door!”
Kogoro shook his head, his habits and skills as a detective kicking in. “It’s no use. We’ll have to break down the door. Ran, can you break it open with your karate?”
“Sure!” Ran stepped forward, taking a stance, before launching a kick at the door. However, instead of knocking it open, her kick barely left a dent. She reeled backwards, clutching her knee in pain. “It’s no use. It’s too sturdy for me to knock down,” she said.
Kogoro, Eri, and Conan were shocked. “Too strong for Ran, the citywide karate champion?”
Rizu spoke up. “Mr. Aogi had claimed that he was being stalked, so he insisted on a stronger door for his room as a safety precaution.”
Yusa sighed. Paranoid old geezer. Oh well, guess I have no choice. Outloud, she said “Everyone, please back away from the door.”
“Miss Yusa? What’re you going to-----”
Yusa spread her feet apart slightly, evening out her weight for better balance, before whipping around and planting a solid spinning back kick on the door, tearing it right out from its hinges and sending it crashing down to the floor.
Yusa was about to barge into the room, when she noticed the shocked looks she was receiving. “What?” She asked.
“A-a-amazing!” Ran exclaimed. “You broke that door off its hinges with a single kick! As expected of a karate world champion!”
Yusa glanced down at the broken door on the floor. “Oh, yeah. I’ll have to pay for the repairs later.”
“Um, that’s not what I meant----”
“You can tell me what you meant later. Right now, we have Aogi to worry about.” And with that said, Yusa turned around and dashed into the room, closely followed by Yusaku, Kogoro, and the secretary.
“Mr. Aogi? Mr. Aogi?” Rizu called.
“Never mind that,” Kogoro said. “The water seems to be coming from over there, so that’s probably the bathroom.”
They hurried over. Like Kogoro said, the water was flowing out from underneath the door, making their feet squelch in the soaked carpet.
Rizu grabbed the handle and forced open the door. “Mr. Aogi?”
Water rushed out from within the bathroom, drenching their ankles and shoes with warm water. Rizu pushed the door open all the way. “Mr. Ao------” She suddenly froze, her eyes wide. Small squeaks of fear came out of her mouth, and she slowly backed away.
Yusa frowned. “What’s up in------” She walked over to look inside the bathroom, and she too froze as her mouth fell open in shock and absolute horror. “Aogi!”
Right at that moment, Rizu unfroze, and let out an earsplitting scream of terror as she raised a trembling hand, pointing at the bloodied body of Akitoshi Aogi, half-floating in the overflowing bathtub, blood streaming from the cut in his neck and staining the water scarlet.
“AHHHH!!!”
For a few seconds, no one moved, all stunned by the horrific sight before them: Akitoshi Aogi, covered in his own blood, his upper body floating in the bloody water-filled bathtub, his lower half collapsed besides the tub, and more scarlet blood flowing from the gaping slash wound in his neck.
Kogoro, Yusaku, and Yusa were the first to unfreeze. Kogoro and Yusaku raced forward to examine the body, both in full detective mode. Yusa was about to follow them, when she remembered the people behind her. Ran!
Turning around in mid sprint, she dove towards Ran, who was about to peer around the two men to see what was going on in the bathroom. Yusa barely managed to cover the girl’s eyes before she saw Aogi, and quickly spun the girl around to face the doorway.
“It’s not something you want to see,” Yusa explained, her hand still over Ran’s eyes as she escorted her to the door. Then she noticed Ran’s limp. “Let’s get your knee looked at first. I’ll go with you.”
Yusa looked over her shoulder. “Mr. Kudo, Mr. Mouri, I’ll go call the police. You two can take care of things up here, right?”
“Yes, we’ll be fine. But please do hurry and call the police.”
“Right.”
“Don’t worry about me,” said Ran. “I can go to the medical desk by myself; you should hurry.”
“No, you wait in another one of the suites; I’ll go get the doctor to come up here. It’s not good for your knee to walk all the way down the hall to the elevator, then stand on it until you reach the ground floor, before again walking to the medical desk. Mrs. Kisaki, could you help Ran to the room next door? I’ll be back with the doctor in five to ten minutes.”
Eri nodded, and helped support Ran as the two left the room. Yusa watched them go, then glanced down at her high heeled shoes. Hmm, I can’t exactly run in these, so----- Without a second though, she reached down and pulled them both off, so she now stood barefoot. Much better.
A second later, she was sprinting out the door and down the hallway towards the stairs. After all, if you had an international level of skill in parkour, riding down the elevator was a snail’s pace compared to the stairs.
Conan leapt forward, taking hold of Aogi’s wrist. There was no pulse left. “It’s too late, he’s already dead.”
“Hey, brat!” Kogoro snapped, grabbing Conan by the back of the shirt. “How many times do I have to tell you, don’t mess with the crime scene!”
“Sorry, Uncle Kogoro!” Conan quickly apologized as he was thrown out of the bathroom. This is clearly a murder case. I wonder what the motive was for killing Akitoshi Aogi.
Since he couldn’t approach the body without Kogoro yelling at him again, he was left to standing behind the two adults, examining the crime scene from a distance.
Suddenly, Conan caught sight of something on the balcony. What’s that? He wondered as he hurried over and knelt down to examine what he had found.
Caught on a nail sticking out of the railing was a few white threads, like they were torn from clothing. Conan leaned in closer, squinting. One of the threads had a small dark splotch on the end. Dirt? Blood?
He frowned, thinking hard. Were these threads a clue? And if so, what did they mean?