Conan’s breath caught. His hand went to his watch.
Conan’s mind raced. The Kappa legend said the creature pulled victims into the water by their ankles. But the ropes told a different story. One rope to anchor a body. Another to pull a trap.
He was thinking about the Kappa .
Later that night, unable to sleep, Conan walked the short path to the pond. The moon was hidden. The water was black glass. And standing at the edge was a figure—tall, hunched, holding something that glinted. Detective Conan Episode 377
The smears were uneven. Some letters had bled more than others. That meant they were written after the page had gotten wet.
He looked up at Suzuki. “You knew he’d come at night. You used the legend to cover up a murder.”
“Nothing. Just thinking about folklore.” Conan’s breath caught
By dawn, the confession came. Suzuki had been embezzling funds from the tourism board. Tono had discovered the truth and planned to expose him. The Kappa legend was just a convenient ghost story to hide a very human greed.
Suzuki’s face went pale. “Kid, you don’t know what you’re—”
As the sun rose over Tōno City, Conan sat on the ryokan’s porch, the notebook in his hands. He read the final line again: “The Kappa doesn’t take lives. It takes secrets.” The Kappa legend said the creature pulled victims
Conan ignored him. He knelt by the water and saw it: a second rope, frayed, leading deeper into the pond. Attached to it was a stone lantern—and tangled in the chain, a man’s glasses.
“Kid, go back inside,” Suzuki said. “This isn’t a game.”
“The Kappa doesn’t take lives. It takes secrets.”
“The ‘Kappa’ wasn’t a monster,” Conan cut in. “It was a pulley system. You tied the second rope to a tree, looped it under the water, and when Tono knelt to take a photo, you pulled. He drowned in inches of water, and the current carried him to the deep channel.”
Suzuki lunged—but Conan was faster. A dart from his watch. The detective slumped, and moments later, Kogoro’s voice boomed from the shadows (drawn by Ran, who had followed Conan).