0 Detective Conan Episode 379: Case of the Long Sleeved Kimono at the Hidden Hot Spring on a Snowy Night (P1)

Episode 379: Case of the Long Sleeved Kimono at the Hidden Hot Spring on a Snowy Night (Part 1)

A woman named Sakurako committed suicide by jumping from a high roof, in the middle of her college's main campus.

Scenario: The episode starts with a flashback, set five years before the episode takes in. In the middle of a huge campus belonging to a women's college, a beautiful but despaired young woman climbs to a tower. After taking a good look at her surroundings, she sadly closes her eyes and throws herself off. The perspective switches to a bunch of students who witness the girl's suicide, and to a flock of doves that fly away.

Conan, Ran, and Kogoro take a trip to a hot springs lodge, the Kotoya Inn, in a Yonezawa mountains village, Yamagata Prefecture, since Kogoro has had trouble with his shoulder and this may help. They find a group of people who work in the entertainement industry and are getting ready to film a TV special about Japanese young women who have reached fame stardom. The members of the crew are: the editor Yoriko Yasuda, the TV producer Kyoichi Bando, the novelist Eri Akechi (whom Kogoro is a fan of), the top model Asuka Shibasaki, the famous oil painter Ema Anzai, and the singer/songwriter Harumi Fukatsu (whom Ran fangirls). Yasuda and Bandou recognize Kogoro, so they approach him and explain the project to him, Ran and Kogoro. Asuka and Ema make bad impressions due to their snotty and bitchy behavior. On the other hand, Harumi (whom Asuka and Ema badmouth in front of everyone, calling her "one hit wonder" among other insults) and Eri are more modest and quiet.

When Kogoro, Ran, and Conan are shown their room, Ran remarks on how many beautiful kimonos are hung around as part of the decoration. She asks why, and the owner explains that it's to give their respects to a local Shinto deity named the Kimono Goddess, whose shrine is located nearby. They later take a walk with Eri Akechi, an as they take a peek to a mini shrine to the Kimono Goddess, she tells about something she learned about: the Goddess's darker side, the Goddess of Vengeance.

According to the legend, centuries ago a sweet village girl named Ohana lived nearby, along with her old grandmother and her little sister, and after saving a very rich feudal lord's life, she was given a whole chest full of beautiful and incredibly pricy kimonos as a reward. However, the greedy daughters of the local leader wanted Ohana's wardrobe, so falsely accused Ohana of being a criminal and managed to get the poor woman executed, who was crucified and impaled crying out. The two girls got Ohana's gorgeous wardrobe just as they wanted, but as they were putting such lovely clothes on, the evil spirit of Ohana, reborn as an immortal demon with a cold breeze, with the executing white kimono and barefoot, taken her awful revenge brutally killing them both: the youngest sister was found under the kimonos, while the eldest was found in a pond under many obis (kimono sashes).

Eri finishes the story via telling that, to placate Ohana's vengeful spirit, the villagers built a Shinto shrine and many smaller temples in her memory, and named her as their protector. Ran remarks on how much Eri knows about the legend, and Eri explains that she often comes into this lodge to make research for her novels.

The daughters of a village leader accused a local woman named Ohana of being a criminal and got her executed, so they can gain possession of her beautiful kimonos.

The group encounters Harumi at the temple, standing in front of the 500-year-old "Kimono Cherry Tree" (which looks like a kimono when it's in bloom). She esays that an old friend from her college who was very fond of the supernatural told her about said cherry tree. As Kogoro scolds Conan for running around, Eri adds that the Kimono Goddess is also a vengative deity: according to the legend, if someone clad in kimono comes to the shrine at midnight, they can ask the Goddess to punish someone or sponsor a punishment, and that people shall leave paper dolls as an offer to her.

After Ohana's execution, the culprits behind her unfair death found their own ends. As a demon with blood from her lips and crying out, Ohana cruelly devours the human souls, so she bites one of them on the neck until she had stopped breathing.

Eri opens a small wooden box containing the paper dolls, and she and Kogoro notice how there are two new dolls. Eri remarks that this means someone wants vengeance against two persons, which worries Conan. The group returns to the inn, and Kogoro tells a rather frightened Ran to not believe such legends. Conan notices that there's a small building in the inn's grounds, and Eri says it's likely another sanctuary to the Kimono Goddess. Ran is still very worried and asks Kogoro to check it out to see if there are more dolls inside, but neither he nor Conan find anything. They decide to relax and enjoy the famous springs, settled in a gorgeous mountain scenery.

Later that night the TV crew is relaxing and drinking. Ema asks Eri to make a good character based on her despite how she still doesn't have the basics for the script planned, and Asuka makes snarky and hurtful comments when Bandou asks Harumi to write and sing the opening song. Meanwhile Kogoro is very drunk off sake in the nearby suite, asking a fastidiated Ran to fill up his cup. Soon, Harumi shows up and tells the that she has something to ask from Kogoro; she seems to be very worried and sad, and Conan wonders what's this about.

The other tries in vain to escape, but Ohana forcibly throws her in the garden pond and bites her in the chest.

Harumi starts speaking about her college times. Five years ago, there was a very popular drug in the college circles frequented by Harumi and her best friend, a girl named Sakurako Suzuka; several drug doses were found in Sakurako's locker, and after being unable to prove her innocence, Sakurako fell into deep depression and commited suicide by jumping off the main campus's building (as seen in the initial flashback). Sakurako was the college student who told Harumi about the Kimono Goddess, and Harumi believes that she actually was innocent from the drug selling charges.

When done with her story, Harumi asks Kogoro to re-open the case. Kogoro says he isn't sure if he can actually do it, since the case happened five years ago already. Harumi adds more info: there were other suspects among the students, but they weren't investigated due to being from rich families, and they were actually Asuka Shibasaki (daughter of a politician from Kishi) and Ema Anzai (eldest child of the Anzai Global Enteprises's president), who both disliked Sakurako because she was straightforward, naive and a strong believer in justice. Harumi again asks Kogoro to investigate, and he accepts to do so. Ran remarks on how fond Harumi was of Sakurako; she explains that they bonded over both being orphans (Harumi was raised by her uncle and aunt), and became very close.

During the night, Asuka skips out of the crew's suite and goes out to take a soak. Ema finds a note on a desk and frowns. Kogoro, Ran, Conan, and Harumi go to have a soak, and find Eri getting out of the springs. She declines a drinking invitation from Kogoro since she says she has a heavy workload, so the group goes into the springs without her. To Ran's disappointment, the women's side of springs are reserved for an hour, so she and Harumi decide to go play ping-pong while Conan and Kogoro bathe. They go out and sees the girls playing; Conan sees that Harumi is wearing glasses, and she says she normally uses contacts except for then she's in a bath.

At 23:30, Ran and Harumi stop playing and go check on the womens's side, which is still closed. They find a small doll on the floor, which wasn't there when they got in, and it's wearing a small demon mask. Conan then asks Kogoro to open the door by force, and he does so but the door falls on him; Conan runs in and finds Asuka inside the spring, surrounded by luxurious obi sashes. Kogoro also gets inside the spring and quickly checks on her: she's dead, and her cause of death is a stab wound in the chest.

Ran sees a small demon mask near women's hot spring room. It's a Hannya mask, representing jealous spirits. Asuka is dead in the hot spring, surrounded by the inn's luxurious obi sashes.

Conan remembers the legend and rushes to the shrine, mentally recalling the legend of the Goddess. They find Bando, Yasuda and Eri in the lounge, and the girls tell them about Asuka's murder. Conan asks about Ema and Yasuda says she left a while ago; he opens the sliding door and finds footsteps in the snow, which lead to the small shrine in the inn grounds. Kogoro and Conan walk in the snow to the mini-shrine, whose door is also closed: when they open it, they find Ema dead in the middle of a pile of kimonos, also stabbed to death and with a vengeance doll on her pierced chest.

Kogoro uses a flashlight as he enters the shrine, and finds Ema dead from a stab wound and over a pile of kimonos.

Conan again thinks of the myth of the Kimono Goddess, as he can only see Ema's footsteps aside of Kogoro's and his own, which means the place was closed due to the snow. A local officer named Ogura is sent to help Kogoro investigate, saying that the prefect cannot come until the next morning due to the snow. Kogoro asks the landlady to bring some towels and then tells the TV crew to stay put; he and Omura place the towels over Ema's footsteps, while Conan takes pictures and checks on the surroundings of the main building. He cannot find any footsteps first, but his camera says otherwise and he checks underneath the towels.

Kogoro, Conan, and Ogura go meet up with Eri, Yasuda, and Bando. He asks Yasuda what Ema was doing in the lounge around 22:30 and if she saw somebody else, but she denies it. Kogoro explains the deal with Ema's footsteps being the only ones in the minishrine path, adding that they couldn't ind any killing weapon; he then mentions that Asuka was found dead in the bath, but that one was connected to the games room and thus someone should've seen something odd, but his group didn't see anybody. Bando asks if the killer could have used the mountain path, but Kogoro says he checked around and there was no cliff in the surroundings. Also, he and Omura found a taser and a dagger in the springs: this means that the killer first tasered Asuka to stun her, and then stabbed her, but the dagger had some odd markings, and apparently was a sacred weapon donated alongside the shrine. Not only that, but they also found a headscarf that Ema wore in the bath, and it was stained with blood. This means: both women were stabbed with the same sacred dagger, Ema died before Asuka did, and Ema died around 22:30 with Asuka perishing shortly afterwards. Bando, Yasuda, and Eri speculate about the lack of footsteps, and then Harumi openly states that it was all due to the Kimono Goddess's curse. As she explains the deal with the two dolls in the shrine, Conan thinks that curses are not possible, wondering what trick could have been used in the double murder.Conan again thinks of the myth of the Kimono Goddess, as he can only see Ema's footsteps aside of Kogoro's and his own, which means the place was closed due to the snow. A local officer named Ogura is sent to help Kogoro investigate, saying that the prefect cannot come until the next morning due to the snow.

Kogoro asks the landlady to bring some towels and then tells the TV crew to stay put; he and Omura place the towels over Ema's footsteps, while Conan takes pictures and checks on the surroundings of the main building. He cannot find any footsteps first, but his camera says otherwise and he checks underneath the towels. Kogoro, Conan, and Ogura go meet up with Eri, Yasuda, and Bando. He asks Yasuda what Ema was doing in the lounge around 22:30 and if she saw somebody else, but she denies it. Kogoro explains the deal with Ema's footsteps being the only ones in the minishrine path, adding that they couldn't ind any killing weapon; he then mentions that Asuka was found dead in the bath, but that one was connected to the games room and thus someone should've seen something odd, but his group didn't see anybody. Bando asks if the killer could have used the mountain path, but Kogoro says he checked around and there was no cliff in the surroundings. Also, he and Omura found a taser and a dagger in the springs: this means that the killer first tasered Asuka to stun her, and then stabbed her, but the dagger had some odd markings, and apparently was a sacred weapon donated alongside the shrine. Not only that, but they also found a headscarf that Ema wore in the bath, and it was stained with blood. This means: both women were stabbed with the same sacred dagger, Ema died before Asuka did, and Ema died around 22:30 with Asuka perishing shortly afterwards.

Bando, Yasuda, and Eri speculate about the lack of footsteps, and then Harumi openly states that it was all due to the Kimono Goddess's curse. As she explains the deal with the two dolls in the shrine, Conan thinks that curses are not possible, wondering what trick could have been used in the double murder.