Detective Conan: Death Note

The late mystery writer devised a "ciphered puzzle contest" to determine the heir of his vast fortune.

The stage for this deadly game is the trap-filled "Lucia Mansion."

Assisting with the contest, Hayashi Yoshiki unexpectedly encounters the "Puppeteer from Hell!"

"I just wanted someone—who prides himself on righteousness—to understand the darkness in every heart. You don't have to agree. After all, you and I run on parallel lines that never meet... and because they never meet, they never part."

Just those opening words on the flyleaf and frontispiece have Edogawa Conan on edge.

The "Puppeteer from Hell", Yoichi Takato, was a new character introduced by Hayashi Yoshiki in his previous work, The Murder on the Magic Train.

Like Holmes and Moriarty, two rivals on equal footing are enough to spark anticipation, even before reading the story.

Conan flips open the book.

The tale begins with the death of famed mystery writer Kosei Yamanouchi, who left behind billions in inheritance—and no direct heirs.

He decides to gift everything freely to five close friends... but with conditions.

His will is hidden in his Hokkaido villa, encoded in a cipher. Only those who decode it can claim the fortune.

One of the heirs is Takarada Koji, Yamanouchi's former editor. To get the money, he hires Kindaichi to decipher the puzzle.

"The orchestra had their heads cut off at the morning ceremony, in order from first to last."

"Alright, now let's do some counting!"

"Place the second child's head to the right of the fifth child's… a joyous melody is about to begin!"

Intrigued, Kindaichi accepts the challenge from Takarada and departs for the isolated villa on the mountain lake.

Upon arrival, the butler announces that they must stay five days with no contact with the outside world—no phone, no boat until day five—classic snowstorm-isolation mystery setup.

The other four heirs arrive soon after:

Mystery critic Tadaharu Jinmei, a boozy fellow, always half-drunk

Mystery novelist Kaoru Umezono, who started strong but soon abandoned detective fiction

High schooler Takashi Inukai, reputed to be as talented as Kindaichi

An illustrator and his masked assistant Magus — Scarlet Roses — soon revealed to be Yoichi Takato in disguise

Gathered in the drawing room, the lawyer presents a video testament from the late Takarada Koji, as witness to the contest.

Yamanouchi's encrypted will reveals that the cipher alone is meaningless—decoding requires matching five Russian nesting dolls, each holding a musical instrument, differing in size, to the five real-life heir instruments.

Conan carefully maps the puzzle, but stalls.

In contrast, Korn heads to the bar. He doesn't care for puzzles—he wants blood, so he skips ahead.

Soon, the first victim is found.

On the first night at the villa, Tadaharu Jinmei, having secretly measured the doll sizes, was killed. His corpse is discovered in a bathtub, alongside the smallest nesting doll—"Bass Cello Ivan." The cipher about heads in order from smallest to largest begins to mean deaths mirroring doll heights.

The second heir—Takarada Koji himself—dies the next morning, matching the second doll. His body, too, is found with its corresponding doll.

By the third victim— the illustrator—Korn can't suppress a low, chilling laugh at his seat, shoulders trembling.

Vodka observes blankly; Gin watches unbothered.

The illustrator has been strangled, decapitated—Yoichi Takato, enraged, appears claiming justice. He challenges Kindaichi: find the real killer first, or he'll take matters into his own hands.

Now the detective and criminal mastermind stand squared off. Korn feels a thrill—this is entertainment and intellect matched.

The fourth victim is Kaoru Umezono. Her head is placed on the table; her body sits slumped beside it.

Haruki confronts Takashi Inukai, accusing him as the only remaining heir who would rather kill all four together. Under pressure, Takashi resists—and Yoichi Takato kills him swiftly.

At this intense point, both Korn and Gin frown—this plot feels too contrived. Something seems off, possibly Yoichi Takato's mask hiding deeper designs.

Then came the moment of revelation.

The butler announces: all five heirs are dead—thus by default, the inheritance is forfeited.

But maid Soko Kirie hesitates—she's deciphered the cipher.

With her lead, they find the will hidden behind the clock in a secret compartment.

The lawyer reads aloud:

"He who decodes my cipher and locates my will—becomes killer of my vault of murders!"

Soko Kirie freezes—someone must've swapped her will.

Kindaichi glads-handedly reveals the real will:

"Those eligible heirs were only the original five. But if none decode it by deadline, then the first person to do so—regardless of status—shall inherit."

At that moment, the room door opens—and out stroll Yoichi Takato, Inukai Takashi, and Umezono Kaoru—all alive.

They confess: Kindaichi and Yoichi Takato staged the murders to draw out the real killer, faking deaths via basic magic illusions and swapping heads from other victims.

Cornered, Soko Kirie confesses.

She reveals the truth: Yamanouchi became famous by plagiarizing her father's genius puzzle notes—and inherited this very villa from Soko Kirie's family. He stole her ideas, then bought the property cheap after her father died unexpectedly.

Consumed by wrath, she became his maid to reclaim what was rightfully hers:

"If you find a full wallet on the ground, do you ignore it—or pick it up? Of course you pick it up! That fortune—and this villa—belongs to my father... and to me!"

As she finishes her confession in tears, she raises Yoichi Takato's dagger to her throat.

But at the last moment, the blade bursts into falling rose petals—symbolizing regret and loss. Yoichi Takato smiles softly.

At the window, he gazes upon the lake's reflection:

"Kindaichi—but for outwitting the killer, you've won. I spare her life.

Ms. Soko Kirie—if you die at the first pressure point, you can't call yourself a cold-hearted criminal. You've died twice today—today is your rebirth.

Now let your thoughts drift skyward, as you ascend from this grand Russian mansion."

With that, Yoichi Takato steps out, catching a rising balloon, soaring gracefully over the lake.

The contest ends.

Korn closes the final page, shivering with goosebumps.

This was brilliantly written—clever, suspenseful, with rival detectives on parallel tracks… yet he senses something's missing—perhaps a cliché?

Could Hayashi Yoshiki have done better? Maybe he didn't have a stronger idea this time.

But Korn turns the last few pages—and stops breathing.

In his hand is a half-finished manuscript by Yamanouchi, scheduled for release in two weeks.

He reads in shock—it retells the exact cottage murders at Lucia Mansion... scheduled for publication after the villagers' photograph.

At that moment, Yoichi Takato appears before Kindaichi:

"Seems you read Yamanouchi's final draft, too. Notice this? The real mastermind behind the murders... is Yamanouchi himself."

He explains:

"This cipher contest lured the five heirs—and Soko Kirie—into a trap. Yamanouchi correctly saw Soko Kirie as the real threat, and despised these five:

critic Tadaharu Jinmei for tearing his novels apart

editor Takarada for nitpicking manuscripts

novelist Umezono—his mistress—who abused his early ideas to win awards he never could the illustrator who revealed the puzzle clues in art

and the neighbor Inukai Takashi, whose barking dogs disrupted his writing."

This final twist—Yamanouchi's posthumous orchestration of murder via human greed—emerges only in the last two pages, leaving Korn with a chill as though in a cold storage room.

He is convinced: this work by Hayashi Yoshiki will explode much bigger than the last.