. The girls are surprised when Azusa says she wasn't in the hall yesterday. Amuro says it was a lookalike.
Azusa: "Did she really look like me?"
Amuro: "Yes. She called out to me in the hall's entrance... Was totally fooled... Wonder who it was..."
Sonoko then says that maybe it was Kaito Kid come to steal her heart.
Conan (thinking): "Well. That was Vermouth but... If they bothered to come to search, that means that... Like I thought: the message left behind by Haneda Kouji 17 years ago... That code of "ASACA RUM"... The BO guys are also interested in this story..."
Sonoko: "But what could've been that lookalike's goal?"
Ran: "It's a bit eerie..."
Azusa: "Speaking of eerie...When I went to buy ingredients a while ago... I saw a strange duo climbing up the stairs of the detective agency, you know?"
Conan (thinking): "A strange duo!?"
Conan thinks it's Vodka and Gin and asks Azusa if they wore black clothes.
Azusa: "They were a couple wearing normal clothes... The boyfriend was dark-skinned, though, similar to Amuro - san..."
Conan (thinking): "Dark-skinned?
Sonoko: "Wasn't that Makoto - san? Why is he with some woman!?"
Azusa: "Well... I don't know but... They were talking about some odd stuff... A dust cloth (zoukin) or something like that..."
Conan (thinking): "D-dust cloth?"
The trio goes to the agency and find Heiji and Kazuha.
Heiji: " * laughs *... That "dust cloth" actually is... Buried treasure (maizoukin)! Buried treasure! I was talking with Kazuha about "Let's go find Tokugawa's buried treasure 'long you guys!"
Ran: "I see..."
Conan (thinking): "I knew it: it was this guy..."
Kazuha: "A person that was Yadori Village's Mayor sent Heiji a letter... "I've got a clue to the whereabouts of Tokugawa's buried treasure: I want you to lend me a hand in digging it up."... And he thought that if he was going to do it then he'd also invite Ran - chan and her dad..."
Kogoro: "Not going. Not interested in that buried treasure stuff..."
Ran comments that this buried treasure talk sound scary: Kazuha tries to invite her saying the Mayor will pay the travel expenses and all.
Kazuha: "And, also... If Heiji got a letter... Maybe a letter has also come to Kudo - kun? He's also a high-school detective!"
Ran: "S-Shinichi maybe also got a letter!?"
Heiji: "That's right... Kudo did say before he was interested in the buried treasure so maybe he'll show up?"
Conan (thinking): "Oi, oi, oi!"
Conan: "What are you up to? I'm sure you're not interested in the buried treasure either!"
Heiji: "Can't be helped, can it? If that girl doesn't come then you don't come along..."
Conan: "Is there something more to this?"
Heiji: "Not at all!"
Conan then argues that the buried treasure is said to be at Mt. Akagi in Gunma and if something happens that incompetent inspector will show up: but Heiji replies that they're going to Shizuoka, not Gunma.
The Mayor (Takekuma Densuke, 58) then picks them up and drives them with his car: the fate of his village depends on the success of the search for this buried treasure: Conan asks him why he called Heiji even though there are other detectives: he replies that he didn't have enough budget since he'd called for some presitiguous archaelogists: he thought that if he hired a high school detective and told him he'd pay the travel and food expenses then he'd come.
They arrive at a worn-down hotel: the Mayor reassures them that the insides are cleaner than the outside: he's bought plenty of food and he's going to cook it, to Heiji's annoyance. The Mayor tells them that the hotel used to be more prosper as tourists came to see the scenery of the Kurogane Great Pond. But ever since a certain accident, people stopped coming. Kazuha asks about it.
The archeologist Tanzawa Michiki (62) explains that a member of the Tokugawa buried treasure excavation team suffered a cave-in accident and died. Conan asks if the famed treasure is really in this area. The Sunpu Castle where Tokugawa Ieyasu was said to have retired to and died is in Shizuoka.
The historian Someji Yasukatsu (55) shows up and tells of another legend: in the age of strife, an eldery couple that was about to be caught by the Imagawa forces hid the treasure in a forest. Once the strife ended: their son was granted a koban (Japanese oval coin of Edo era Japan) as a sign of gratitude. He says that that story was supposedly turned into a song.
The novelist Masuko Fumie (46) brings up that song: "Morning sun, iron bottle that sparkles in the dusk, a thousand golden pieces, two thousand cups..."
It's a nursery rhyme passed down from ancient times in the village. The novelist says that it would be one's dream fulfilled if there really were a thousand "koban" stuffed in 2000 bottles.
Ran comments that Kazuha that that would make up 2 million "koban": it would be wonderful to find those, Kazuha adds.
A guy shows up and tries to impress the girls saying that they sparkle like golden, more than a treasure. Heiji gets pissed off and gets into an argument with the guy.
Heiji: "Hey, you! Who are ya?"
Man: "Are they your girlfriends?"
Heiji: "I asked first! Aren't ya gonna answer me?"
The man introduces himself as Tsurumi Hajime (22), a reporter searching for specter legends. Heji argues that it doesn't have anyting to do with the treasure and when he tries to explain a dog barks at him. He's startled because he apparently can't stand dogs.
This dog belonged to the man who died in the cave-in accident. A neighbor was taking care of it but it always ran away to near the hotel and the neighbor decided to leave it there. Conan checks a banner that says "don't come in: danger" and gets stopped by Kazuha. Ran asks the Mayor if all of the guests are here and he answers "yes, well".
Ran (thinking): "What. Shinichi didn't come in the end. And here I was thinking of answering to that of London..."
Heiji (to the Mayor): "Is what you told me over the phone true?"
Mayor: "But of course! It's a great view!"
Heiji: "Better than evening at London's Big Ben?"
Mayor: "Of course! It can't be compared!"
Ran (to Kazuha): "Hey, Kazuha - chan... Was Hattori - kun the one who invited you here?"
Kazuha: "Yup. He argued that I had free time since it's a consecutive holiday..."
Kazuha then says she feels angsty because of that talk about the accident and the specters.
Ran: "Well, you see... It might be a premonition of love, you know?"
Kazuha: "Huh?"
The group eats at the hotel and Heiji asks about that tale of the specter.
Tsurumi explanins: there was a foreigner named Charles Abel that spoke broken Japanese in the excavation team. He was the victim of the cave-in.
When the other members reached the site he was still alive: he was trying to say something while stuck between the boulders.
The team asked him if he'd found something deeper into the cave: but the man's throat was damaged and he couldn't speak.
So one of the members gave him a notebook and a pen and the man managed to write 3 alphabet letters with the last of his forces and with his shuddering hands: the victim tore off the paper and ran out of forces. When one of the members read it he was frozen in place.
The reason was because the word written there was "nue". Heiji, Conan and the girls are surprised (the girls panick).
Heiji: "Yeah. It's an ancient monster a monkey head, racoon body, tiger hand and feet, snake tail... It appears along with black smoke and making an eerie monster-like cry, said to bring forth disgraces..."
Tsurumi brags about making an article about the nue lurking in the cave: the novelist, Masuko, gets annoyed: she says that Tsurumi shouldn't make fun of dead people. The other 2 guests point out that her novels did have something like that on them: the novelists questions if she should go back to the other two: the Mayor tries to calm them down.
A strange sound rings out from outside: the dog starts to bark and tug against the rope as if trying to get free: Conan and the other 3 wonder what's going on. Tsurumi, Masuko, Somechi mutter about "it being on the forest: when Conan and Heiji ask what is "it" Tanzawa says that this cry is the nue's cry...
[/spoiler]
