Miyuki and I went to the remote Renkin Island on a TV shoot,
but got caught up in a terrifying series of murders.
Mayumura Takuya, Assistant Director
The AD, Mayumura, an idol, Fukamori Hotaru,
Fukamori Hotaru, Talent
Onizawa Ryuuko, Director
the director, Onizawa, and the cameraman, Fujimori, were all brutally murdered.
Fujimori Akira, Cameraman
And suspicion fell on Reika-chan, who was in the room of the murdered Fukamori Hotaru.
I swear I'll prove Reika-chan's innocence!
I swear it in the name of my grandfather!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
The Alchemy Murder Case
The Alchemy Murder Case!
I'm sorry, Reika. I don't think you're the killer,
Hayami Reika, Talent
but to change the minds of those who do, this can't be helped.
Tanigawa Christina
I don't think she'll be able to get out of that.
This is ridiculous.
What, Isshiki-san?
Isshiki Rikako
Even if that girl is the Alchemist, that thin rope alone won't hold her.
Are you saying she was able to slip through a metal door, so ropes are easy?
You're an idiot.
If she is the killer, going through a metal door has nothing to do with it!
Have you forgotten, Tanigawa-san? About the giant sword we saw on the video?
There are two mysteries here, "The Locked Room Murder of Fukamori Hotaru"
and "The Vanished Weapon", to put it in a mystery series style...
Am I right, grandson of a famous detective?
Yeah. Except this is no story, but a genuine murder case.
Anyway, you're satisfied now, right?
No matter what happens from here on in, it won't be Reika-chan's fault.
Yes, that's right.
On the other hand, if nothing else happens, she'll fall under even more suspicion.
Mikage Satsuki, Manager
Hey, Miyuki, about before...
What?
You know, when I said I'd prove Reika-chan's innocence...
Yeah. What about it?
Um, well, I only said it because I don't think she's the killer.
Other than that, you know, she's a friend...
Why are you telling me this?
Why? Um...
Do your best, Hajime-chan!
I don't think Reika-chan is the killer either!
You're the only one who can help her!
Miyuki...
And with that settled, it's time to investigate! For starters...
Mayumura-kun, Hotaru, and even Onizawa were murdered!
If that was the motive, then the next victim...
Who is it?!
It's Kindaichi! I'm with Miyuki.
Mikage-san, please open the door!
Those two are part of the quiz winners group, so I can trust them.
I'll be right there!
What's wrong, you two?
Can we come in?
Yes, certainly.
Would you like a drink?
Nah, that's okay. I'd be afraid it was drugged.
You talk like you suspect me.
No, I don't think you're the killer, Mikage-san.
In fact, I think you're a likely target.
Did I nail it?
You know the hidden thing all the victims have in common, don't you?
And you have it, too, Mikage-san...
Get out of here! I don't know anything! Get out!
I'm sorry, Yuunagi-san.
I never imagined that would happen.
Yuunagi? Why do you ask?
That person could be the key to this whole case. What happened?
A scandal? Or an accident? Don't tell me you were involved, too...
What's that?
Hajime-chan!
I-I didn't mean for it to come out like that! I apologize!
But I just have to know!
So there aren't any more victims...
...and to prove Reika-chan's innocence!
Enkouji Shinobu, Producer
You've got guts.
That's the name of an idol who committed suicide two years ago.
An idol who committed suicide?
Now that you mention it, I think I heard about that.
Yuunagi Haruka. She was just 16 years old.
She made her debut at 14 and drew a lot of attention in the biz.
It happened right before she was set to star in a movie.
She was a minor, so it wasn't a huge story...
...but she was a good girl with a lot of talent and best of all, a beautiful smile.
To a producer like me, she was a golden egg.
Why did a girl like that commit suicide?
She was taking uppers.
Drugs?!
It's hard for me to believe,
but maybe that's one of the pitfalls of show business.
Akashiba Taiki, Comedian
Akashiba-san and Tanigawa-san wouldn't tell us anything.
Yeah. Maybe it's like a code of silence since they're in show business, too.
But I wonder what the connection is between that idol and the four victims.
So what do you want to ask us?
Like you, we're outsiders who are only here because we won that quiz.
Although it's true that my father is the original owner of this place, Ezaki Kuroudo.
But that's no reason to suspect me as the killer, is it?
Kamioka Fuuma
And I have no connection to any of this.
I wish I'd never taken that quiz.
I wonder about that...
I mean, aside from the treasure hunt, maybe you've got another motive for being here.
What do you mean by that, Kindaichi-kun?
I saw you secretly slip money to the AD, Mayumura-san.
You got me. Since you saw that, there's no point lying. I'll talk.
This was my real reason for coming here.
A Fukamori Hotaru lock screen?
I-I'm a big fan of hers and wanted to go out with her if possible...
That's why I studied hard to go to a dental school.
You know how a lot of talents go on to marry doctors and stuff...
So that's why I came. Bye.
He's an otaku.
And totally straightforward...
That's right. I just remembered something.
What is it, Kamioka-san?
Do you know the movie Gold Rush, the movie that gave Fukamori-san her first break?
Yeah, the title, anyway.
Fukamori-san got the part after the original intended star got in trouble.
But then the opposing role didn't fit her image, so the actress was replaced.
Replaced by whom, do you think?
I don't know, who?
Hayami Reika.
I wonder if she has something to do with these murders.
The actress who got in trouble...
Don't tell me...
Starring Yuunagi Haruka
Gold Rush
Passerby A Passerby B Passerby C
Produced by
Doing this is pointless.
The Philosopher's Stone? That's what Isshiki-san mentioned, right?
Yeah. I have a feeling I saw this before at my grandfather's house a long time ago.
There it is. Here.
This looks exactly like the layout of the second floor!
The Philosopher's Stone
Elevator Hall
Then I was right. This is an alchemist's item.
Everything in this mansion is patterned after alchemy.
So even this seemingly silly thing...
Hey, Miyuki, do you remember that thing?
Thing?
Remember, in chemistry class...
Oh, that! It was kind of like this, right?
Three cheers for the honors student!
I see. So even then...
I've got "22".
"28".
I've got "24".
It's just like I thought.
You're a genius, Hajime-chan!
But I need to demonstrate it and most of all, I don't have any proof.
Maybe it's still in there!
In where?
Well?
Yeah! Way to go, Miyuki! You get a gold star!
Really?! Great!
All of the mysteries are connected by one thread.
Then Hajime-chan...
Yeah.
I've solved all of the mysteries!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
What's this about? Why did you suddenly have us gather together?
He's probably playing detective again.
You see it a lot. Where the detective gathers all the suspects and makes a big speech.
Oh, but we already know who the killer is. Hayami Reika.
No one else has been murdered since then, right, Akashiba-san?
You're a harsh one, too.
Kindaichi-kun! I brought Reika-san here, too.
Kindaichi-kun... Miyuki-chan...
Reika-chan...
Everyone's here, right? Then let's get started.
I'm going to unravel the truth behind the serial murders here at this alchemy mansion.
Let's review what happened.
We came to this island to film a special TV show.
The premise was announced a month ago
and a campaign began to recruit regular people to go on a treasure hunt.
At that time, the talent and crew knew they'd be coming to the island,
and Isshiki-san and Kamioka-san could've known they'd win the quiz with their smarts.
In other words, with the exception of me and Miyuki,
nobody is here by coincidence.
The killer's targets include performers who are usually hard to get at.
Rather than going after them one by one, when they'd be on guard,
the island location shoot for this show, which brought everyone together, was perfect.
The first victim was the AD, Mayumura Takuya.
Mayumura had no idea he was being targeted, so he must've been easy prey for the killer.
The murderer had a reason for appearing on video wearing a strange get-up.
With the disappearance of that sword, the image of an elusive killer would be planted.
It was a psychological trick, so we wouldn't realize the true motive right away.
After all, the killer wanted to murder several people here.
If everyone was on guard after the first murder, the rest would be a pain to accomplish.
Then Fukamori Hotaru was murdered, making her the second victim.
The plan there was to create a "locked room murder"
and scare the crap out of us.
The third victim was Onizawa Ryuuko, murdered in the bathroom.
It's likely that a laxative was slipped into the drink planted in Onizawa's room.
The killer then ambushed her from above the ceiling, when she had her guard down.
I checked it out. There were signs the ceiling panel over the toilet had been removed.
And finally, the fourth victim was the cameraman, Fujimori Akira.
For some reason, he alone was killed by a blow to the head with a vase.
I'll explain why later on,
but first I'd like to solve the mysteries of the disappearing sword and the locked room.
By doing that, I'll be able to prove
the serial killer didn't use some magic power to walk through walls or a metal door.
The hint to solve that mystery is in here.
"The Philosopher's Stone". The elixir!
It looks just like the mansion's layout!
Ezaki Kuroudo was so obsessed with alchemy
that he incorporated alchemical motifs into the design of this mansion.
There's a reason all the doors are made of thick metal.
The hint to that reason is in the room numbers.
That's...
...the periodic table?
Exactly.
The chemical elements are lined up by atomic weight, with their atomic numbers displayed.
According to this table, my room is "iron".
But then... don't tell me...
Yeah. The room numbers indicate the material used for each huge door.
For example, Enkouji-san's room is 13, magnesium.
Kamioka-san is in 29, so bronze, while Isshiki-san is in 13, aluminum.
And Fukamori-san, who was murdered inside of a locked room, was in 50.
Tin
That's tin.
What does that have to do with a locked room murder trick?
An alchemist can walk through any kind of metal.
Isshiki-kun, that again?
You're right.
That's precisely right. The killer slipped right through a metal door.
Yep. By melting it.
That thick metal door was melted?!
Well, take a look. Miyuki.
Right.
This is the gas cylinder for a cartridge-style gas burner.
It's always used for the barbecue at the end of the show.
But if you attach a part that's used for camping...
...you then have a simple burner.
And this is an ingot of tin that was in the lab.
It's the same material as the door from the locked room murder.
It would take time to test it on a door, so I'll do it here instead.
Hold it tight, Miyuki.
Okay.
Is a thick ingot like that really gonna melt?
I'm sure it can't melt so easily...
It melted!
The melting point of tin, that is, the temperature when it melts, is 231.9 degrees.
This gas burner has no problem melting it.
When the killer was preparing for this murder,
they noticed the material of the door to room 50.
Tin Plutonium
The clever killer must have checked all the numbers and quickly realized the meaning.
Manganese
Nickel
Zinc
Chromium
The killer saw the door covered in those ingots and came up with a novel trick.
This is the trick the killer used.
First, they used a heat-resistant material like plaster,
making a cast of only one part of the door of the room where Fukamori was sleeping.
Then, after masking the area around the door with an insulated sheet or tape,
the killer carefully used the easy burner to heat up that part of the door.
The heat-sensitive tin quickly melted, opening a hole in the door.
The next part is difficult.
If the hole opened perfectly, the melted tin would drip inside the room,
so the killer stopped burning and switched to a heated tool like a screwdriver,
little by little melting the thin parts connecting the ingot.
If the bar was unbolted, the door would open.
Then there was escaping from the locked room.
The killer put Reika-chan in the room, closed the door, and used the same way to bolt it.
Then the killer fit another ingot panel prepared in advance into the vacated hole.
After that, they carefully used melted tin to completely fill in the cracks.
Next, the killer took the hardened plaster cast and fit it snugly against the door
so it would catch the melted tin dripping out of the above crack.
Once the tin inside had hardened nicely, the killer took away the cast,
and the door looked as good as new.
I'm sure the killer rehearsed that several times beforehand.
They brilliantly accomplished this difficult drudge work.
No one would think that thick, heavy metal door could be breached so easily.
That was the psychological trick the killer relied on.
Certainly, that may be possible,
but there's no proof it actually happened that way!
Besides, there's still that vanished sword.
I've already solved that one, too.
I noticed something unnatural when we saw where Fujimori was murdered.
This is the same type of vase with artificial flowers, but when I do this...
What are you doing?!
It's easier to see this way.
And these are the artificial flowers that were in the vase used to kill Fujimori.
So what?
The ones that were in Fujimori's room have really short stems.
That's the answer to the mystery of the disappearing weapon.
That sword was made of tin, just like the door.
The killer melted the sword down and hid it in the vase in Mayumura's room.
That's why the stems are really short.
If the killer hadn't cut them, the flowers would stick out unnaturally high.
Also, I don't know if a single blow from a thin vase like this could kill someone.
But it's a different story when the vase contains a mass of tin melted down from a sword.
That's why a vase was used instead of the sword!
The mouth of the vase is narrow, so the tin wouldn't come out unless the vase was broken.
The vase becomes a deadly weapon and hides evidence to boot.
But the killer made a mistake by leaving the artificial flowers at the site of the murder.
They should have come up with some excuse to take the flowers away.
This is the answer to the locked room and the vanished weapon.
But that doesn't make sense!
How were the second and third murders committed if the killer couldn't get that tin out?
After the first murder, the sword was melted down, right?
That's another psychological trick the killer used.
When we saw that big-ass sword, we immediately assumed it was the murder weapon.
But I'm sure the killer used a weapon with a shorter blade that would leave big wounds.
W-Wait a second, Kindaichi-kun!
Isn't there one thing you haven't solved yet?
You talk as if the killer planned to kill those people,
but that locked room trick could only be used for room 50 with the tin door, right?
But the room assignments were decided by lottery.
That's right! We always use that kind of lottery for the show. There are no tricks.
Fukamori stayed in room 50 by chance.
In other words, even with that elaborate trick,
the killer must've prayed to god over the all-important room assignments.
There was no coincidence or praying to god.
The Alchemist did indeed employ an ingenious trick
to successfully get the second intended victim, Fukamori, to draw 50.
The killer is definitely among us.
And by uncovering that trick, I'll unmask the Alchemist!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
A cleverly-constructed locked room murder...
A vanished weapon... The mystery of the room numbers...
And the final clue is connected to all of the mysteries!
I finally unmask the murderous Alchemist!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns! The Alchemy Murder Case, File 4!
The Alchemy Murder Case
I've solved all of the mysteries!