Synopsis

They boarded the Azusa limited express to Nagano, a group including Kogoro, Amuro, Wakita, and myself. Sonoko had been slated to join us, but illness prevented her travel. Ran remained behind to visit a friend, leaving Amuro and Wakita to fill the gap, as the client, Nichihara Taisei, had insisted in his letter to Kogoro that a party of four accompany him. The letter also contained a message scrawled in katakana. It read: "My old friend hanged himself in an abandoned church deep in the mountains