Upon Seeing True Nature

Entire Classics Club goes to the hot springs to relax after solving Jun Sekitani case. Houtarou expects to have a rest; unfortunately for him, new mystery pops up.

Plot
While riding up the mountain on a glide-rail, Houtarou and the rest of the Classics club head for the hot springs. During this ride, Satoshi starts to talk about "The truth behind Hamanoko's giant eel, Hussy!", and everyone else that Houtarou believes this story, as Houtarou himself believes that "All ghosts, when closely examined, are just withered flowers." Eru only the other hand can't decide whether it is true or not.

Now, the four rides a bus, and their destination is the Zaizen village, a location famous for mountain hiking and hot springs. The club members are here for only the hot spring portion. During this summer break, Houtarou would have rather wanted to take his own kind of lazy "break" than going out on trips. But Eru, in thanks for helping her find the truth behind her uncle, asked Houtarou, Satoshi and Mayaka if they could go on a hot spring trip. Houtarou had no choice but to accept the offer, as he could see "I want to go" all over her face.

After the bus ride, the members wait for their ride to the hot spring inn. But Houtarou, due to his lazy nature, is already feeling carsick, even though it has been only an hour and a half. Satoshi is amazed at how Mayaka was able to get them a reservation at an inn. Since her relatives are in the middle of renovating their inn and can't take guests, Mayaka was able to get permission for the Classic Club stay there for free.

The Inn's Hanging Man case
During her first night in the inn, Mayaka said she saw a hanging shadow in the room No. 7 from the window of her room. During yesterday's evening, Mayaka's little sister, Rie Zenna, told Eru and Mayaka a story about a weird man, who stayed in room No. 7, and was found later hanged inside. Next guests who stayed in that room complained that they saw frightening shadows during the night, and the ninth guest who stayed in that room died of an unknown disease.

Eru, who saw similar shadow too, and Mayaka asked Houtarou to help her to solve this new mystery. Houtarou had no choice but to agree to them and begin the investigation.

Houtarou deduced that if Mayaka and Eru had seen a shadow then it must be the shadow of something which was backlit against the moon, the only source of light during that night. But Eru told him that inn's window shutters were closed at 10:00 PM. After that Houtarou decides to go to the room No. 7, but he founds out that this place is off limits. Houtarou and Eru meet Kayo Zenna who reluctantly tells them that inn's second floor is used as storage. Because of it Houtarou and Eru are forced to examine the room from outside. On the way, they see the Rie and Kayo's morning sports cards. Houtarou notices that Rie has written her name on her card and doesn't practice all mornings, unlike Kayo who did it all day. Also, he notices that Rie has written her name on her ball in difference to Kayo. After getting outside, Houtarou says that the ground is wet. Eru tells him that it was raining a bit during the night. After he examines the room No. 7 windows outside, Houtarou deduces that a shadow in the room can be seen from outside only if all room's window shutters are open.

After the lunch, Rie shows her new yukata to everyone, and Houtarou notices strange shadow in the corridor.

Some time later, Houtarou and Eru go again to the hot springs. Houtarou goes to the man's bath and finds there Satoshi. Houtarou asks him if any official event took place on the last night. Satoshi answer that the summer festival took place in the village yesterday night. Houtarou remembers that he heard the drums sound and saw someone leaving the inn at this moment. This information allows Houtarou to solve that mystery.

Solution : While Houtarou and Eru return to the inn, he tells her the explanation of this mystery. In fact, during the previous evening, Kayo wanted to go to the summer festival in Rie's yukata, but she was sure that Rie won't lend it to her. So Kayo secretly borrowed Rie's yukata and went to the summer festival, and the person leaving the inn at evening who was noticed by Houtarou was her. However, the night was rainy and the Kayo (and her yukata) got wet. Kayo knew that Rie plans to wear it in the next days, and Kayo didn't want Rie to discover that her yukata was already used. So Kayo hanged the yukata in room No. 7 and opened all room's windows to dry it before discreetly returning it to her sister. Unfortunately, the moon was very shiny this night and this was the reason why Eru and Mayaka saw the yukata's shadow from their room.

Trivia

 * This episode is adaptation of Story 3 "The Ghost, When Examined" from.