Spoilers follow for the culprit, the temple’s apparent spirit flames and the romantic ending.
Tontetsu is responsible for the temple killings, and the floating spirit flames are a staged effect using rising hot air. Heiji and Kazuha do reach the beautiful sunset Ran hoped would encourage a confession, but he still fails to say what he came to say. The Crimson Skeleton of Mt. Washio solves its crime while leaving that romantic opportunity unfulfilled.
The Crimson Skeleton of Mt. Washio (Part 1) and The Crimson Skeleton of Mt. Washio (Part 2) are international episodes 1236–1237 (Japanese episodes 1178–1179). They adapt manga Files 1116, 1117 and 1118 in Volume 105. This is a manga-adapted case, separate from the anime-original stories immediately before it.
Ran chooses the mountain with a confession in mind
Conan, Ran, Kogoro, Heiji and Kazuha climb Mount Washio after Heiji and Kazuha’s trip from Osaka. Ran has more in mind than a walk: the view of the sunset over Mount Fuji should give Heiji an ideal setting to tell Kazuha how he feels. The destination is chosen to help their relationship along.
Rain interrupts the climb, and the group takes shelter at Shogaku Temple. They learn that the view can be enjoyed from there too, so the romantic plan still seems possible. The shelter, however, comes with a story about a creature called the Crimson Skeleton, which appears with spirit flames, carries off wrongdoers and consumes their souls.
The legend seems to step out of the story
The group sees the strange flames, and the body of the missing monk Kantetsu is discovered. Kogoro also disappears. What began as an ominous local tale now seems to describe events happening around the visitors, giving the legend a frightening immediacy.
The important question is whether the flames explain the deaths or have been arranged to disguise them. The eventual answer lies in objects hidden inside the temple and in the very ordinary financial reason someone would want to keep them secret.
Replica statues connect the two victims to Tontetsu
Tontetsu has carved replica Buddhist statues and stored many of them in a hidden room. He sells the replicas online. When Kantetsu learns about the scheme, Tontetsu confines and kills him to prevent the secret from being exposed. The missing monk’s fate has a human cause, rather than the punishment promised by the legend.
The statue expert Murata had also recognized the deception. Tontetsu had put replicas in the temple’s main hall, assuming nobody would notice that they were imitations. Murata did notice, making his knowledge dangerous to the man behind the scheme.
Tontetsu confined Murata too, and after Murata died he burned the body as part of the concealment. The two victims are therefore linked by what they discovered about the statues. The apparent supernatural pattern distracts from the shared threat they posed to Tontetsu’s business.
Why the flames seem to float up the stairs
The spirit flames depend on burning paper tubes rising with heated air. By setting successive flames along the stairs as he ascends, the culprit creates the impression of supernatural fire moving upward. The movement belongs to a physical effect arranged in sequence, not a creature escorting a victim away.
That effect gives the legend something visible for witnesses to remember. Once the flames are explained, the tale no longer supplies a cause for the deaths. The hidden replicas, the victims’ discoveries and Tontetsu’s effort to silence them provide the motive that the ghost story obscures.
The case also resolves Kogoro’s disappearance. Heiji uses a magnet in a tablet to open the concealed room, revealing replica statues, a stun gun and the paper used for the flames. Kogoro is alive and stops Tontetsu’s attempted escape by throwing him.
Kazuha learns that Ran and Shinichi are together
Away from the temple mystery, Ran tells Kazuha that she and Shinichi are dating. Heiji already knew through Conan, but Kazuha hears it directly from Ran in this case. Ran had meant to wait until things worked out between Kazuha and Heiji before sharing the news. She is sharing an existing relationship, a separate development from the confession she hopes Heiji will make.
Ran also passes on Shinichi’s confidence that Heiji loves Kazuha. It gives Kazuha encouragement, but a friend’s assurance is separate from hearing Heiji say it himself. That distinction keeps the planned sunset conversation important even after Ran has made his feelings sound unmistakable.
The sunset arrives, but the confession does not
After the case is resolved, the rain stops and the view lives up to Ran’s promise. Heiji and Kazuha stand together with the sunset before them. Instead of confessing, however, he suggests that they head home, and she agrees. The scene supplies the opportunity without the declaration everyone was waiting for.
On the return train, Heiji admits that he forgot to confess. The failure is especially frustrating because the weather finally cooperated and Momiji Ooka and Muga Iori were not there to interrupt the pair’s moment. The obstacle at the end is his own missed opportunity.
The episode gives the two threads different endings. The replica scheme and floating flames receive explanations, while Kazuha gains new encouragement about Heiji’s feelings without receiving his confession. For a viewer waiting for the couple’s progress, the beautiful setting makes that postponement more exasperating, not less.
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