Naoko Kuroe (Case Closed)

Naoko Kuroe (Yayoi Kazuki) was a villainess from "And Then There Were No Mermaids", episodes 9.09, 9.10, and 9.11 of Case Closed (airdates January 29, February 5 and 12, 2001, manga volume 28: Files 6-10). She lived on the island known as "The Isle of Mermaids", and worked as a clerk in the island's tourist souvenir shop.
When Heiji Hattori and company (Kogoro and Ran Mouri, Conan Edogawa, and his girlfriend Kazuha Toyama) arrived on the island after receiving a panicked letter from Saori Kadowaki, claiming she was going to be killed by a mermaid and needed help. Upon first encountering the gang, Naoko told them of the legend that their island's "Elder" had eaten mermaid meat and was now immortal, while also claiming that Saori may have "gone mad" after losing a Dugong Arrow she got in the town's annual festival the previous year (which were believed to bestow the wielder immortality).
Later on, after Toshimi Ebihara was found dead during that year's festival, Naoko was also found murdered during Toshimi's funeral, being found behind the house by Ran and Kazuha strangled to death and with her arms wrapped up in a netted fence. Later on, it was revealed that Naoko and Toshimi's killer was Kimie Shimabukuro, who had been posing as the island's "Elder" (her great-grandmother) and who had also killed Saori and used her body to fake her own death. For a motivation, Kimie revealed that three years prior, her mother had been posing as the town's "Elder", and Naoko, Toshimi, and Saori were angry when they didn't get picked to receive a Dugong Arrow. Their bitterness led them to plot to set the Elder's shrine warehouse on fire with her in it; also doing so as a "test" of her immortality. The fire killed Kimie's mother, and after learning the truth from Saori in the present day, Kimie killed her and plotted to kill her other friends in revenge. To kill Naoko, Kimie lured Naoko outside of Toshimi's house before attacking and strangling her, leaving her on the fence before fleeing the scene via the nearby beach shore.
==Gallery==
Saori Kadowaki Toshimi Ebihara Naoko Kuroe.png|Naoko (along with Saori and Toshimi) preparing to kill Kimie's mother
Naoko Kuroe corpse.png|Naoko's deceased body
Category:2000s
Category:Anime Villainess
Category:Brunette
Category:Callous
Category:Conspirator
Category:Corpse
Category:Hero's Friend
Category:Manga Villainess
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Burning Alive
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Woman Kills Villainess
Category:Fate: Deceased
Category:Demise: Strangled