Chapter 21

The piano room's door was roughly shoved open from outside. Mouri Kogoro, who led the way, immediately widened his eyes at the sight inside.

Behind him, Inspector Megure, who was so overweight that merely running a few dozen meters had left him gasping for breath, panted his way over as well.

Noticing that the back door of the room was open and that the two officers who should have been standing guard there had collapsed on the floor, Mouri Kogoro ignored the extra gift box on the piano and hurried outside to crouch beside the fallen policemen, checking their condition.

"Inspector Megure, they've only been knocked unconscious." Mouri Kogoro's brows drew tightly together as anger surged through him.

This was a provocation!

Whether as the detective he was now or as the former criminal investigator he had once been, Mouri Kogoro could not tolerate criminals committing such brazen acts.

Beside him, upon hearing that his subordinates had merely fainted, Inspector Megure sighed in relief—but also became rather annoyed.

Aso Narumi: "I also hope we can catch the culprit as soon as possible"

The culprit's lawless crime was undoubtedly a fierce slap across the faces of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department officers.

"You lot, carry them inside." After having several officers move the two unconscious policemen from the doorway into the room, Inspector Megure turned to the crowd that had gathered at the entrance and asked, "By the way, I recall there's a doctor among you. Could we trouble her to come check on them?"

Inspector Megure vaguely remembered that one of the women who had attended the memorial service here last night was a doctor.

"I'm here!"

As soon as Inspector Megure finished speaking, Aso Narumi, who had been standing at the back of the crowd, raised her hand high and squeezed her way through.

"Then I'll be counting on you." Seeing Narumi, Inspector Megure's expression softened considerably from his earlier rage.

"Leave it to me." Narumi nodded at Inspector Megure, looking at the two unconscious policemen on the floor as she guessed that Kurumi had undoubtedly done this.

Though she was surprised by Kurumi's boldness and curious about how she had managed it, Aso Narumi still dutifully fulfilled her obligations as a doctor. Kneeling between the two officers, she bent down to examine them.

A short while later, Aso Narumi said with a smile, "They were only knocked unconscious. Aside from bruising on the backs of their necks, they don't seem to have suffered any other injuries."

Logically speaking, when people suddenly lost consciousness, their bodies would fall straight to the ground. Yet apart from the obvious marks on the backs of their necks, neither of these officers had any injuries on their heads from striking the floor.

Looks like Kurumi was careful not to hurt innocent people~ Aso Narumi could not help feeling a little pleased, and her opinion of Kurumi rose another notch.

After confirming through the doctor's examination that his subordinates had not suffered any other injuries, Inspector Megure decided to set the matter aside for now.

"All right, let's put aside whoever attacked them for the moment." Walking over to the piano, Inspector Megure picked up the gift box on it. "I think his real purpose was to place this box here and play the piano to lure us over."

At Inspector Megure's words, an argument erupted within the crowd.

"Does that mean none of us are suspects anymore?"

"Can we go home now?"

"Seriously, what a waste of time!"

With men and women chattering noisily into his ears, Inspector Megure's mouth twitched.

Before he could speak, however, Mouri Kogoro said, "The person who attacked the officers and put this box here indeed wasn't any of you, but that doesn't mean none of you are connected to the culprit."

Mouri Kogoro knew perfectly well that his serious words would provoke complaints and arguments from these people. To avoid inflaming the crowd, he decided to send everyone back to the memorial hall first. Then those remaining here could open the box and see what was inside.

With the police backing them up, even though the people had complaints, they were eventually driven back to the memorial hall by officers whose injured colleagues had awakened the authority of law enforcement within them.

Once the crowd dispersed, only Inspector Megure, the Mouri family, and Aso Narumi, who was watching over the officers, remained in the piano room.

Something's not right...

Conan moved behind Aso Narumi, his eyes suspiciously fixed on the beautiful doctor's back.

This doctor is far too calm. Conan knew that doctors were accustomed to seeing injured people and blood, but for some reason, Doctor Asai gave him a strangely familiar sense of incongruity.

While Conan watched Aso Narumi, Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure had already opened the gift box.

Seeing another severed hand, a sheet of paper, and a cassette tape inside, Mouri Kogoro said gravely, "It looks like the killer deliberately left these two things behind."

The severed hand had not exceeded Mouri Kogoro's expectations.

"This is... sheet music?" Opening the folded paper, Inspector Megure looked at the staff lines and notes, utterly baffled.

Mouri Kogoro leaned over beside Inspector Megure, suddenly having an idea. "Do you think this might be some sort of code?"

Code?

The moment Conan heard there was a code, he perked up.

Moving his little legs, Conan ran to the adults' feet and stood on tiptoe, trying to see the sheet music in Inspector Megure's hands.

"Mouri, do you understand music?" Inspector Megure asked, unable to make sense of it at all.

"No."

Rather unexpectedly, Mouri Kogoro shook his head and admitted it without hesitation.

Just as the two adults were at their wits' end, Mouri Ran and Conan raised their hands at the same time and said, "I do!"

Hearing that both Conan and Mouri Ran understood sheet music, Inspector Megure and Mouri Kogoro exchanged glances and decided to give it to the seemingly more reliable Mouri Ran rather than a child like Conan.

"..." Conan rolled his eyes and shook his head irritably.

Taking the sheet music from Inspector Megure and handing it to his daughter, Mouri Kogoro said, "Then give it a try, Ran. See if you can play it from the score."

"No problem, Dad!" Mouri Ran replied confidently.

The two adults moved away from the piano to make room for Mouri Ran. Looking at the severed hand and cassette tape in the box, Inspector Megure felt a headache coming on.

The tape was easy enough. If they wanted to know what it contained, they only needed to find a tape recorder.

As for examining the severed hand—

Since he had not brought a forensic examiner with him on this trip, Inspector Megure could only stare helplessly.

"Um... if you need my help..."

Seemingly noticing the troubled look on Inspector Megure's face, Aso Narumi volunteered, "I am, after all, a licensed doctor. If you want to get clues from this... um... this hand, Officer, I can help."

To make her words more convincing, Aso Narumi added, "After all, I'm also a resident of this island. I hope the police can catch the culprit as soon as possible."

Hearing Aso Narumi say this, Inspector Megure was still somewhat hesitant. But she was the only doctor here, and if they wanted to get clues from the hand, they could only rely on her for the time being.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Doctor." Inspector Megure handed the box to Aso Narumi.

"Of course. It's my duty!"

Narumi said gently with a smile.

You Must Be Careful Around Conan

"Judging from the stiffness of this hand and the time it took for the blood to coagulate, I believe it was severed at roughly the same time as the previous hand." Using a flashlight borrowed from the police, Aso Narumi carefully examined the already rigid hand and analyzed, "And judging from the muscle tissue at the cut, I believe the weapon used was something like an extremely sharp machete. If an ordinary knife had been used for this, the wrist would have..." After considering her phrasing, she continued, "shown obvious signs of a second or even third injury."

"However, my expertise is limited, so I can't determine any more information about this hand. I can only say that it and the previous one belonged to the same person."

Aso Narumi placed the severed hand back in the box, her expression somewhat uncomfortable.

After hearing the analysis from Aso Narumi, Inspector Megure nodded. He knew that asking a doctor to do a forensic examiner's work was already asking a great deal of her.

Although they now knew that both severed hands had come from the same person, if they wanted to determine whether they belonged to the missing Mr. Kawashima, they would need a professional DNA test.

And clearly, they had no way to do that now.

While Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure watched Aso Narumi, Mouri Ran, seated at the piano, played the notes written on the score.

As discordant sounds emerged from the piano along with her playing, Conan, standing beside Mouri Ran, became certain that these seemingly chaotic notes were some kind of code.

"Ran, can I take a look at the sheet music?" Conan asked, looking up at her.

"Well..." Mouri Ran was visibly troubled. Her eyes shifted to her father, then back to Conan, the meaning in her gaze clear enough.

Honestly... Clearly understanding that Mouri Ran wanted him to ask that muddleheaded uncle, Mouri Kogoro, and Inspector Megure himself, Conan silently let out a breath and walked over to Mouri Kogoro, prepared to be scolded again.

"Inspector Megure, Uncle, can I look at the sheet music?"

Before Conan could finish, the already frazzled Mouri Kogoro snapped irritably, "Go on, get out of here! Kids shouldn't mess with evidence!" He even waved a fist. "If you damage such important evidence, we can't afford to take responsibility for it."

The development had not gone beyond Conan's expectations at all. He was certain that if he continued asking for the sheet music, Mouri Kogoro's iron fist would be waiting for him next.

However, although Mouri Kogoro had rejected his request, Inspector Megure said kindly, "It's not that serious. Besides, there are too many mysteries right now. If Conan really can read a code from this score, it might be a great help to us."

Inspector Megure's words immediately made Conan beam.

"All right, since Inspector Megure says so." Having reached this point, Mouri Kogoro could not object. Though he had yielded, he still sternly warned Conan, "You can take the score and look at it, but don't you dare damage it! Got it?"

Seeing that Mouri Kogoro had finally relented, Conan answered with a cheerful "Mm." After thanking Inspector Megure, he took the sheet music from Mouri Ran and began analyzing it carefully.

"By the way, Doctor Asai, do you have a tape recorder here? The one from last night." Suddenly remembering the cassette in the box, Mouri Kogoro looked at Aso Narumi, who was standing around with nothing to do.

"I think that tape recorder was put in the storage room. If you need it, I can go look for it." As she spoke, Aso Narumi rubbed her hands together. "And I'd like to wash my hands."

Naturally, neither man refused Aso Narumi's request. After all, she was a woman, and they were already deeply grateful that she had bravely helped them examine a severed hand.

Having received permission, Aso Narumi quickly left the room. After washing her hands thoroughly at the sink, she headed for the storage room, whose lock had yet to be repaired.

When the lights in the room came on, pale fluorescent light illuminated the cluttered space.

"Sister Seijitsu, how did those people react?"

Just as Aso Narumi was searching for the tape recorder someone had placed in the storage room, the door behind her suddenly slammed shut.

Startled by the bang, Aso Narumi immediately heard Kurumi's voice from behind her.

Turning around, Aso Narumi glared indignantly at the grinning Kurumi. Her heart pounding, she instinctively pressed a hand to her chest.

"You scared me to death!"

Her tone was more coquettish than angry, making Aso Narumi seem even more adorable.

"Sorry, sorry~" Kurumi comforted Aso Narumi without a trace of remorse.

"By the way, how are things going with Detective Mouri?" To prevent anyone from overhearing them, Kurumi leaned against the wooden door, summoned King Crimson to watch the corridor outside, and asked in a low voice.

Kurumi felt somewhat regretful that she could not participate in person, but from another perspective, it gave her the chance to cause as much trouble as she pleased.

"For now, the child from Detective Mouri's family is cracking the code, though I have no idea whether that little boy can actually do it."

Conan's little-adult manner always gave Aso Narumi a profound sense of unease.

She always had the illusion that Conan was an adult wearing the appearance of a child.

Kurumi naturally knew that Aso Narumi doubted Conan's abilities. To remind Narumi not to expose any flaws during their later actions and let that big-headed brat notice, Kurumi warned, "Sister Seijitsu, you can't judge that brat by appearances alone." Remembering Vermouth's description of Conan as the Silver Bullet capable of destroying the organization, Conan—or rather, Kudo Shinichi—was undoubtedly more dangerous to them than the undercover agents planted within the organization.

Hearing Kurumi use such a serious tone so rarely, Aso Narumi, who had long trusted Kurumi, chose to firmly remember her words.

"I understand. I'll be careful from now on."

"Sister Seijitsu, if you're looking for the tape recorder, it's on the shelf over there." Though she had not been present, Kurumi had already guessed through analysis alone that Aso Narumi had come to retrieve the tape recorder and play the cassette she had prepared containing Kawashima's testimony.

The Playing Cassette

Kurumi readily admitted that she was not as intelligent as Conan.

But in contrast, Conan was far inferior in life experience to Kurumi, who had received Vermouth's... guidance and endured all kinds of brutal struggles within the organization.

Especially when it came to handling life's mishaps, Conan was scarcely better than a naive fool.

Most importantly, as someone who saw himself as a Great Detective, all he thought about was solving cases and tracking down the men in black who had turned him from Kudo Shinichi into Edogawa Conan. In some ways, Conan lacked a certain human emotion.

Empathy.

It was a strength, but likewise, an obvious weakness.

Looking over the entire story, if Conan had not possessed the protection of protagonist plot armor, his blind pursuit would have long since trapped him in a deadly situation—or even gotten him killed.

And there were those bratty kids, too!

In the storage room, Aso Narumi stared blankly as Kurumi handed her a small black object, slightly thicker than a button, while she held the tape recorder in her hand.

"What is this?"

Leaning closer to stare at the little object in Kurumi's pale palm, Aso Narumi looked puzzled.

From its appearance, it seemed to be made of rubber. Its flat design resembled a flexible adhesive pad.

"This is a listening device. Sister Seijitsu, wear it on you, and I'll be able to receive the sounds from your side through my earpiece," Kurumi explained. "It's a shame I can't be there in person, but with this, I can still hear what happens around Detective Mouri even if I'm absent."

Aso Narumi was surprised after hearing Kurumi's explanation. "It's that advanced? But as far as I know, the listening devices on the market aren't supposed to be this powerful yet, right?"

Aso Narumi had researched such items before.