~
"What? The victim really committed suicide?" Inspector Megure immediately questioned. "But as you said earlier, Mouri, if the victim really did kill himself, how could he have stabbed himself in the back? Anyone can see that's absolutely impossible! I'm more inclined to believe that one of these three suspects is the murderer."
Inspector Megure voiced his doubts, his stern gaze sweeping over Ono Yoko, Yamagishi Eiichi, and Ikezawa Yuko.
As for Shu Yunwen, he was already looking toward the sofa.
Well, if nothing unexpected had happened, Conan should be hiding behind the sofa right now, using that voice-changing bow tie to imitate Mouri Kogoro's voice, right? He really wanted to see if Conan would jump out of his skin if he suddenly walked over there...
Hiding behind the sofa, Conan held the bow tie in his hand, looking rather annoyed.
In fact, he had also suspected Ono Yoko and the other two main suspects earlier. If Shu Yunwen hadn't pointed him in the right direction, he'd still be wandering around in circles. The thought that Shu Yunwen might solve the mystery before him again made Conan feel especially frustrated. That guy was practically stealing the great detective's livelihood!
"No, none of them is the culprit! If Miss Yoko and Mr. Yamagishi were the culprits, they would definitely have prepared evidence to prove their innocence in advance. But as it happens, neither of them did. And if Ms. Ikezawa had been the culprit, she wouldn't have admitted that she'd been here and encountered a man..." Mouri Kogoro's voice came from over there again. "As for what I said about the victim committing suicide, of course it would seem impossible to an ordinary person. But with a little preparation, it could be done."
"P-preparation?" A question mark seemed to hover over Inspector Megure's head.
"Exactly. Inspector Megure, do you remember the floor at the scene of the victim's death? There was a strange dent in the wooden floor. We can now confirm that it was made by the handle of the knife that killed the victim, right?" Mouri Kogoro's voice continued.
Inspector Megure turned to look at the forensic officer. Tonomi immediately checked the forensic report. "That's right. The dent was indeed made by the knife in the victim's back."
"But what does that prove, Mouri?" Inspector Megure still didn't understand.
Conan continued speaking through the bow tie. "There was water and the contents of the refrigerator mixed in with the blood on the floor. The knife handle left a dent in the floor. There was a chair beside the body, and the air conditioner had been set to a high temperature... If we put all these clues together, it's not hard to imagine what really happened..."
"Huh?" Inspector Megure still looked completely bewildered.
It wasn't hard? Why did he think it was so hard? He still hadn't the faintest idea.
Wait—was Mouri looking down on the police?
Inspector Megure asked again, "Mouri, please, could you explain that more clearly? I still don't understand!"
Mouri Kogoro's voice came through. "Yunwen, since you could tell that the victim committed suicide, I assume you already understand the truth, right? The victim first used a large block of ice to prop the knife upright on the floor. Then he stood on that chair and fell backward onto it, so the knife naturally stabbed him in the back. After that, the ice slowly melted because of the high temperature from the air conditioner, creating the illusion that someone had attacked him from behind and killed him."
"Am I right, Yunwen?"
The last thing Conan said was actually a question for Shu Yunwen.
Shu Yunwen's memories had started to come back, and he vaguely remembered that this was how it had happened. Smiling, he scratched his head. "Uh... I think that's about right! Detective Mouri really is impressive. I was just guessing, but you worked it all out through deduction."
Conan, hiding behind the sofa, rolled his eyes. Inspector Megure spoke up again. "Wait, Mouri. Your deduction is connected from start to finish and seems flawless, but... it doesn't make sense logically! According to Miss Yoko and Mr. Yamagishi, they didn't even know this man. So why would he commit suicide in Miss Yoko's room and make it look like a murder?"
Yamagishi Eiichi hurried to speak first. "He must have been a fan of Miss Yoko's, and he must have been unhappy with her, so he staged this whole thing to frame her! Yes, that must be it, it must..."
"Enough, Mr. Yamagishi!" Ono Yoko interrupted him. "I—I know this man. And he was my boyfriend back in high school. His name was Fujie Akiyoshi, and we went to the same high school... But why did he choose to kill himself? Why...?"
As she spoke, Ono Yoko fell to her knees and began sobbing.
"Yoko..." Yamagishi Eiichi parted his lips, but ultimately said nothing more.
Ran stood not far away and called out, "Miss Yoko," but didn't know how to comfort her. The scene fell silent for a while.
Just then, an officer hurried in and reported, "Inspector Megure, we've confirmed the victim's identity. His name was Fujie Akiyoshi. He was twenty-two years old. After graduating from Konan High School, he went to work at Kakukou Trading..."
"Ahem, a quick explanation. Since Shu Yunwen was in a hurry to get home, he gave Conan a hint, so the deduction began a little earlier. That's why Fujie Akiyoshi's identity was only confirmed during the investigation."
"Mm." Inspector Megure pressed a hand to his hat to show he understood, then turned to Mouri Kogoro. "But Mouri, even so, the motive for committing suicide in Miss Yoko's room and making it look like murder still seems rather far-fetched."
Conan continued speaking through the bow tie voice changer. "Conan just secretly told me that he saw Miss Yoko's manager, Yamagishi Eiichi, pretend to stumble and take a strand of hair from the victim's hand. That strand of hair must have belonged to Miss Yoko, right?"
Inspector Megure glared at Yamagishi Eiichi. "Mr. Yamagishi, did that happen?"
"I, I..." Yamagishi Eiichi stammered a couple of times, then finally lowered his head. "Yes, that's right... I thought Yoko had killed Mr. Fujie, so I..."
"Mm..." Inspector Megure glared at Yamagishi Eiichi again.
Ono Yoko wept as she asked, "But why would Fujie go so far as to kill himself just to frame me?"
"Most likely because he still loved you deeply," Conan continued his deduction. "Did everyone notice how similar Ikezawa Yuko's background is to Miss Yoko's? If my deduction is right, here's what happened: Mr. Fujie came here to see Miss Yoko, but he mistook Ikezawa Yuko, who had entered Miss Yoko's room, for her. He tried to talk to her from behind, but Ikezawa Yuko panicked, pushed him away, and ran off. The love Fujie had kept buried in his heart turned into resentment and despair."
"...After Ikezawa Yuko ran away, Mr. Fujie prepared everything I mentioned earlier. He took a strand of your hair from your comb, held it in his hand, and killed himself..."
After listening to Conan's deduction, Shu Yunwen glanced at Fujie Akiyoshi's ghost and curled his lip. "He couldn't have you, so he decided to kill himself and frame you, trying to ruin your whole life too. If you ask me, your ex-boyfriend wasn't a good person at all. He wasn't worth crying over!"
Shu Yunwen meant every word.
If you chose to end your own life, then fine, end it. But you had to frame Ono Yoko, the person you once loved so deeply...
Fujie Akiyoshi's choice was not only irresponsible toward himself, but also caused a huge amount of trouble for someone else.
This guy really wasn't a good person!
As soon as Shu Yunwen finished speaking, Ono Yoko began to cry even harder. Tsukamoto Kazumi, standing beside him, gently nudged him and chided him softly. "Yunwen, don't say things like that..."
Mouri Kogoro's voice came through again. "Yunwen, you may have a point. But in my opinion, Fujie Akiyoshi probably wanted to make sure Miss Yoko would never forget him by doing this... It's just that he chose the wrong way to do it."
Shu Yunwen shrugged and said no more. Instead, he walked over to the sofa and peeked behind it, just in time to see Conan putting away the voice-changing bow tie.
Conan looked up and saw Shu Yunwen. He quickly put on an innocent little-boy face and began waving his arms. "Oh! Oh! Let's play hide-and-seek! Let's play hide-and-seek!"
Shu Yunwen rolled his eyes.
Well, seeing was believing.
After shrinking, Kudo really had become a little goofball.
He reached out and ruffled Conan's hair, smiling. "Kid, this isn't the place to play hide-and-seek!"
"I-I know," Conan stammered.
Shu Yunwen nodded, then turned to Ono Yoko. "Miss Yoko, please remember this! If anything strange happens over the next couple of days, be sure to contact our agency. We'll help you deal with it."
Ono Yoko was still crying. Yamagishi Eiichi bowed to Shu Yunwen and thanked him.
Just then, Mouri Kogoro woke up. Inspector Megure grabbed Mouri Kogoro's hand. "Mouri, you did very well today. You've really impressed me! If you hadn't helped us with this case, it might have taken us a long time to uncover the truth..."
Mouri Kogoro looked completely bewildered. "D-did I?"
Shu Yunwen spotted another source of amusement and immediately came over, smiling as he praised him. "The great detective Mouri, your reasoning is incredible! I'm classmates with the high school detective Kudo Shinichi, but in my opinion, Kudo Shinichi is nowhere near your level!"
Conan rolled his eyes furiously from the side.
"Hahaha! Of course!" Mouri Kogoro laughed smugly, but then noticed Ono Yoko crying. His expression immediately turned furious. "Damn it! Why is Miss Yoko crying? Who upset her? Was it you? You?"
Shu Yunwen smiled and straightened his clothes, then turned to Inspector Megure. "Inspector Megure, now that the truth has come out, can we leave? My family is waiting for me to come home for dinner..."
"I see..." Inspector Megure thought it over, then nodded. "You can go. But we may need you to come to the police headquarters later to give a statement. Sorry to trouble you."
"Think nothing of it, Inspector Megure. Cooperating with the police is our duty as citizens, isn't it?"
Shu Yunwen replied with a smile, then waved to Genta. "Genta, let's go! Time to head home! Aunt Mie's making eel rice for dinner tonight!"
"Huh? Eel rice? Eel rice! Eel rice! We're having eel rice tonight?!" Genta immediately followed Shu Yunwen, drooling.
Shu Yunwen smiled and said goodbye to Ran, Mouri Kogoro, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and the others one by one. Then he ruffled Conan's hair. "Edogawa Kid, I'm off! Looking forward to seeing you again."
"Ah... goodbye, Brother Yunwen," Conan replied quickly.
Shu Yunwen said his goodbyes once more and had nearly reached the door when Inspector Megure, who had walked them out, suddenly asked, "Yunwen, I'm puzzled. After you arrived at the scene, you barely looked around. How were you able to tell that the victim had committed suicide?"
Shu Yunwen paused, then smiled. "Inspector Megure, didn't I tell you? I guessed."
Inspector Megure shook his head. "Yunwen, that answer would only fool a three-year-old."
"Want me to tell you the truth?" Shu Yunwen leaned toward Inspector Megure. "Officer, you know what I do, right? I'm a spirit medium. So of course I could learn how the victim died in such a short time... because the victim told me himself..."
With that, Shu Yunwen turned and left with Genta, Kazumi, and the others.
Inspector Megure could only press a hand to his hat in resignation. "That answer would only fool a three-year-old too."
The victim told you? Who'd believe that?
That evening, at a quarter past nine, at the Kojima home.
"Mom, weren't we having eel rice tonight?" Genta looked at the food in front of him—
Uh, this was curry, wasn't it?
Kojima Mie held a rice paddle. "Who said we were having eel rice tonight? We're having curry. Eat plenty!"
Kojima Genta glanced at Shu Yunwen, who was happily eating beside him. He'd barely looked twice when Shu Yunwen shot him a glare, and he immediately sat up straight and said, "Yes, ma'am!"
Brother Yunwen... How could he lie?
That was so mean!
P.S. I'm at a loss for words about Ono Yoko's ex-boyfriend...
He killed himself and framed Yoko. Sigh... He really doesn't seem like a good person.
Before you continue