Any stretch of time that vanished without explanation was suspicious. No proper detective would ever let it slide.
Jiang Xia pressed on, "How long did he spend writing the report?"
"More than twenty minutes, I guess." Shimizu Yohei had just backstabbed everyone equally, then noticed the looks the three classmates beside him were giving him. Only then did he scratch his head awkwardly.
His survival instinct quietly stirred, and he hastily added, "Although Takeno was alone in the room next door the whole time, that room doesn't have a door. And this is the Fifth Floor—there's no way he could've left. I can testify that he never went out through the living room."
Hearing Jiang Xia ask about that, Mouri Kogoro immediately found himself a new suspect. "But you're in the Mountaineering Club! Getting down from the Fifth Floor with a few tools wouldn't be difficult!"
The homeowner hadn't expected to become the next target. "Climbing a smooth apartment building is completely different from mountaineering. Being able to climb mountains doesn't mean you can climb buildings. Besides, my window has a safety feature—it normally only opens a crack for ventilation. There's no way a person could fit through it."
As he spoke, he opened the door and went into that room to show the police the window. Sure enough, it could not be opened very far.
Hashimoto Maya suddenly remembered something. He stared at the window, then glanced at the balcony, looking thoughtful—but he did not dare make a sound. It had been less than half an hour since he had infiltrated the detective team.
And compared with his enthusiasm for work, the Anti-Uzo Code—"Try not to get involved in cases. If you are unfortunate enough to get involved, hide in a corner and become an invisible man."—had clearly taken