Chapter 77
Date Wataru's police station received a call reporting that a certain barbecue shop had a dead body.
He arrived at the barbecue shop together with his partner and the coroner and other personnel necessary for murder cases.
As soon as he entered, he felt a strange gaze.
Date Wataru looked up following the feeling, only to see a figure with head lowered hurriedly putting on a hood.
A bit familiar, and a bit suspicious. Why wear a hat indoors? It gave the feeling of deliberately avoiding police...
Since a life was lost, Date Wataru was now full of suspicion about any doubtful points, but since the scene was already sealed off, he should proceed in order for now. It was possible this was just someone with a criminal record who didn't like seeing police and was unrelated to this case.
Date Wataru and his partner went to the scene and talked with the shop owner and others who were present about the situation at the time.
His partner made a round to the coroner and came back to quietly tell Date Wataru: "Says there are no obvious external injuries detected for now, but she was carrying nitroglycerin with her—she might have had heart disease."
A female waitress who seemed to be the deceased's friend was also saying: "There was nobody else around. Sakai just suddenly collapsed, scaring everyone!"
So they couldn't rule out an accident.
Date Wataru asked: "Did she ever mention having any heart disease or medical history before?"
The shop owner said hesitantly: "She did have heart disease. Just last month she said she felt a bit unwell and wanted to go to the hospital for another checkup, but she never went..."
His partner breathed a sigh of relief. After all, accidental deaths were easiest to close, while murder cases were troublesome: "Looks like it was an accident."
"Can't be certain yet. We'll wait for the autopsy people to finish their thorough examination." Date Wataru was very cautious.
"It's definitely a heart attack." His partner looked relaxed. "All the clues point to a heart attack."
Date Wataru didn't respond, but continued asking: "Have you heard of Sakai Hana having any grievances with anyone?"
The shop owner's face didn't look good: "Hana just had a heart attack, right? Are you treating us all like murderers?"
"Sorry, I don't mean that. This is just routine questioning."
This attitude was very common. Police weren't necessarily welcomed by everyone, so Date Wataru handled it very skillfully: "The preliminary investigation results aren't out yet, so we can't rule out the possibility of murder."
He didn't even say preliminary autopsy results, only investigation results, also to avoid provocative language.
The shop owner muttered dissatisfiedly for a couple sentences, then reluctantly said: "Then ask away."
So Date Wataru repeated his previous question, but still no one answered. Everyone fell into an eerie silence, and Date Wataru noticed that others were all secretly observing the shop owner's expression.
Had she offended the shop owner?
The shop owner also realized this atmosphere was somewhat awkward and that he could easily be misunderstood, so he quickly explained: "Hana is my niece! I'm the one who let her work here when she couldn't find a job... I'm still thinking about how to explain this to my sister! How could I kill her! Everyone doesn't need to mind my feelings—answer whatever Officer asks!"
Now the shop owner's attitude became much more cooperative—probably worried that if he kept showing attitude he'd really become a suspect.
Even so, everyone remained silent.
His partner said quietly: "Let's stop here. If the coroner can't find any problems, asking these questions is meaningless."
Date Wataru didn't hope for a murder case either, but the atmosphere here was really strange. As soon as he entered this employee break room, he had felt it. Not everyone was afraid and worried that someone had died—some seemed to be suppressing happy emotions, while others seemed completely indifferent... He always felt this was like a simple accident.
Finally, there was new progress from the coroner: "There's a fresh needle mark on her body. It could be death from drug overdose."
The shop owner blurted out: "Impossible! She already quit!"
Date Wataru's gaze immediately became sharp: "What do you know?"
The shop owner dejectedly dropped his shoulders, as if he'd lost all his spirit: "...She used to have a gang member boyfriend and got addicted to drugs. Later because of this she had a heart attack and almost died, so she wanted to quit her addiction. She broke up with her boyfriend and wanted to change environments. But because of withdrawal symptoms, her temper became quite bad. She could offend people at every job and finally couldn't find work. Since she was my niece, I let her come work here..."
I see. No wonder everyone's attitude was so subtle earlier—looks like they'd all been offended by her.
With the shop owner having said this much, the others finally dared to speak: "Yes, Miss Sakai's temper was really terrible. Only Miss Yokoyama could tolerate her."
Yokoyama was the waitress who had a decent relationship with the deceased: "After all, we've been classmates since elementary school..." Suddenly, she seemed to remember something and said loudly.
"Right! Hana seemed off after serving a private room earlier, like she mentioned yakuza or something, but then immediately changed her story and said it was nothing... That private room's people must be the problem! Maybe they're revenge people sent by her ex-boyfriend!"
The shop owner also said repeatedly: "Right, there was indeed someone who looked somewhat suspicious..."
Date Wataru was startled: "May I ask how long Miss Sakai stayed in that suspicious private room?"
"Five minutes? Ten minutes?" Miss Yokoyama looked a bit flustered. "I don't know—everyone was busy and didn't notice this. Why don't you just go ask the people in that private room?"
Having others search nearby for syringes first, Date Wataru followed the shop owner's lead toward that private room, and unexpectedly saw the suspicious hooded person from before in the hallway.
Before he could speak first, the other person asked: "Why is Officer here? I heard it was an accident?"
This familiar voice made Date Wataru's eyes widen instantly. Lightning flashed through his mind as he recalled how the other person hadn't greeted him upon seeing him earlier, but instead put on a hood to avoid him, as well as the rumors that had suddenly come after graduation that this person was no longer being a police officer...
I see. Morofushi, this guy went undercover!
It looks like the people in that private room really are yakuza... This is troublesome. If this case was really something his old classmate did during undercover work, how should he handle it?
Date Wataru's mind raced as he put on the attitude of meeting a stranger: "Sorry, the deceased might not have died from an accident. I heard the deceased had contact with people in the private room behind you not long ago, so I came to ask about the situation."
"She just came to serve food. We didn't speak to her or have any physical contact." Morofushi Hiromitsu discovered that Squad Leader had gotten his meaning and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. "We have no grievances with the deceased either. Please go back."
The shop owner was actually very anxious and didn't care about offending customers: "Just ask a few questions—it'll be over quickly!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu tried again, but found that even though Date Wataru was willing to cooperate, this shop owner wouldn't stop pestering, so he could only regretfully give up: "Fine, but we really don't know anything..."
He took advantage of the shop owner opening the door to imperceptibly shake his head at Date Wataru.
Date Wataru concluded from his expression—this matter had nothing to do with them. He didn't need to struggle with whether to arrest a classmate who was currently undercover!
Date Wataru, greatly relieved, relaxed a bit and followed the shop owner into the private room, where he found someone dressed in the stereotypical violent gang middle management style.
After all, even though many professions wear suits, wearing gray or black shirts inside like this was still uncommon—most paired with white shirts.
Black shirt plus black suit easily created a feeling full of oppressive pressure, a style preferred by yakuza.
The shop owner was still somewhat puzzled: "Wasn't there another person? That young man dressed very fashionably—I remember him clearly."
Date Wataru noticed Morofushi Hiromitsu's mouth twitched.
"He... he said he went to the bathroom." Morofushi Hiromitsu said. "Anyway, what he knows, we know too. Whatever you want to ask, ask us first."
So Date Wataru routinely asked the two their names and identities, and unsurprisingly got two unfamiliar names. Both claimed to be salespeople who came out for dinner together.
Having gotten spoilers from his classmate and knowing that questioning these two wouldn't yield anything useful, Date Wataru originally hadn't planned to ask in detail. It's just that with the suspicious shop owner beside him, he had to ask a few more questions.
Just as he was asking, footsteps suddenly came from outside. Date Wataru turned his head and felt like his eyes had been blinded.
A silver-haired young man wore a golden haori, with a slightly reflective shirt underneath. The cross on his chest was studded with artificial diamonds, his head also wore all kinds of flashy things, and his pants' belt was also jingling with a bunch of strange objects hanging from it. Under the private room's lighting, his whole person seemed to glow, dazzling enough that you couldn't even see his face clearly.
This must be the fashionable young man the shop owner mentioned.
Date Wataru closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he realized that because it was so blinding earlier, he hadn't even noticed his partner was following behind this guy.
His partner looked excited: "Date! The case is solved! This gentleman helped solve it! The culprit is Miss Yokoyama—she's already confessed. The motive was because Miss Sakai tricked her into doing drugs!!!"
Date Wataru: "...???"
Wait, how many episodes did he miss? How did the case get solved in the time it took him to ask a few questions?
So this guy didn't go to the bathroom earlier—he went to solve the case?
Also, isn't this young man supposed to be with the yakuza? How is he helping police solve cases? Is he afraid of being implicated?
Glancing over, Date Wataru found that Morofushi Hiromitsu looked speechless, and that stereotypical violent gang middle manager was painfully covering his face... Looks like it wasn't planned—it was that person's unauthorized action.
"Uh..." Date Wataru stood up and extended his hand to the silver-haired young man, asking tentatively: "Thank you for your help. May I ask who you are..."
The young man happily shook his hand: "No need to be polite! I'm a detective! I'm very hap... no, I'm very happy to help the police solve cases. This is my honor!"
You were about to say you're very happy to encounter a case, weren't you?!
Date Wataru silently gathered his energy. Although he couldn't directly arrest anyone to avoid disrupting his classmate's undercover operation, it should be fine to gather some intelligence, right?
"Then... Detective, what should I call you?"
The silver-haired young man said in an enthusiastic tone: "Conan, please call me Great Detective Conan!"