Chapter 239
After a whole day, Edogawa Conan felt like his cerebellum was about to atrophy.
He was indeed the [Consultant], but the one he'd been asking about didn't seem to be this [Consultant]. However, thinking carefully, Samukawa Shinryu's previous answers seemed to make sense from any angle.
Especially that very outlaw-like line "no matter how dissatisfied they are, they can't do anything about me"... At the time, he understood it as police wanting to arrest him but having no evidence, so Samukawa Shinryu was fearless. Now it seemed...
It was indeed police being dissatisfied with Samukawa Shinryu, but the reason for dissatisfaction was needing to ask Samukawa Shinryu for help while being unwilling to admit their own inadequate abilities.
Edogawa Conan was quite worldly and extremely skilled at finding contradictions and lies in suspects' words, but this was the first time he'd encountered a situation where everything was true and the problem was entirely his own misunderstanding.
...But that person actually believed in [age regression]! No matter how he thought about it, it felt related to that organization! How could this Samukawa Shinryu be explained?!
No, no, no, it could be explained. For instance, the other party just believed in it, like some foreigners who insisted Santa Claus existed—no reason needed at all. Theoretically, it was indeed feasible...
Edogawa Conan felt unprecedented fatigue, as painful as if he'd stayed up all night until now without sleep.
Sigh, forget it. Although he'd lost a lead on that organization, having one more good person was ultimately a good thing.
So when Usuha Izuki woke up and checked the system logs, he found Edogawa Conan had been steadily giving him suspicion values since last night, then abruptly stopped at noon, changing from a waterfall to a stream.
"...?"
Usuha Izuki thought about it and could guess that someone had probably resolved his doubts.
After all, Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei had both stayed overnight there. If Edogawa Conan asked carefully, he'd probably learn about him working as a consultant at the Metropolitan Police.
Sigh, a bit unfortunate, but also within expectations. He couldn't rely on this one trick to farm suspicion values for a whole year.
He leisurely checked his emails, went for a meal, then headed to the activity center.
When Usuha Izuki arrived at the activity center, there were already many people there. Just the island residents who attended last night's second anniversary memorial numbered over thirty, more than the police Inspector Megure brought from the Metropolitan Police. Questioning each one about what happened last night, everyone's movements, whether they noticed anything strange, who they suspected, what conflicts they had with the deceased, etc., took from noon until Usuha Izuki's arrival and still wasn't finished.
Inspector Megure seemed to have some kind of radar. The moment Usuha Izuki entered, Inspector Megure quickly looked over, then enthusiastically came to greet him: "Samukawa-kun, long time no see!"
"Long time no see." Usuha Izuki also politely nodded. "Thank you for coming so far."
"Not at all, not at all." Inspector Megure smiled. "Your timing is perfect. Look at these statements first—there are still people we haven't finished questioning... With you here, it's rare that this case made no progress overnight."
Edogawa Conan passed by with complex feelings. So just how high was Samukawa Shinryu's case-solving ability to earn such admiration from Inspector Megure?
Usuha Izuki slacked off righteously: "Mouri-san refused my help. To avoid suspicion, I decided to be an ordinary suspect."
Inspector Megure: "...Honestly, even as a suspect, you're not ordinary enough."
Edogawa Conan listened with exasperation.
Was it his imagination? He felt like even when Samukawa-san wasn't joking, his way of speaking was weird...
Just then, the activity center's speakers suddenly played the melody of "Moonlight Sonata" Movement 2. Everyone immediately froze.
Edogawa Conan was first to react, immediately rushing toward the broadcast room to see if he could catch the culprit.
Inspector Megure quickly followed, but by the time he reached the scene, it was all too late. A new corpse appeared before everyone.
With the previous case unsolved and another death, Inspector Megure's expression was full of pain: "Samukawa-kun, we're probably going to work overtime..."
If you don't want to work overtime, why don't you try harder?
But Usuha Izuki said: "Have you investigated the previous victim's home?"
"...? Not yet. I thought it wasn't necessary at this point... Do you think it's needed?"
"Probably won't help catch the killer." Usuha Izuki said. "But it'll help identify the next victim—'Moonlight Sonata' doesn't only have two movements."
Inspector Megure's expression became serious: "You mean...?"
"This is revenge. The two victims must have done something that earned someone's hatred. This matter probably involves other people too. Searching the victims' homes might reveal something... I'm guessing drug trafficking."
Inspector Megure: "...Huh? Wasn't that case already solved by you and Hagiwara two years ago?"
"How could such a case involve only two people? It must be a group, but the person who was caught only cooperated with the former village chief and didn't enter the core. The former village chief's side didn't reveal anything useful either... These two victims might have been the former village chief's accomplices." Hagiwara Kenji followed the logic. "I initially thought they were just using the deceased Aso Keiji as a shield again, but now it seems the two cases are probably connected."
Inspector Megure was about to kneel: "We really don't have enough manpower..."
Usuha Izuki volunteered: "Then I'll check the victims' homes while you continue investigating the scene. With the famous 'Sleeping Kogorou' here, I'm sure this won't be a problem for you."
Mouri Kogorou immediately became proud. If not for the inappropriate occasion, he probably would have laughed out loud: "No problem! Leave it to me!"
Asai Narimi was startled and couldn't help speaking up: "Samukawa-san..."
This doctor, still cross-dressing after two years, seemed to want to say something.
But Usuha Izuki only blandly stated: "Good luck."
Edogawa Conan: "...?"
A detective's intuition made him immediately sense something fishy.
Good luck? Good luck with what?
Just as Edogawa Conan was about to follow this line of thought, Inspector Megure sighed.
"Right, the forensics team already took the previous victim's body back to Tokyo. Now we'll probably have to trouble Dr. Asai to help with the autopsy..."
Asai Narimi smiled bitterly: "It's fine. This isn't the first time. I'm glad I can help."
Edogawa Conan: "............"
Oh, Samukawa Shinryu was considering this issue, so he told Asai-san to do his best...
Hagiwara Kenji felt something else was strange.
Samukawa Shinryu choosing to leave the scene at this time and investigate the victims' homes—did he deliberately not want to touch this case?
Matsuda Jinpei had the same feeling. He directly followed Usuha Izuki out, asking suspiciously in a low voice: "You don't want to get involved in this case?"
"With Mouri Kogorou here, I don't need to worry about it."
This tone made Matsuda Jinpei very confused: "...? So you're upset with Mouri-san?"
Samukawa Shinryu had encountered quite a bit of discrimination and prejudice, but he seemed very used to it and didn't really hold grudges. This sudden show of displeasure made Matsuda Jinpei feel something was wrong.
After farming a wave of suspicion values from Matsuda Jinpei, Usuha Izuki calmly replied: "I just feel he's somewhat different from the rumors. I want to see what his actual level is."
Matsuda Jinpei: "............"
Alright, understood. This reason he could understand, and he was quite curious himself... Fine, when Mouri Kogorou couldn't solve the case, they could call Samukawa over.
So Matsuda Jinpei returned to the scene. Without specifically hiding from Edogawa Conan, he whispered to Hagiwara Kenji.
"That guy Samukawa wants to see Mouri-san's deductive abilities."
"...I see. But there really are too few clues now. It's fine for him to look for information from other angles..."
Speaking of information from other angles, the seemingly senile local Tsukikage Island police officer finally remembered something: "Speaking of Aso Keiji, he's definitely dead. Only a handwritten manuscript in a safe survived the house fire..."
Noticing something was off but not having time to think deeply, Edogawa Conan's attention immediately shifted back from Samukawa Shinryu as he decided to follow the old officer to find that manuscript.
Walking along, Edogawa Conan asked the old officer: "Has that manuscript been kept in storage all this time? Will it be troublesome to find?"
"Should be okay. We specifically looked for it two years ago, so it shouldn't be buried too deep..."
Edogawa Conan was startled: "Specifically looked for it?"
"Yeah, because two years ago the case involved Aso Keiji, right? Dr. Asai, as an outsider who just came to Tsukikage Island, was curious about Aso Keiji's affairs. When we were chatting, I told her about this. She asked if what was in the safe might not be Aso Keiji's own manuscript but a master's, something valuable. So we specifically found it to take a look... But later we discovered it seemed to be Aso Keiji's own manuscript, not worth much money..."
That uncomfortable feeling in Edogawa Conan's heart surfaced again.
His mind flashed with Asai Narimi's complex expression when walking into the activity center one after the other with Samukawa Shinryu, then recalled Asai Narimi's subtle attitude when Samukawa Shinryu indicated he wouldn't participate in the scene investigation...
Two years ago, shortly after Asai Narimi came to Tsukikage Island, the former village chief died. Was this a coincidence? But Samukawa Shinryu and Hagiwara Kenji had specifically confirmed it was a heart attack...
Besides, dragging the first victim from the seaside back to the room would more likely require male strength.
For some reason, although he'd already cleared up his misunderstanding about Samukawa Shinryu, when Edogawa Conan recalled these things, he still felt like Samukawa Shinryu had problems.
As for what the problems were, Edogawa Conan couldn't figure it out himself.
Ah, so annoying.
Soon, Edogawa Conan and the old officer reached the warehouse. The old officer searched for a long time. Just when Edogawa Conan thought they wouldn't find it, he finally found a file folder.
"I remember taking it out two years ago, should be placed here. Look!"
Edogawa Conan was very pleased, quickly rushing over to take out the sheet music inside.
If he guessed correctly, this sheet music should be a code, maybe containing some clues.
"To my son, Seiji..."
Old officer: "Oh, besides a daughter, Aso also had a son who's been hospitalized in Tokyo for treatment. I remember he was called Seiji."
Edogawa Conan: "...You should have said this earlier!!!"
Seiji—written in kanji, could be written as "Narimi"!
How Japanese names were written in kanji was completely unrelated to pronunciation!
Just like how Samukawa Shinryu's "Shinryu" was actually pronounced [Shizuka]! Even if someone knew Aso Keiji had a son called Narimi [Seiji], Dr. Asai Narimi's "Narimi" was pronounced [Marumi], so they wouldn't connect them at all!
Not to mention changing surnames and disguising as a girl made it even harder to associate with Aso Keiji's son!
The deceased, including the former village chief, were all people who once had good relationships with Aso Keiji. These people most likely participated in drug trafficking. Aso Keiji's death was problematic—maybe he was silenced for wanting to quit midway. These people's deaths were Aso Keiji's son's revenge for his father.
...Samukawa Shinryu came to Tsukikage Island two years ago and uncovered the drug trafficking case. He met Dr. Narimi then—hadn't they contacted each other since? Did Samukawa Shinryu know about Dr. Narimi's murder plan? It felt like before the two walked into the activity center together, they should have talked, which was why Dr. Narimi had that expression...
And Samukawa Shinryu... wait, that "good luck" Samukawa Shinryu said before leaving... was it really just encouraging Dr. Narimi to do his best with the autopsy?!