Chapter 262
The previously decent atmosphere suddenly plummeted to freezing point.
Mouri Ran did know Samukawa Shinryu, but when Edogawa Conan quickly introduced him as "This is Samukawa Shinryu, who was resting in his room earlier and was accidentally woken up by us," she was momentarily confused.
However, being quite smart, she made some guesses based on what had happened earlier and cooperatively pretended not to know him: "Good evening, Samukawa-kun. Anyone else want to play cards?"
The two men who had been smoking earlier exchanged glances.
Both their eyes carried uncertainty and doubt, as if questioning each other.
[Do you know him?!]
[I don't know him! How did you attract someone like this?!]
Though it had been a long time since they'd met, they were very much in sync about planning to slip away...
But at this moment, Samukawa Shinryu suddenly spoke: "Those two over there—I saw them wanting to play cards earlier."
Everyone's gaze immediately swept toward the two who were preparing to flee.
The two men: "..........."
Under the gaze of those dark red eyes, they found it difficult to muster the courage to refuse.
So the two men sat down at the table with dry laughs, joining the card-playing group.
"Still haven't found that person from Room 1?" Samukawa Shinryu asked while drawing cards.
Talking about the case, Hattori Heiji didn't care whether they were familiar or not and directly responded: "No."
Samukawa Shinryu asked again: "Has anyone seen that person from Room 1?"
Mouri Ran said: "Yes, Mr. Kujii saw him."
As she spoke, she looked toward the short, stout middle-aged man who had been very chatty and humorous with everyone earlier... Though he was quite silent now, Mouri Ran could understand.
Mr. Kujii was restless but had to maintain surface composure: "I did see him, but we just passed each other."
He couldn't be blamed for not staying calm—it was because this Room 1 guest was actually him in disguise.
Even the person who, under the name Furukawa Dai, contacted the cruise company and newspaper to organize this event was him.
He was one of Hacai San's accomplices from twenty years ago.
Because Hacai San's principle was not to kill people, when they robbed the bank years ago, someone accidentally killed a bank employee in panic, so Hacai San planned to turn himself in.
Among the four people, the other three were unwilling, so they conspired to kill Hacai San—this way there would be one less person to share the money with.
However, because the stolen money had consecutive serial numbers, they didn't dare spend it before the statute of limitations passed, so they agreed to reunite today, twenty years later, to divide the money.
Getting that money required his signature, the [Furukawa] seal kept by another person, and one person's key.
Since he wanted to keep all the money for himself, he considered using this opportunity to find his former accomplices and eliminate them—everyone had plastic surgery to avoid investigation, and without proof like seals to verify identity, he wouldn't know who was who.
As for the other passengers, they were brought along as an audience. He had even specifically called the famous young high school detective from Kansai, Hattori Heiji, hoping Hattori Heiji would see through the script he prepared for the detective and deduce according to his wishes, clearing his name...
Who knew he would attract such a terrifying character!
He deeply suspected that one of his accomplices had leaked some information, planning to ally with Samukawa Shinryu to kill him and keep all the money...
Damn! They wouldn't succeed!
Just wait—he'd kill all his accomplices later! As for Samukawa Shinryu...
Since his script hadn't considered this situation, he couldn't immediately think of a way to kill Samukawa Shinryu while still clearing himself of suspicion. Plus Samukawa Shinryu looked terrifying—not someone he could scheme against...
He made a painful decision.
If he didn't dare make a move, so be it. At worst, he'd split it with Samukawa Shinryu. After all, while the seal and key could be taken by someone else, his signature was essential, so they'd definitely have to keep him alive!
Of course, it would still be best if everything went according to his script. Hopefully this Samukawa Shinryu was just here to vacation...
Because he was somewhat distracted while playing cards, Mr. Kujii lost pretty badly. The good news was that Mouri Ran had particularly good luck. Except for Mouri Ran, everyone else was losing, so his absent-mindedness wasn't very obvious.
Mouri Ran was very happy but also a bit embarrassed: "I won again this time!"
Hattori Heiji laughed dryly: "You really have good luck."
Edogawa Conan said with half-closed eyes: "She's always like this—she always wins big prizes in lotteries too..."
Mouri Ran's luck could be described as the embodiment of good fortune itself.
Under the dominance of such terrifying luck, even Samukawa Shinryu never won.
Suddenly experiencing Samukawa Shinryu's ordinary human side, Edogawa Conan felt somewhat conflicted.
However, Samukawa Shinryu had a very good temper. No matter how bad the cards he drew were, he remained calm and was very gracious in defeat... This could also be considered gentle temperament?
Edogawa Conan's thoughts inadvertently drifted to Miyano Akemi's evaluation of Botanist.
Thinking carefully, he really hadn't seen Samukawa Shinryu change his expression.
He always felt that Samukawa Shinryu was emotionally very stable, seemingly unflappable no matter what happened. It was the people around him whose emotions fluctuated dramatically, like himself—but this couldn't be blamed on Samukawa Shinryu, considering how much he overthought things...
At this moment, Mouri Kogoro and former Officer Samezaki returned, looking dejected—clearly they hadn't found anyone.
Former Officer Samezaki looked expectantly at Samukawa Shinryu, but Samukawa Shinryu ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on the cards in his hand.
Former Officer Samezaki: "..........."
Although this isn't work and I'm not a police officer anymore, you're still a Metropolitan Police consultant, right? Really not taking the case to heart at all?!
Mr. Kujii suddenly coughed: "I'll go to the restroom."
His companion also stood up: "I'll go out for a smoke."
Once they left, combined with the dejected atmosphere from former Officer Samezaki and Mouri Kogoro, the remaining people also lost interest in playing cards and began cleaning up the table.
"It's already midnight." Former Officer Samezaki stared at his watch and sighed. "In the end, we still let them escape. Really frustrating—we clearly saw the clues... Forget it, Mouri, let's have a drink."
Mouri Kogoro naturally obliged—drowning sorrows in alcohol. He could understand the other's feelings.
But at this moment, shouldn't someone else come over to keep them company?
He looked toward Samukawa Shinryu and found him playing with his phone.
Mouri Kogoro: "..........."
"Don't bother looking. Samukawa doesn't like drinking." Former Officer Samezaki said. "Just the two of us."
Mouri Kogoro muttered: "You guys are too indulgent with these young people nowadays..."
"Samukawa is different." Former Officer Samezaki raised his glass. "For people with ability, everyone naturally follows their standards."
"...If he's really a genius, let him solve this case."
Former Officer Samezaki smiled bitterly: "With so little time and so few clues, even a genius couldn't..."
Before he finished speaking, a strange sound suddenly came.
"...Gunshot?!" Former Officer Samezaki's eyes became sharp again.
Mouri Kogoro also stood up: "Sounds like it came from the deck..."
The group immediately rushed toward the deck again—after all, most people wouldn't dare to be alone at this time.
But as Edogawa Conan and Hattori Heiji left the restaurant, they couldn't help but look back and found Samukawa Shinryu still leisurely putting on his coat, not seeming hurried at all...
This might be fine for other people, but for a police officer it was somewhat ridiculous—like a detective seeing a case but not going to ask about the situation, making people question his professional competence.
However, in this situation, they couldn't possibly stay behind to argue with him about this. They could only hurriedly follow the footsteps of those ahead, rushing toward the deck.
Going up the stairs, everyone immediately saw a burning flag at the bow, and a 10,000 yen note stabbed to the floor with a dagger, with words about "having been revived" written on it.
Mr. Kujii, who had said he was going to the restroom but actually went to knock out his accomplice and set up the scene according to plan, appeared at just the right moment, using all his acting skills to show a terrified expression.
"Help! He's—he's still alive! He's coming for revenge!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the stern suddenly exploded. The group hurried to the stern and found the box containing the escape rope ladder was burning, and terrifyingly, they could clearly see there was someone inside!
However, since there was no screaming or struggling, the person was probably already dead.
Everyone could only try to put out the fire first.
After all these events, Samukawa Shinryu finally arrived late.
Hattori Heiji asked with an unfriendly tone: "Why did you come so slowly?"
"...Who knows." The dark-haired, red-eyed young man said methodically. "Maybe I went to kill someone."
Everyone: "...?!?!?!"
Former Officer Samezaki was already in a bad mood today, and now seeing a dead person with Samukawa Shinryu still acting so unhurried and unconcerned, even though he'd long known he was this type of person, he couldn't hold back anymore and shouted:
"Stop making your unfunny jokes at a time like this! Has anyone ever really laughed at your jokes?! Can't you be serious?!"
"I was just stating what certain people suspect about me." Samukawa Shinryu's gaze lightly swept over the others. "Or perhaps someone looks more suspicious than me?"
The others: "................"
—No, how could someone be so honest in a way that completely contradicts their appearance? Everyone couldn't handle it...