The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1318 What kind of boy band is this?
"Do you recognize this cat?"

Have you seen this cat?

Do you know the owner of this cat?

With the fear that someone might be cursed to death, Fujino and his few cat companions set off to find the victim of this tragedy.

I asked several people, but I still couldn't find the cat's owner.

Fujino couldn't help but feel a surge of relief.

In this situation, even if you know each other, you absolutely cannot tell anyone.

If I were to say that, I'd probably get dragged into a bizarre murder case.

The little ones strolled around, looking at things as if they were on a picnic.

Fujino followed silently with his hands behind his back.

After all, a murder is likely to happen soon.

It would be really unreasonable for me not to try and earn some detective coins.

After asking around, it gradually came to noon.

Ai Haibara was holding a cat in her arms, while Mitsuhiko and Genta complained beside her:

"Hey, Conan, are you kidding me?"

"We've been searching for so long, how come we still haven't found the owner of this cat?"

Conan pursed his lips: "How could I be wrong? In my opinion, it's just because the cat's owner isn't here."

"But that's just Conan's deduction," Mitsuhiko suggested to the group, "Do you think it's possible that this cat is a stray?"

"stray cat?"

Everyone looked at him, and Ayumi asked curiously, "But they all have collars."

“But there’s no name tag on this collar,” Mitsuhiko remarked, then reasoned, “For example, someone might like cats but can’t keep one, so they put a collar on it to prevent it from being taken away by someone else.”

"If that's the case, it's not impossible." Ai Haibara glanced at Conan beside her out of the corner of her eye: "It's quite possible that someone's deduction is wrong."

"Tsk!" Conan clicked his tongue and said, "How could it be a stray cat? Its fur is so smooth, and its belly is so bulging!"

Mitsuhiko continued, "I already said it's because I can't keep pets, that's why I put a collar on it. Isn't the purpose of putting a collar on it so I can secretly keep it outside?"

"Just like Amamiya-san last time."

Ayumi nodded upon hearing this, looking at Mitsuhiko with a hint of admiration: "I also think this is more reasonable!"

Conan: "..."

Ayumi, Ayumi! No!
Haven't you always been firmly on my side?
Why did you rebel this time...?

Conan felt a little down for a moment, and he had a bad feeling about it.

Finally, he sighed, "Then what's the point of us searching for the cat's owner like this?"

"Why not just let this cat go?"

Ayumi shook her head again: "But what if this cat really did run away?"

"Well, we'd better look for it."

Conan: "..."

This won't work, that won't work, what should I do?

What more do you want from me? Are you deliberately trying to cause trouble?
He stared at the little ones with dead fish eyes, feeling a mix of emotions. He had a strong urge to grab his soccer boots and kick them all away.

"Chacha, where did you go?"

Just then, a man ran in front of the group, stopped them, and started beckoning to the kitten in Ai Haibara's arms.

Ai Haibara narrowed her eyes, took a step back to the side, and shielded the cat to her chest.

Fujino squinted as he sized up the man in front of him.

The man in front of me had his hair slicked back, wore glasses, and was dressed in simple casual clothes with an apron draped over his shoulders; he looked like a waiter.

Seeing the group's reactions, the man realized he might have been behaving a bit too strangely, and quickly gave an embarrassed smile, explaining, "This cat is ours. I just realized it was missing, so I got a little worried..."

"Big brother, is this your cat?"

Ayumi asked curiously, "But why did it run out?"

"I'm not sure about this either."

The man chuckled sheepishly, "I was busy in the shop just now, and when I turned around, I found it was gone."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the coffee shop next door and introduced, "This is my shop."

Upon hearing this, the group looked over and saw a small coffee shop with a slightly London-style feel, quite similar to Poirot Cafe, but with a more retro vibe.

At this point, the man asked again, "Where exactly did you find it?"

"We found it in the park!"

Conan then perked up, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Hmph, what do you say? My deduction was right, wasn't it! Keep yelling!
However, the children didn't care about Hakiko's thoughts; they were more concerned about Hakimi at that moment.
"Its foot looks injured and bleeding."

"Should we take it to the vet?"

The man in front of him glanced at her and said, "No need to go to the vet. The bandaging you've done looks pretty good."

"It's Xiao Ai's!"

"Thank you so much for bringing Chacha back for me and even bandaging it up!"

The man smiled and said, "By the way, why don't you come in and sit for a while? I bet you've been looking for me for ages. I'll treat you to some drinks as a reward!"

"Really?!"

"Thank you, big brother!"

The kids immediately got excited when they heard about the freebies.

They followed the man and filed into the coffee shop.

"What would you like to drink? Here is the menu."

The man politely handed over the menu, and the little ones immediately pounced on it.

"I want coffee."

"Then I'll have orange juice!"

"me too!"

"I want coconut juice!"

After Conan and the other kids finished ordering, the man handed the menu to Fujino: "What would you like to drink?"

"I want green tea."

"That little girl..."

"I want green tea too."

"Is that so?"

The man smiled, silently noted it down, and then asked curiously, "Excuse me, what is this place?"

"what?"

"It's just that your combination is a bit unusual..." the man explained, "There are several children and one adult, and I'm a little curious about your relationship."

“This is my little sister,” Fujino introduced briefly, then glanced at the others beside him: “These are my little sister’s classmates, and that one lives across the street from us.”

"We are the Junior Detective League!"

As soon as Fujino finished speaking, Genta immediately raised his fist at a perfect 45-degree angle.

"..." Conan, Ai Haibara, and Fujino all fell silent upon witnessing this scene.

I felt that Genta's gesture had a bit of that old-fashioned, forceful degreasing vibe.

What kind of boy band is this, formed by guys who failed their college entrance exams?
Once the topic of the Junior Detective League came up, the kids started chattering away. Mitsuhiko, standing to the side, crossed his arms and said in a serious tone, "Just come to us if you need anything."

Ayumi nodded in agreement, looking rather cute, and replied, "We're really amazing!"

"Gululu..."

"Oh, I see. I'll definitely trouble you if I ever need anything in the future."

You must be hungry, right?

"I'll go make some sandwiches."

"Thank you, big brother!"

The man smiled, not taking this childish game to heart. Without saying anything, he turned to prepare sandwiches and drinks.

The children greeted the boy and exclaimed, "This big brother is such a good person!"

Fujino: "..."

Since you can all tell that they are good people, why don't you just stand up and run?

Wait a minute, this good guy's shop will be turned into a murder scene by your presence!

Fujino inwardly complained, but didn't say anything more.

It can only be said that what is meant to be will be, and those little ones finding the cat is truly the worst luck imaginable for this shop owner...

Yes, this is the fate of the Mika people.

If you're not going to be the one who gets killed, then you're going to be the one who kills. Even if you don't kill or get killed, you're still bound to encounter a murder case.

"Mr. Ishigami, something terrible has happened!"

“Dead!”

Just as the man brought out the drinks and sandwiches, an elderly woman... a woman in her forties or fifties in the truest sense, pushed open the shop door and shouted in a panic.

Fujino: "...?"

This time, the murder scene wasn't here?
That's really strange...

Has the world of Detective Conan opened my eyes?

Upon hearing this, without further explanation, everyone followed the elderly woman and rushed out of the coffee shop.

All I can say is that this is probably just the unspoken understanding between the Mika people.

…………

The crime scene was right across the street, at a company that looked like a financial firm called Kanemaru Office. It seemed the owner's surname was Kanemaru or his given name was Kanemaru.

As soon as they entered, they saw a bald old man who looked like a bandit leader lying on the ground with his back to them.

Needless to say, the person was definitely dead beyond saving.

Conan, who was the first to rush into the crime scene, shook his head slightly, already giving the answer.

As for the murder weapon, it was a fragment scattered next to the body; upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a lucky cat figurine.

Next to the corpse or on the shelf, there was a large number of lucky cat figurines, so many that it was impossible to tell their exact number at a glance.

Without much thought, Fujino took out his phone and dialed Megure's private number.

When Inspector Megure heard that someone else had died, he seemed quite calm and normal, as if he had long been used to it. Following his familiar operating procedure, he led a large group of police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department to the crime scene.

Before Megure arrived, Fujino, as usual, questioned the two people present first.

After all, it's common knowledge that murderers in the world of Detective Conan generally don't run away easily.

After committing murder, they all possess an inexplicable sense of confidence, insisting on remaining at the crime scene to admire the criminal masterpiece they had just conceived using their clever minds.

Therefore, the elderly woman present, as well as the kind-hearted shop manager, could both be the murderers.

The elderly woman's name is Kanaoka Fumie. She came here to clean the rooms for the victims, since, as she herself said, she owed the owner a sum of money and needed to pay the interest by cleaning.

Yes, the president here is named Kenzo Kanemaru. He has no relatives left and runs a loan sharking business with low costs.

Fujino was not surprised by this.

After all, detectives are on the top of Beika's high-risk list.

What's more, this guy even dares to lend money at exorbitant interest rates...

In old-fashioned Japanese novels, this would definitely be considered a villain.

This isn't on the Mihana Killer List?
As for the man surnamed Ishigami, he didn't seem suspicious, but he did appear a little flustered.

But this does not mean there is no suspicion.

You never know what outrageous murder methods these Mikado people can come up with in this world of Detective Conan.

But something feels off.
Two people... it's a choice between two, and I guess a third party will pop up later, right?

Fujino pondered for a moment, realizing that not everyone had arrived yet, and there must be one person missing, so he stopped asking questions.

"Brother Fujino, what's going on now?"

"The general situation..."

Megure quickly arrived at the scene with his team, the classic combination of Takagi and Chiba. Both of them are patrol officers, not leaders, so they won't be assigned to handle cases alone unless there are enough people.

Fujino briefly described the case, and then Megure called in the forensic team to examine the body.

Soon, the report arrived: "The deceased died from a severe blow to the head, and the time of death was approximately several hours ago, between nine and eleven in the morning."

"Is that so?"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure nodded and turned to look at the wall covered with lucky cats: "But this guy really likes lucky cats. With so many lucky cats, could he have been accidentally crushed to death by a falling lucky cat?"

Fujino: "..."

Here it is! Megure's classic elimination method yields the correct answer!
No, shouldn't it be Mori who should be the one eliminating the correct answer?
Okay, since Mori isn't here, it's Inspector Megure who's now out of the running for the correct answer.

"But, it's really strange. The safe was open, so why was he crushed to death?" Conan's voice suddenly came. Everyone looked over and saw him pointing at the open safe, pulling off a classic move.

"Maybe he had just finished looking at the safe, then accidentally bumped into the shelf, and then was accidentally crushed to death?"

"But the position of that lucky cat doesn't seem to be high enough to kill someone."

Conan pointed to the shelf: "Look, this shelf only has three shelves, and the bottom one is a cabinet. It doesn't look very tall. Although it's tall for Inspector Megure, the deceased's height was obviously taller than the shelf!"

Megure: "..."

Sorry, I'm rather short!

Fujino noticed his older brother's eyebrows twitching wildly and knew that his brother was a little red-hot.

Immediately, he said crisply, "For some reason, the thug picked up the lucky cat on the shelf and, while he was squatting down to look for the contract, smashed it to his death."

"Therefore, this case is a murder case."

(End of this chapter)